Important Announcements

We are reseeding the grass field in the park on Monday, April 25 to eliminate bare patches and help it grow nice and lush for the summer. Consequently, we need to avoid foot traffic for six weeks on the park grass to let it germinate and get established. We will rope off the area during this time.

Please avoid walking on the park lawn while it is roped off, so we give the lawn every opportunity to grow in. Thank you!

All new homeowners are required to landscape their lot within the time limits specified in CC&R §10.12. If you haven’t landscaped your lot yet, then it likely needs to be completed this summer. We highly recommend planning early so you can hire a contractor before they’re filled up for the year, and submitting your landscaping plans early to ARC so there is sufficient lead time to get them approved.

Upcoming Events

We have a number of fun springtime events planned. We hope to see you there! For the latest details, please visit the HOA’s community calendar.

Movie in the Park takes place every third Saturday of June, July, and August.

De-Winterizing your Home

Once freezing temperatures are behind us, it is the time to de-winterize your irrigation system. It’s easy to do yourself. Here are some important tips.

• Weather can be unpredictable. Wait until you are confidently past the last frost date, which is typically in May. For a quick estimate, visit The Almanac.
• Restore water slowly to the pipes, and test each zone one at a time. Check for potential leaks in the pipes (above and below ground) and clogged or damaged sprinkler heads. Low pressure may be a sign of a clog or leak.
• Adjust sprinkler heads for even coverage and to avoid watering sidewalks.
• Check for leaks in the basement or other parts of the home due to frost damage. Yes, this has happened to homes in our community!
• When in doubt, consider hiring a professional to de-winterize your system and ensure everything is working correctly.

Spring is also a time to clean and test your air conditioning unit to ensure it is working efficiently. You can hire professionals to do an annual inspection and deep cleaning, or do it yourself. Most important is to clean the outdoor condenser unit coils, which can be done by first cutting power to the condenser, then gently spray cleaning them with a garden hose.

Landscape Springing to Life

If your landscaping grew a few weeds over the winter, now is the time to get rid of them. Remove weeds when the soil is soft, wear protective gloves, grab from the base of the weed, and pull slowly and steadily to ease the roots from the soil. There are also several great tools to help with weeding – just make sure they are designed to remove the roots.

If you wrapped the trunk of your trees for winter, they can be unwrapped in the end of April, and tree stakes can be removed after one year. Stakes left too long can actually hinder development, as trees need to sway freely in the wind in order to grow stronger trunks.

If you want to get a jump start at adding native and water-wise plants to your landscape, then the City of Longmont and Resource Central have two amazing opportunities. Sign up online to be notified of their next sales.

• Longmont’s annual Arbor Day tree sale.
• Resource Central’s Garden in a Box.

Proper lawn care varies based on if your lawn consists of cool-season or warm-season grasses.

• Cool-season grasses include Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye, and fescue and are common to Longmont. They green up in mid-spring, require regular watering over summer, need ½ - ¾ of a day of full sun, and go dormant in late fall. They stay green longer than warm-season grasses but require more water. Spring seeding can begin in mid-spring before the last average frost date of spring and continue until early summer. Avoid seeding when temperatures reach the 90s or above.

• Warm-season grasses include Bermuda, St. Augustine, and zoysia. They green-up in late spring, require less water but lots of sun over summer, and go dormant in mid-fall. They are more water-wise than cool-season grasses but stay green for a shorter time. Warm-season grass plugs are planted after the last average frost when the weather is warmer, and summer is an excellent time to plant. Avoid planting any later than 8 weeks before the first frost in fall.

Consider aerating to help bring air, water, and nutrients to the roots and reseeding (or plugging) areas with dead grass patches to help your lawn grow back healthy. Be careful not to drown your lawn by overwatering. Start slowly, and increase watering as the weather gets warmer.

Neighborly Advice

Please keep sidewalks clear at all times. Blocking sidewalks with vehicles, sports equipment, or other items is an HOA violation and possibly a city and ADA violation as well.

Please be neighborly when walking your dog by keeping your pet on the sidewalk or sidewalk strip, respecting any “no pets” signs, avoid letting your pet stray onto front yards, and always picking up and properly disposing of pet waste.

Our goal is to maintain a beautiful and well-kept neighborhood. This requires everyone’s participation. Please be proactive in keeping your property and landscape clean, well maintained, and review the HOA CC&Rs and Architectural Guidelines for important rules and regulations.

Getting Help

The HOA has a web portal for homeowners to submit requests, access documents, and pay monthly dues. Request access if you do not have an online account.

All property improvements require written approval by the ARC committee prior to construction. Submit an Architectural Review request and include a completed architectural request form, plot plan, design diagram, and other details as necessary. Our Architectural Guidelines can be downloaded from the homeowner’s portal under Shared Documents > Architectural Review.

If you find something that needs repair in a public or common area, please submit an online maintenance request. Include a detailed description, the location, and upload pictures if you have them.

If you find something was illegally dumped (furniture, mattress, etc), contact Longmont Code Enforcement at (303) 651-8695. They will go out there in person, confirm the item, and then schedule the sanitation department to haul it away.

You can submit an online request to reserve the pavilion in our community park for your next event.

