This season has been the busiest and the most active SunBird has ever been. Concerts and shows are being sold out to maximum seating capacity in the ballroom. Open spaces in the parking lots and streets around the clubhouse are hard to find at times. The Horizon Room restaurant on Fish Fry and Trivia nights is completely full, with a wait time to be seated. Some activities have had to be relocated to outdoors or at different times to accommodate the increased participation. Water volleyball is filling the complete sport section of the swimming pool with more players than ever and many people swimming in the pool. The sport courts, Fitness Room, and multipurpose rooms have increased greatly in their use. It’s great to see the facilities and activities being used and enjoyed to their full capacity.
Some may ask, “How did this happen?” Years ago, the board of directors and the Project Review and Planning Committee conducted research and studies of our current space usage at the clubhouse. They also investigated what were the new and upcoming interests with active adults and how to maximize use of current facilities for space management. The board made several visits to many other similar communities throughout Arizona, both old and new, to view and observe other facilities for future possible ideas for SunBird. The ballroom did not have an indoor stage or a sound system for performances. The ballroom now has a large stage with the ability to host a variety of big concerts and shows and serves as a storage area below for over 400 chairs and other equipment. The Fitness Room only had one universal, four-station exercise machine, one treadmill, and one bicycle. The Fitness Room today has several treadmills, elliptical machines, stationary bicycles, cross trainers, Nustep machines, and a large variety of other exercise equipment. The swimming pool and jacuzzi were less than half the size, with no shade coverings and very little deck space. The clubhouse swimming pool is more than double its size, with a section for lap swimming, water fitness exercise, water volleyball, and leisure use. The jacuzzi is four times its size, now with a shade ramada covering. The clubhouse had no covered patio barbecue grills. The clubhouse patio area now has a covered kitchen area with three large barbecue grills, refrigerator, freezer, and covered seating to accommodate 200 people. The Apache multipurpose room in the clubhouse with a balcony and shade covering did not exist. The clubhouse was added onto constructing the Apache Room, seating over 30 people for various events and an oversized balcony covered deck overlooking the community. The restaurant was originally located in the Lakeview Room, which only seated 55 people with a very small kitchen. The restaurant is now in the Horizon Room and seats 163 people, with adequate kitchen space and equipment. The tennis courts were reconfigured and reconstructed, replacing the asphalt courts with six-inch post-tension concrete and laid out to accommodate both pickleball and tennis use. No bocce ball courts. The open space on Championship Drive at Kerby Farms Road now has two concrete courts with artificial turf courts and a covered picnic bench area.
With the foresight and planning of the board of directors and Project Review and Planning Committee, and community support, these facility enhancements and improvements were integral to SunBird’s current activity level today. The Project Review and Planning Committee still meets regularly, studying and discussing current facility needs and improvement, along with potential wants and needs of the future.
After some late-night events at the clubhouse, sections of the main hallways will now have crowd control “Do Not Enter” yellow ribbons stretched across some sections. These control bands will help in directing people safely out of the clubhouse. The clubhouse has over 40 doorways, with some that can lead to the swimming pool or other gated dead-end areas. To avoid the chance of people running into dead ends as they exit the clubhouse, please do not ignore them by going over or under or removing the bands. As SunBird Patrol begins checking and locking down the clubhouse each evening, these directional bands will help guide people to the nearest exits of the clubhouse. This procedure will leave accessibility to the elevator from the upper floor to the main floor and access to the restrooms from both the ballroom and Horizon Room. This will be helpful for all exiting the clubhouse and for the SunBird Patrol in making sure everyone is accounted for and has safely exited the building.
Both past and present board of directors and committee members should be greatly appreciated for their service, dedication, and talent volunteered. It is because of their foresight and work, and community support, that SunBird is such an active community. Thank you!