Warning – Closing Gates
We just wanted to warn everyone of the uninsured gates at our community. This morning (02/13/12) we were leaving to work and had to stop at the gate because the bus was picking up the kids. Like every morning there is usually a line of vehicles waiting to leave the community. I drove thru and my sister was behind me when the gate hit our truck. It slammed the side mirror and then hit the side of the truck in a few places. When I called entrust to file a report I was told there is nothing that can be done because the insurance doesn’t cover the gate. I was told by Pat that we drive at our own risk and the only solution is to keep the gates open. I can’t beleive we would purchase insurance that doesn’t cover a main part of a “gated” community. How are you supposed to feel safe coming in and out of the community? As much as we love having the gates, maybe we should do away with them.
Paula & Lydia Montoya
Vandalism Alert!
To the south end Neighborhood Associations:
On 01/10/12 (Tuesday) and 01/11/12 (Wednesday) and this morning your area experienced a large number of vandalism cases. Numerous vehicle windows were shot out with a BB gun in a large area located south ofCentral Avenueto the city limits. This covered our patrol beats 134, 133, 132, 124, 121 and 116. Your Association was notified because you fall within these beats.
Suspect Vehicle: Black Honda Accord ……with two suspects, both Spanish males. The passenger is shooting out windows with a BB pistol as the car drives down a street. They will also shoot at home windows.
Time of offenses: 6pm until 6am
Locations of cars hit: Parked along streets and in driveways
If you see these suspects or witness anything suspicious, please call 242-COPS right away . If a crime is in progress, call 911 so these suspects can be apprehended.
Bill Jackson
Crime Free Programs
Southwest Command
839-6400
Getting more speedbumps?
We are growing increasingly more concerned about the speed at which people drive east on Humphries to where it turns north and becomes Vanhorne Way. People fly down that street and it’s scary because it is not uncommon for kids to be playing in the street. While I’m not advocating for kids playing in the street, I feel like because there’s nothing to slow people down it’s just an accident waiting to happen. Is there any way that we can look into adding speedbumps to try and limit its use as a drag strip?
Road Cracks – Sealed
Earlier in the fall, the Board approved the sealing of all asphalt cracks in our community. As you could imagine, sealing the streets is important to ensure the roads have a long life.
Here’s a snapshot of the people at work!
Remember, the city of Albuquerque does NOT pay for re-pavement of our roads, we do… We must keep putting money away (into our reserves) so one day the roads can be completely redone. Hopefully not for another 10 years!
New Documents Available on the Downloads Page
The downloads page has been updated with the Anderson Heights 2012 draft budget, the Orchards budget for 2012 which includes a two dollar increase and the Orchards financial statement as of September 30th, 2011.
You must be a registered user on this site and logged in to download documents. Click here to register. Click here to go to the downloads page.
If you have any issues with downloading documents, signing up for a username on this site or if you have issues logging in, please email me directly at theorchardsblog@gmail.com or use the contact form on this site: http://www.theorchardsblog.net/contact/.
Downloading documents is the only activity on this site that requires an account on this site. The purpose of requiring homeowners to be logged in is for tracking and statistical purposes. The Board is interested in seeing how many (roughly) people use this site. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
If signing up still isn’t possible, please send me an email and I will send you the PDFs directly.
Kind regards,
Chris Perkins / Webmaster / President – BoD
2011 Orchards Annual Meeting – unofficial notes
Hello,
Here is a quick recap of the meeting held back in November, 2011.
Board Election: 3 positions were up for election this past meeting. The outcome of the election and Board position assigments is as follows…
Chris Perkins – President. Position up for election in 1 year.
Mark Raicrot – Vice President. Position up for election in 2 years.
Robert Banagay – Treasurer. Position up for election in 1 year.
Joseph Eagan – Secretary. Position up for election in 2 years.
Stephanie Aragon – Director at Large. Position up for election in 2 years.
Pedestrian Gates: Discussions at the meeting included request for repairs of one of the pedestrian gate keypads and getting some consistency in the gate codes. The broken keypad will be replaced soon if it hasn’t already.
