Bill Barnard
Just when we thought last summer was tough with record breaking temperatures, 2024 has now surpassed last year as the hottest summer on record. We have shattered the record for most consecutive 100 degree days with the count as of this writing at 108 days in a row, beating the previous record of 76. We have also surpassed last year’s record of 55 days at 110+ degrees with 57 days so far this summer. Unfortunately, we are still counting. We’ve had very little measurable rain with only some wind to remind us of the monsoon season that has about a month yet to go. We’ve seen some tree damage this year with the winds, and the heat is taking its toll on many of the plants. Once we see some relief in the temperatures, we’ll be better able to assess where we are moving forward with removals and replacements of plants and trees.
Believe it, or not, we are getting to the time of the year that we begin the overseeding process for our natural turf areas, which include golf courses, clubhouses, parks, and common areas. Many of our new community members from cooler climates are not aware of this process that happens in the Southwest. In Arizona, our summer grass (Bermuda) goes dormant in the winter time and we seed it with a cool-weather grass (Rye) that will grow in the existing Bermuda grass bed. This is so we have a grass that will continue to have a beautiful green look while growing and staying healthy in the winter months. The non-overseeded Bermuda grass areas will become dormant during the winter months and will have a yellow color to it. You will notice on the golf courses that the tees, fairways, and greens are green but the roughs have a contrasting yellow color. Many people think the grass has died but it is just hibernating during the cooler winter months and will start to come back to life and green up when the weather warms up in the spring months. We did complete a turf project last year on the Tuscany Falls West Golf Course in which we put in a different type of Bermuda grass called TifTuf on the fairways and MiniVerde grass on the greens. These Bermuda types will go dormant a little later in the winter time and will green up and start growing a little sooner in the springtime. They will turn yellow during the winter months, but we will paint them during those months to keep the green color on the golf course playing areas. This will be the second winter that we will not overseed the West golf course, which does save us seed cost and water costs that are associated with the overseeding process and will give us a good chance to evaluate the conditions through a full winter season with mature grass. Overseeding will begin in mid-September on our common areas with the golf courses overseeding in the October/early November timeframe. It takes about three weeks for the entire process to complete before we can get back on the newly planted Rye grass. We will communicate our schedules for the different areas via the HOA website and PebbleNews.
The other major endeavor that we are undertaking right now is the budget process for 2025. The budget includes labor planning and scheduling of the operating hours for the upcoming year, analyzing data and information to form our expense budget, and projecting the repair or replacement of reserve funded assets or new projects that we might want to accomplish in 2025. Each department director puts together their portion of the budget. The staff will create a final working draft of the budget that will be presented to the homeowners and Board for final review. We will host a homeowner meeting in early November prior to presenting to the PCHOA Board of Directors for final approval during the November HOA meeting.
Before we know it, the community will be busy with returning residents and the hustle and bustle of the upcoming holiday season. I hope you all made it through your summer healthy and safe, and we look forward to the busy season coming up.