The Association will be re-landscaping some areas with drought-tolerant xeriscaping this fall.
The California drought is not going away anytime soon. While the substantial penalties are no longer with us, the actual cost of water has begun to rise substantially. To add to the pain is the cost of a new $15+-million water treatment plant to handle Chromium-6 reduction (remember Erin Brockovich?). Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) is imposing a “meter charge” plus higher rates to finance this plant plus to handle increased water costs on their end. All of this starts in November, 2016
For this reason, the Board has opted to continue its implementation of drought-tolerant landscaping in various areas of the Association, especially where lack of sun makes grass and traditional plants hard to grow. A few years ago, we moved away from annuals in our planter beds at the intersections and between some units. And our median now sports a lovely array of desert plants instead of blanket of thirty grass. In an upcoming phase, we will install xeriscaping on Camino Jalan, Calle Mora and Calle Barcelona, with a beautiful combination of desert plants, rocks and boulders. This should significantly improve the look of these streets, plus it will continue to save on water costs. Those funds can now be moved toward overseeding of our other areas with new grass.
This project will occur this fall. Please stay tuned for specific timetable information. We are being very careful to ensure that this work does not impact holiday periods when our residents are likely to have visitors.