Update on Fox Glen irrigation 7/13/2018:
- The hot, dry weather of late-June/early-July dried out our lawns. This quickly followed the very wet May/early-June weather. Our new lawn contractor, Garrett Landscaping, is learning our irrigation systems after less than 2 months on the job and hadn’t made make proper adjustments to compensate for the weather changes. They acknowledge that they “dropped the ball” and responded quickly to correct the situation once we discussed it with them in detail. They value our business and we want to work toward a good, long-term relationship with all our service providers.
- As of Wednesday 7/11/2018 the irrigation schedule was increased from 3 days/week to 6 days/week for about one week in order to renew the lawns, then the schedule will be adjusted back downward after that. The lawns are already beginning to recover. When grass turns brown it doesn’t “die” it just goes dormant and will fully recover when it receives enough water again.
- We have 3 separate irrigation systems, and all 3 run mostly at night to minimize evaporation loss. That’s why most people don’t see the sprinklers running. System A takes about 13 hours start to finish, System B takes about 5 hours, and System C takes about 9 hours.
- On Tuesday 7/10/2018 Garrett conducted an audit of System A (generally covers Bridle Pass) and System B (generally covers Fox Glen Drive). Next week 7/16/2018 they will complete an audit of System C (generally covers Santa Fe Trail).
- A few things to remember regarding our irrigation systems:
- Fox Glen soil is poor. It consists mostly of clay which means water does not soak down to the roots well, but instead runs off. Further, any surface depressions, however shallow, can tend to hold water after rain or irrigation, causing “soggy” areas that can last for days until the water soaks down thru the clay.
- Our irrigation systems, unfortunately, were not designed well when the Association was built out in the 1999-2002 timeframe. The zones aren’t balanced, and the heads within zones aren’t balanced. System A has 37 zones, System B has 15 zones, System C has 25 zones. Further, some zones have 20 or more irrigation heads, while other zones have 5 or fewer. Ideally, a zone should have around 10 irrigation heads.
- Because of the above conditions, it is often a trade-off between having green lawns and having reasonable water bills.
- If co-owners have any irrigation issues, please email or call Jeff Dobbs (our property manager of Select Community Management) at jdobbs@thecondopros.com or (734) 663-1900 x230.
- John Antos will speak a little about our irrigation systems at our Annual Meeting on Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. at the Pittsfield Senior Center, 701 W. Ellsworth Rd. Please plan to attend the Annual Meeting if you are able. We provide food and an important election is held for Directors to manage your Fox Glen Association.