Bill Barnard
This time of the year many residents are going to cooler parts of the country to get away from the Phoenix summer heat. Our summer climate can be harsh; last July was the hottest ever on record with every day being over 110 degrees with low temps not getting under 90. This kind of weather can definitely take its toll on us, but it also takes a toll on our plants and trees, and presents challenges for our landscape and golf course maintenance crews. Let’s hope this summer we see a little break in the heat and some good monsoon rains.
We have a very large community. PebbleCreek occupies more than four square miles, much of which is common areas, grass, and golf courses. Maintaining these areas is a vast, and ongoing, job. We have more than 300 acres of maintained common areas, well over 100,000 plants, flowers, bushes, shrubs, and trees, not to mention approximately 280 acres of turf that includes the golf courses, Sunrise Park, dog park, and other stretches of turfed common areas. It takes a team to manage it all.
Our landscape maintenance team is led by Enrique Vigil and Armando Flores, landscape superintendents, with oversight of our Assistant General Manager, Greg Fausto. They oversee our HOA common area staff, as well as the work done by our contracted landscape company, AAA. Our HOA crew maintains clubhouse areas, sports courts, parking lots, pools, and high-profile areas. They also respond to work orders submitted via PebbleHelp.org, patrol, or the ALC office.
AAA maintains the common areas throughout the community on an eight-week rotation, the dog park, semi-annual flower rotation, irrigation, weed control, tree trimming, and special projects that may come up during the year.
Our golf courses are taken care of by our golf course maintenance teams led by John Fornes, Golf Course Superintendent at Eagle’s Nest, and Joe Miller, Golf Course Superintendent at Tuscany Falls. They oversee all of the maintenance (including desert areas) at their respective golf courses.
During the summer months, we take on one of our largest annual projects, trimming the palm trees throughout the community and the golf courses. There are over 6,000 palm trees that will be trimmed along the main roads, golf courses, clubhouses, and community common grounds. Total Tree Care Specialists have been contracted for this job, which has already started and will run through the month of July. Another major project that occurs during the spring/summer months is the annual aerification and transition of turf on the golf courses and common areas. Aerification is the process where cores of soil and grass are pulled out in order to reduce compaction, change the soil profile, and allow water and oxygen to penetrate into the soil to speed up the transition process. Grass transition is the process of changing from our winter rye grass to the summer Bermuda grass and all overseeded grass will go through this transition as the temperatures rise. Many people do not realize that we are growing two different crops of grass and that the transition is a common process in Arizona. It can be concerning to see the rye grass die out and the extensive preparation process which kills the winter rye and leaves brown grass. The Bermuda grass doesn’t flourish until the humidity levels increase and the next few months are a rough time for the aesthetics of the grass.
These maintenance crews of hard-working staff are dedicated to doing their very best to maintain our grounds and golf courses with the many challenges they face with Mother Nature, the scale of the property they maintain, and other factors (extreme heat, no rain, storms) that can alter their plan. I am proud of the work the landscape and golf course maintenance teams are doing, especially in the hot summer months. I hope as you move throughout the community, you will take a moment to see and appreciate how beautiful our community really is.