After voting to switch management companies, the Walden Lake Community Association went through a transitional period without a permanent property manager. Now, the board of directors has chosen Linda Fernandez from Greenacre Properties, as their manager.
“I think what we’re seeing from Linda is, we’ve got a really good manager,” Rich Glorioso, president of the board, said.
Within weeks of Fernandez’s first day, the board has begun to move forward with her ideas for solving some of the community’s most infamous problems.
For at least eight years, some Walden Lake residents have been fighting to get the board to enact a towing policy for non-resident cars that are parked at the lake. A board committee has been working on the issue, but they have not found a practical and affordable solution. Fernandez has come to the rescue.
“In different communities I’ve managed in the past, the area for towing is really confined, so we’ve used the boot system,” Fernandez said.
If a resident notices a car parked at the lake without a resident decal, he or she will contact the office. Fernandez or another employee will go out to the lake and take down important information about the car, and then call the booting company. An employee of the booting company will arrive and put a boot around the car’s tire.
The owner of the vehicle will have to pay the booting company $70 to have the boot removed. With this system, there is less opportunity for any vehicle in the lot to be damaged than there might be with a tow truck coming in. Also, the owner of the car is able to retrieve important items that might have been left in the car, such as a cell phone or wallet.
After she suggested this to the directors, they approved the idea.
Over the next month, Fernandez will be checking relevant ordinances of the city and county, and gathering quotes from booting companies. The board will vote on a company at the February meeting. Glorioso expects the policy to be in place and active by April.
There also are numerous issues related to landscaping in the community, such as patches of yellow or dead grass, low-hanging moss and diseased plants.
“In general, the community doesn’t look its best,” Jan Griffin, leader of the landscaping committee, said. “I’m not pleased at all.”
One of the most costly problems has been inefficient irrigation. In November 2014, the community went over its city-dictated limits of water for irrigation and did not realize it until the end of December.
“Almost every day when you drive by and see the sprinklers on, at least one of them is shooting straight up in the air,” Glorioso said.
Board secretary Heather Updike said she has seen the sprinklers running on numerous rainy days.
Fernandez has committed to working closely with Walden Lake’s current landscaping contractor, Complete Landcare, to address the issues. But she also will be inviting a representative of OLM Inc., a landscaping company that manages six of Greenacre’s communities, to meet with the board.
Vacancy
The board has been short a ninth member since former WLCA President Jim Chancey resigned in November. The ninth member is necessary for avoiding split votes. In multiple votes on two applicants who hoped to fill the vacancy, there was a tie. Since the directors would not change his or her vote, they have decided to leave the position unfilled until their annual election in August.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.