Next Meeting & Tree Replacement

Our next meeting, and the last one planned for 2014, will happen Thursday, November 20. We cannot get our regular meeting room, so we will meet at the dining area in the Super Target store on Bloomingdale Avenue. Start time is the usual 7 p.m.

A longtime discussion topic at board meetings is the long-term need to get some of the large oak trees away from our buildings. As they continue to grow, they will encroach ever more on our buildings, and eventually endanger their slab foundations.

That would be bad.

With an arborist and our landscape company, the board has begun a scheduled plan to remove the troublesome trees and replace them with ones better suited to live near buildings. We have narrowed the list of replacement trees to three kinds that stood out for their combination of attractiveness, heartiness in our climate, and ability to thrive close to structures and paving.

They are Dahoon Holly, Crepe Myrtle, Southern Red Cedar and Ligustrum Patio. Scroll down to see photos of each.

We’d like owners’ feedback on which you prefer. You can email board@stcharlesplace or show up in person. We would entertain others not among those three, but those are the ones that our landscaper and arborist recommend. Click on the images to see larger versions.

Crepe Myrtle:

Dahoon Holly:

Ligustrum Patio:

Cedar:

I might not have the correct cedar tree here, because I don't think we'd want them that large, but it's an evergreen and the photo should give you a decent idea.

We would not go exclusively with one kind throughout the community, but rather a mix to give our landscaping variety while having trees that work better close to buildings. This will be a long-term project with the oaks causing the most risk getting priority for removal.

The trees will likely be much smaller than the ones they replace, but in a few years, they will grow and mature into ones that give our community its distinctive look, without the danger of harming the integrity of our buildings.

Again, send thoughts to board@stcharlesplace.us.

Tree Line Approved

At the most recent HOA meeting, the board approved planting a hedge along two roads to increase the community's privacy, and to prepare for the day that developers destroy the trees and green space on the property between US-301 and Dartmouth Hill Road.

The first will be on the eastern side of Dartmouth Hill. When mature, the plants will provide a solid hedge line that will help block light — and some of the noise — from businesses and US-301.

We don't know when that property between Dartmouth Hill and US-301 will be developed, and when those trees that buffer us from US-301 will come down. But the land is zoned commercial and plans are already on file with Hillsborough County for a bank and a gas station to go in there.

It's going to happen; it's a matter of when.

By planting a hedge line now, when development appears to be years away, we buy plants when they're small and easy to install, and give them time to grow into a green privacy wall.

The other location is behind the units on Dartmouth Hill north of Johanna that back up directly onto US-301. Their homes are exposed to anyone driving by as well as noise and light from both the highway and the shopping center across the street.

As with the other hedge line, its benefits will not come immediately. But the board believed that making an investment now would pay much bigger dividends in the future.

New Grass and New (Sort-of) Web Site

The website operated by board member Ed Palmer www.stcharlesplace.us is back up and running. Among its pages is a list of the HOA board members with e-mail addresses to reach them.

If you notice something that needs urgent attention, you should contact the association's property manager listed in the right-hand column of this page. Contact board members to express feelings about issues that affect the community on a longer-term scale.

Such as the new sod being installed. You'll notice, especially along Johanna Ave near the pool, large chunks of our sod missing. They have been torn out and will be replaced. You might not have noticed a need for its replacement.

The board accepted a recommendation by Gulf Coast Outdoors, our lawn maintenance vendor, to replace perfectly healthy grass because the original St. Augustine grass was being invaded by more aggressive Bermuda grass.

The board's vote was not unanimous. John McQuiston (your humble blog author) thought that the Bermuda invasion did not justify $9,000 in new sod when the grass we had, whatever kind it was, was healthy and green.

True, there were patches of brown that needed to be addressed. But those areas were just a small part of the sod being torn out and replaced. A question about why laying down new grass seed should be tried first was not answered.

The majority of board members believed that it was important to maintain a uniformity in the lawns of the community.

What do you think? The HOA board is simply a group of homeowners here in St. Charles Place that fellow owners elected to answer such questions.

However, your opinion matters — whether it's the type of grass we have, whether it's how we better secure the pool area from the kids who are breaking through the fence (literally) to use our pool, or whether we should get recycling dumpsters to replace the discontinued curbside recycling — your input is not only welcome, it is needed.