Happy New Year!
The year 2015 has come to an end and the beginning of 2016 is already here. 2015 was a very productive and successful year for SunBird with change and improvement. The CC&R’s were voted on by the membership and have been amended and recorded. The Clubhouse swimming pool was completely demolished and rebuilt twice as large. Other facilities and amenities had upgrades also to compliment these wonderful improvements. All of these projects were done with the efforts of many, many people. We would like to thank the Board of Directors, committees, volunteers and staff members for working together in making SunBird a great place to live.
December was an awesome month with all the activities, concerts and shows here at SunBird. Almost every day of the month SunBird had something to enjoy. Our Activities Director Wanda Gastineau does a great job in keeping up with all of the details in scheduling, planning and carrying out these events. Julie Mathis, Food and Beverage Director, and staff also had an extremely busy month keeping up with all the dinners, banquets and activities. John Smith and the maintenance staff also have a large tasking of all of the set-ups, take downs and cleaning for all of these events. This could not be completed without the concerted efforts of these departments working together to make these activities succeed.
This past Thanksgiving Day was the largest SunBird has ever hosted with regards to meals prepared. The Horizon Room served over 555 meals that day; 285 were served in the Horizon Room dining area and an additional 270 meals were reserved for pick up to take home and enjoy with family and friends. Over 750 pounds of turkey was prepared and cooked with over 600 pounds of potatoes, 100 pies of all varieties and all the rolls and fixings. Every nook and a cranny was filled with Thanksgiving food and every oven at the Clubhouse was in full operation cooking the turkeys. Not only was the number of meals served and the amount of food impressive, so was the taste, quality and service of the food as many were completely filled and very complimentary of the feast. We appreciate the Horizon Room staff for making this a wonderful day for all to be grateful.
The swimming pool at the laundry room area has been completely remodeled with new interior plaster, new decking and other improvements. The new high end artistic pavers that were installed are the same ones installed at the Clubhouse pool this past summer. The work began November 30 and was completed on schedule Friday, December 11. This project updates the swimming pool area and reduces the expense of future pool deck maintenance expense. The laundry room building at this area had barriers and concrete poured around the base/footer to prevent soil erosion in the future. These improvement projects add to the excellent facilities SunBird has.
In 2016 major road work is planned for some areas of SunBird to completely remove the asphalt to the base and replace with three inches of new asphalt. The roads in SunBird were originally installed at staggered times as the development was built with homes. Homes were constructed from the north of SunBird to the south and the roads were installed accordingly. After installation, every five years various sections of the roads are scheduled for routine maintenance of crack seal and seal coating the entire surface. Sometimes additional work is required in between these times. Asphalt roads can have an expected life of 25 plus years depending on the conditions and maintenance. Soil conditions, weather, wear and tear and maintenance play an important part of the life expectancy of asphalt roads. Replacing asphalt roads is planned and anticipated. SunBird has replaced the asphalt roads in Unit 1A, 2, Championship Drive (north) and SunBird Boulevard. All of the roads in SunBird are scheduled to be replaced with new asphalt over time. This is a large expense and sections will be done every couple years working south through SunBird. The reserve fund savings account is funded from two revenues sources, home sales and a portion of the annual assessments collected each year. In 2015 over $200,000 was transferred into the reserve saving account for future large replacement expenses including these planned road expenses.
We look forward to an exciting and another fun and successful year at SunBird.