Welcome Our New Board

At our latest annual meeting on December 6, 2021, the homeowners elected Adam Flood to the HOA Board for a 3-year team. Karl Weaver, our previous board member, continues to serve on the ARC committee. Please join us in thanking Karl for all of his tremendous time and assistance over the past three years, and Adam for volunteering his time with the new board!

Our 2022 HOA Board is:

• President: Chris Russell
• Vice President: Adam Flood
• Treasurer / Secretary: Gina Burrows

The goals for the HOA Board in 2022 are:

• Complete our landscaping improvement plans: harden/upgrade our irrigation system, perform lawn maintenance (aeration, fertilizing, possibly overseeding) for summer, start replacing dead trees, and engage Resource Central for waterwise improvements and grants. (Gina/Chris)
• Review and update our architectural guidelines for home improvements, landscaping, outdoor equipment, parking, etc. Consider pre-approving specific home improvements, such as xeriscaping kits. (Chris)
• Resolve ownership and maintenance responsibilities for the detention pond, irrigation controller “C”, and affected surrounding areas. (Chris)
• Review the reserve study and create a reserves budget for 2023 and beyond. (Gina)
• Continue improving our online systems, newsletters, processes, and communication (Chris)
• Establish safety initiatives such as neighborhood watch and participation in the Neighborhood Group Leaders Association. (Chris)
• Apply for grants for landscaping & trees, waterwide improvements, park improvements, and social events. (Gina)
• Create a Board Handbook that documents our HOA’s assets, contracts, development & plot maps, Board responsibilities, processes, online accounts, history, and more. (Adam)
• Investigate costs and viability of “nice to have” community improvements, poll homeowners, and determine if we should fund / pursue NGLA grants for any of them. (Adam)

Welcome our ARC Committee

The Architectural Review Committee is probably the toughest position in our HOA because we receive so many architectural requests, far more than other HOAs our size. Fortunately we have a great ARC committee! They have several decades of professional experience in construction and have been very generous in volunteering their time to help the community.

• Karl Weaver joined ARC in February 2020. Karl was a construction manager for 15 years before getting his contractors license and building houses in Prospect. He retired in 2010 but continues to do handyman work on the homes he built, has served on the City of Longmont’s Appeals board for 3 terms, and helped the HOA as a Board member, with landscaping, social events, welding repairs, park trash collection, and more.
• Karen Burgess joined ARC in October 2021. Karen is a structural engineer (retired) with experience in the analysis, design, inspection and creation of construction documents for offshore, industrial, institutional, commercial, and residential structures.
• Kristin Colaur joined ARC in February 2022. Kristin is a project manager for a commercial construction company and worked on a variety of projects ranging from a University courtyard renovation to a new city library. She is excited to help keep our community beautiful!

Board Updates

On April 20, the Board, CCG, and BoCo (our new landscape company) did a neighborhood walkthrough to review necessary landscaping work and irrigation system repairs to be completed this year. The following work will be done:

• Repair two irrigation water pumps. One pump is non-functional and needs to be replaced. The second pump is only partially functional (doesn’t go above 35 psi) and needs to be repaired or replaced.
• Continue repairs for main lines, drip lines, and sprinklers to ensure they are operating at full pressure and without leaks.
• Upgrade our irrigation controllers with a wireless module for remote monitoring (including leak alerts), real-time weather updates, programming, and overrides for special events.
• Reprogram the watering cycles and enable flow sensors, multi-station watering, leak detection, and weather overrides.
• Re-seed the park lawn to accelerate growing back strong and lush this year. Work includes dethatch, blow, water, aerate, seed, and rope off from foot traffic for up to six weeks to give it time to establish. The lawn has already been aerated once, fertilized, and de-weeded earlier this year.
• Repair or remove edging and spikes that have become raised / exposed.

Additionally, the Board discussed options with BoCo on removing and replacing trees, installing rolled metal edging rings, and other potential future improvements.

The Board and ARC have been meeting bi-weekly to review architectural requests and the Architectural Guidelines and will begin drafting proposed updates for accessory structures (pergolas and sheds), basketball hoops, and other rules. These updates will help clarify ambiguities, bring our guidelines in alignment with Longmont code, and address feedback from homeowners.

On April 27, the Board, ARC, and CCG will do a neighborhood walkthrough to review home improvements completed and identify any issues that may require further work or resolution.

The Board is working with CCG senior management to streamline the processing of architectural requests from homeowners. This includes improving how ARC requests are tracked, establishing response times for specific steps (e.g. “New ARC requests are processed, tracked, and submitted to ARC for review within 1 business day”), formal written processes, training, and quality checks to ensure compliance. These changes will help improve response times and reliability for ARC requests.

Once the above work is well underway, the Board will next focus on resolving the detention pond.

Getting Involved

If you’re interested in helping with upcoming social events, newsletters, or any of the HOA’s activities or committees, please reach out to us at hoa@harvestjunctionvilliage.com. Our HOA is community-led by homeowners like you!

These are also a few social network groups created or managed by Harvest Junction homeowners. They’re not directly affiliated with the HOA, but they are great resources.

• To join the “Harvest Junction Village” neighborhood on Nextdoor, create an account using your Harvest Junction home address.
• To join the “Harvest Junction” group on Facebook, click Join and request access from their group page.
• To join the “Harvest Junction (Good Vibes Only)” group on Facebook, click Join and request access from their group page.