Strawberry 1 HOA – The Toilets Have Been Ordered!
It has been just over a month since the last blog post. At that time, I mentioned that we were hoping to get all of the new ultra high-efficiency toilets installed by this time. I’m pleased to say that while this is not the case, they were ordered this week and will be hooked up and ready to use by the end of the month. The reason that it has taken as long as it has to get to this point is simply logistical. With a project of this magnitude, there is a lot of research and even more communication that needs to happen. With it being summer and prime travel season, communication can be impeded due to the number of people involved in these talks. As the most recent example, after signing the installation contract and ordering the toilets, we have to accept a five-day delay before being able to schedule installations with the homeowners as the installation manager for the company we have hired is vacationing. This ‘take a step, wait a day’ progress, as it sometimes feels, has not been ideal, but is not terribly damaging. We should only be about two weeks behind our originally anticipated schedule of progress, which really is not that bad.
Similarly to the toilets, there has been some delay in installing the xeric landscaping; the sustainable replacement for the unnecessarily water-demanding turf grass currently dominating the landscape at the Strawberry 1 HOA. Initially, communication amongst the key players of the project was strong but then slowed as each is involved with other work duties, some of which are very time consuming, and this is understandable. However, with several critical questions regarding the design floating, the shortage of consistent conversation left progress somewhat in limbo. We have since had those questions answered and would be ready to move forward, but are now waiting on our landscaping company to prepare internally for the highly detail-oriented project. Again, this is understandable because there are in place rather strict guidelines that the xeriscape needs to meet to qualify for the rebates that are funding much of it. We do expect that it will be completed not long after the toilets are fully in place because, while significant planning is involved with the new landscaping, actually putting it into the ground should be a relatively easy, step-by-step process.
As you will recall, the other planting project at the HOA as part of our sustainability initiative is the wonderful community garden that has been constructed and is flourishing. Very much in contrast to the pace of our current projects, the garden came to be very fast. It arrived so quickly that there were concerns about how successful the garden might be. After witnessing what seemed to be discontent experienced by some members of the garden development committee in regards to the speed of its progress, I was thinking the leaders of the toilet and xeriscape tasks might be pleased be take it slower and pay more attention to critical details. The silver lining with the abovementioned speed of progress of toilet installation is that there surely is no room for error!
At the time of the last edition in this blog, the crippling heat threatening to do harm to the garden was discussed. Being just after Memorial Day, I was a tad nervous that that heat would persist through the summer making it tough for the small seedlings to survive. Fortunately, my fears were never realized because the summer, while still warm, has been about average in temperature and as a result the fruits and vegetables are doing quite well. The days of hand watering are over at the garden as the drip irrigation that will water the plants in the most sustainable fashion has recently been installed.
This project is very meaningful for a lot of reasons and for many people. It is proof that when like-minded and motivated people come together, great things can happen. As coordinator of all three of these projects, I do not take to heart the slowed rate of progress being seen currently for I understand that big things like this take time. By the end of August, some 80 homes will have brand new toilets and the water consumed through flushing in these residences will be reduced by over 80%. A promising garden will be getting closer to the fall harvest and many gallons of water will no longer be needed each week to keep three key areas of the property looking attractive. Also by this time, I will have seen completed one of the most significant and complex projects I have ever been a part of and CAP Management will have another great environmental and community relations victory under their belt. It is a great feeling.
Please visit www.capmanagement.com to read more on how we are working to promote and provide for environmental sustainability. Thanks for reading!