Landscape Updates

• Landscape replacement was placed on hold due to the work being completed throughout the property to replace the wooden shingles. There were a few landscaping projects which were specific needs related to dead trees and sod, but very little was done. We are now developing proposals for plant replacement which would be completed over several months, one court at a time.
• Last month we had a pine tree fall between two buildings which appeared to have been killed by pine beetles or another pest. Thankfully there were injuries or damage. This incident gave us concern about the health of our many other pine trees on the property and required a full sweep and inspection of all of our trees (all species) on our property. Following that activity, we now have completed a property wide removal of a few sick trees, many large dead branches, the thinning out of some of our trees for wind mitigation, the removal of all branches which are growing close to our new mansards, and trimming the perimeter Magnolia trees to ensure visibility for automobiles pulling out of the property.
• We have changed vendors for our irrigation inspection and repair services which provided a much lower labor hour rate for system repairs. So far, we are seeing a pretty substantial decrease on what we were spending for irrigation repair work.

Wooden Shake/Shingles Replacement: This is the largest project that we have ever undertaken in the history of Middlebrook Pines. It also was probably the most inconvenient for our Guests and Residents and we are thrilled that the project was completed 4 months early. We were less thrilled with the unexpected costs associated with large amounts of insulation which were needed in each building, but excited at how wonderful the product makes our property look. While this was a very expensive project to complete, due to the long life and warrantee of the product we are looking forward to the positive impact that this will have on our collection of Reserve funds in the coming years. We hope that everyone is pleased with the new and sleek look of our 1980’s buildings.
Miscellaneous Improvements
Pressure Washing of Sidewalk/Walkways: This annual event was completed in February.
Building Exterior Painting: Buildings 52 through 63 were being painted this fiscal year.
Pool Resurfacing: The pool was resurfaced in late spring and new tile installed to provide a new color scheme and a fresher look. At this time, we did not complete work to renew the pool deck or the restrooms located at the pool for funding reasons. Our hope is that we can give these assets some needed attention in the next couple of years. There are some remaining issues with the pool work that was done and we are working with the vendor to come back and fix these issues. So, it is possible that at a future date, we may need to close the pool and partially drain the pool so that work can be completed.
Water Retention Areas: The City of Orlando notified us that we needed to clean out and return to the original grade of our lake as well as all of the canals and collection areas around the perimeter of our property. This was an unexpected cost for us to incur and thankfully since we have always fully funded our Reserves and many years ago changed to a “Pooled Reserve” system, funds were available for this work and a “Special Assessment” was not required. This work has been completed and the City has approved the work as completed.
Signs: Over the years we have had to add more and more signage at our entrances and all of it was in need of replacement. We were able to take a holistic look at all of the information which needed to be posted and present it in in a less confusing, more visible, and better-looking sign package. We also needed to replace the Community sign which is located on the corner of Conroy and Middlebrook Roads. We hope that you are happy with our new sign posts and signs.
Rules and Regulations Reminders
Please be reminded that our Rules and Bylaws specifically exclude short term rentals as well as conducting business from your unit. It has come to our attention through homeowner complaints that some owners and tenants are operating room or condo rentals through websites such as Airbnb. This practice is creating complaints as owners/residents are uncomfortable with seeing transient population and parking in the neighborhood. Please ensure that you are not operating a business or allowing short term rentals in your units as we will be taking swift action against violators.

Words to Live by

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive

results – Willie Nelson