Note, there are no codes available to homeowners or visitors (public) that work on the vehicle gates. The only way to open the gates are 1) with a remote clicker, 2) with a swipe card or 3) by calling the homeowner from the keypad.
There was a request for modifying the website to include a link to where a homeowner could pay their HOA assessments.
Raising the perimeter wall was discussed. There’s now a dedicated post for this conversation. Please go here: http://www.theorchardsblog.net/2011/12/29/wall-petition/
Misc. Items: There are 448 Lots, 112 have a past due balance (30 days or more) and therefore weren’t able to participate in the election. KB Homes owns approximately 77 lots. (They’ve probably sold some since the meeting!).
Please email me or leave a comment below with anything that I’ve missed… The official meeting minutes won’t be approved until the next annual meeting.
Revision 1:
The 2011 financials were discussed as well as what the budget is for the upcoming year. Both documents have been added to the Downloads page.
Backyard landscaping was discussed. Homeowners were notified of the backyard landscaping timeline extension available to homeowners who submit an ARC form with a plan. If the homeowner fails to submit an ARC form, fines may be imposed. Contact Pat with EnTrust, comment here or use the contact form for more information.
Regards,
Chris Perkins
Webmaster / President – BoD
Christmas Tree Recycling Efforts
PNM and the cities of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho will offer free Christmas tree recycling starting Jan. 2, 2012, at five locations, marking the 20th year PNM has donated time and equipment for the holiday event.
More than 25,000 trees are expected to be recycled at three Albuquerque locations and two Rio Rancho sites during the days following Christmas, saving valuable landfill space generating water-saving and protective mulch.
At the locations, crews from PNM Vegetation Management, City of Albuquerque’s Solid Waste Management Department and Rio Rancho’s Keep Rio Rancho Beautiful Division will ground the trees into mulch, which can then be used to provide a better growing environment for plants in city common areas and residential landscapes.
Crews will accept trees that have had all decorations, tinsel, tree spikes and stands removed.
In Albuquerque, trees will be accepted from Jan. 2 through Jan. 8, 2012, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the following locations:
- Montessa Park Convenience Center, 3512 Los Picaros SE, 873-6607
- Eagle Rock Convenience Center, 6301 Eagle Rock NE, 857-8318
- Ladera Golf Course, Coors and Ladera NW, 888-8115
Rio Rancho Tree-Cycling runs from Jan. 2 through Jan. 16, 2012, at two locations. Residents can drop off trees Mondays through Saturdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Sandoval County Landfill, 2700 Iris Road NE. Mulch will not be offered at this site.
Trees also will be accepted at the Rio Rancho Sports Complex, 3501 High Resort Blvd. Residents can access the complex 24 hours a day. Mulch will be offered at the complex on a first-come, first-served basis.
NOTE: Commercial quantities will not be accepted.
Wall Petition
Back in September, many homeowners signed a petition asking the HOA to help us find a solution to raise our perimeter walls. As I understand it, the issue is still being researched. However, I have found it very interesting that the HOA next door has raised their wall that separates their community from ours. This came about, as I have heard, from residents in that neighborhood complaining about the same issues The Orchards residents are having problems with.
The residents in The Orchards, namely those that live along Cabral Trail, are constantly dealing with trespassing in our yards, lack of privacy and a number of safety and security issues. Due to a lack of manpower, I was only able to visit with the residents along Cabral Trail and hear their issues. However, I am interested to know how many other homeowners are having safety and privacy issues with their low walls.
We need to encourage the HOA and our elected leaders to help us find a working solution to a very real issue.
Light pole on Duerson and Fencik
I had sent this to enTrust already via “Contact Us” from the main page. We happened to notice, this morning, that the light pole on the corner of Fencik and Duerson is leaning to one side, towards the house on that corner. I thought maybe I didn’t notice it before, but my other half also mentioned that it wasn’t like that yesterday. Upon closer inspection, it is apparent that a vehicle of some sort hit the pole. If anyone happen to have seen this and have any information, please, please, please inform enTrust. I don’t want to even think of how much it’s going to cost us to fix it.
