This year we’ve been trying to get some of the sprinkler systems issues resolved. With new board members learning the system and a new landscape contractor, we feel we’re getting it dialed in. We had a lot of fear that our system was going to need replaced, but after further evaluation, we feel we’re in good shape and it’s more a matter of getting things tuned in.

We’ve done a lot of work to ensure our pump stays running properly. Our pump has some built in safety mechanisms which protect it from overheating. There are many reasons the pump can overheat including too many zones watering at one time, algae bloom being sucked in or filters being plugged.

In the past, the pump could overheat, and we wouldn’t know until someone realized the system wasn’t watering. This obviously would mean grass was looking dry in areas, and that takes time to recover. This year, we added remote monitoring and controls for our pump. Board members and the landscaper now get instant alerts in the event we are having any issues with the pump, or major leaks. The issues are taken care of right away. The remote capabilities have also allowed us to shut down the pump right away if there are reports of a broken heads or flooding. This has been a huge value add for our neighborhood.

In terms of the grass, we had a few bad spots on Carlson BLVD that needed to be addressed:

The first, was near the entrance on the west wide. The issue here was the sprinklers were not popping up high enough and had sunk into the ground too far. Those heads have been adjusted or replaced.

The second, on Carlson BLVD is near Becker. The sprinklers there were not getting enough water pressure to popup. The landscapers located a tree near the residents where the roots were pinching off our water line. That issue has been resolved and the grass should start looking better soon.

We’ve also identified some issues in the common grass area near the pool, where the walking paths cross. This area has been an ongoing issue, but we hope to resolve it by changing out some of the sprinkler heads over the next few weeks. We are also planning to add a few new sprinklers.

We wanted to thank those of you who have reported broken sprinkler heads this year, we had a lot. This was caused mostly by the snow removal crews, who were a bit careless. We also had over 75 sprinkler heads where the ground completely grew over top of the sprinklers, keeping the sprinklers from coming up. Those sprinklers were each located and had to be fixed by hand.

As you are aware by now, this previous landscape company has been let go, and over the course of this winter, we plan on using the new landscaper to also remove our snow. The new contact will state that broken sprinkler heads due to snow removal will be replaced free of charge by the landscape company.