Layne Varney
It’s hard to believe that summer has come and gone, and the fall season has arrived. It has been an extremely busy summer with several improvement projects at the clubhouse. Sometimes it seems like regardless of how much planning and scheduling is made in advance, something always goes wrong, is delayed, or rescheduled for some reason or another. We have had a few of these challenges this summer with the number of projects, but progress continues to the completion.
Sport courts 1 and 2 have finally been completed. The old asphalt court base was removed and replaced with a much-longer-lasting and better-playing, post-tension concrete. All four courts have been resurfaced with a new finish and updated with new colors. Get your rackets and paddles, and let’s play ball!
The clubhouse main floor hallway and rooms, upper level hallway, and Horizon Room have all been repainted with new, brighter colors. This was done with our maintenance staff and the help of several volunteers, some of whom spent nearly 80 hours painting. We truly appreciate your help with this huge job, which couldn’t have been done in a timely manner without this help. The new flooring for many areas of the clubhouse is in progress with some delays. The Lakeview Room, Horizon Room, office, and part of the upper level hallway have been completed. The custom carpet ordered for the rest of the scheduled flooring replacement has been delayed by the manufacturer and is scheduled to arrive by the beginning of October. It is anticipated that this should all be installed and completed before the end of October.
The installation of the new balcony railing along the south side of the clubhouse replacement project has been completed. The old balcony railing was large, bulky, and needing work. The new balcony railing has a sleek, modern look, with cabling to allow greater visibility of the beautiful views of SunBird. The elevator interior cab had new light fixtures upgraded to LED type bulbs and is also having the interior cab paneling updated with brighter material and new flooring. With all of the other projects completed this summer, new doors, stair handrails, and other projects, the clubhouse is looking great!
The common area irrigation system replacement project phase 2 is nearing completion. After phase 2 is complete, SunBird will have replaced more than 35,000 linear feet (approximately seven miles) of irrigation lines, 72 valves stations, 14 timer clocks, and 5,000 water emitters. This project has already been a great benefit to the landscape but has also significantly reduced the amount of time staff was spending each day to repair the old irrigation continual broken pipes.
SunBird had its second annual “9/11” or “Patriot Day” Tribute on Sept. 11, which was a huge success. The parade along Championship Drive included police, sheriff, fire, ambulance, and public safety personnel and emergency vehicles, some classic restored cars, the full Basha High School marching band, City of Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke, two horse-mounted sheriff officers, and the lone bagpiper, which were all awesome! It was great seeing all the residents lined up down the roadway waving and honoring our first responders and parade participants. After the parade, a short honorary service was held in the ballroom with guest speakers Mayor Hartke and a police sergeant. City of Chandler council members were also present. The service also included music from the Basha High School marching band. Wow! That was truly excellent!
SunBird’s new website has been live and open for the past month, and we’ve received great feedback. The website has been modernized with a more user-friendly format, easy navigation, and bright displays. Most of the website is open for the public to view and learn more about SunBird. Some sections of the site are for homeowners only, which contain board meeting minutes, financial reports, and other information intended for members only. To gain access to the member sections, please visit the website at sunbirdhoa.com, and complete the information to receive a login and password. Check us out!
As the weather begins to cool down, and more residents begin to return to SunBird, we look forward to an exciting season. Many new activities and popular events have been planned for everyone. We anticipate the clubhouse and recreational facilities will be at full capacity more than ever before as we continue to expand our variety.
We truly appreciate our many clubs, groups, and residents who help in various ways to make SunBird a great place to live!