Here's a link to the city's Holiday Schedule page.

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Winter Rye Grass "Over-Seeding"

Nobody likes brown grass... and the Rio Crossing community has made it pretty clear in past years that not over-seeding with rye grass in the winter looks, well, just bad.  So now for the second year in a row, we're having our landscape vendor Stillwater prepare the turf areas and start the over-seeding process. 

The grass areas will turn brown in the process, which will likely start in late September, depending on how the temperatures go.  But they should only be brown a few weeks, while the summer/Bermuda grass goes dormant and the newly seeded winter/Rye gets heavily watered and sprouts.

Please be patient... it will turn back green within a couple of weeks -- generally by mid to late October -- and be green through March/April of 2020, when they'll bring the Bermuda back to life.

Dan has provided an article about the transition from summer to winter turf for homeowner's yards. Take a look if you have grass in the front or back and want some guidance on keeping it green in the cooler weather.

FYI, the rye over-seeding process for our 5+ acres of common-area turf costs just over $7,000 in preparation and seeding, and about that much again for the extra watering needed.  That amounts to about $40 per homeowner, but our annual budgeting process has this covered, so there's no extra cost involved to the homeowners.  Enjoy the (almost) year round green grass!

Inspection Tours Starting Up

Our new community manager Wendi has been visiting Rio Crossing over the past few weeks, but has been mostly observing and not writing many violations, while she has taken time to get to know the community. The board gave her the "thumbs up" to start sending out "Courtesy Notices" where the situation warrants it.  Remember: The Courtesy Notice is not a fine notice, but an observation that she has seen something that needs your attention.

The Rio Crossing Violation Policy specifies that if the issue is spotted again, you'll get a second notice that is essentially an "Intent to Fine" notice -- again, not an actual fine.  If the issue is spotted a third time, then you'll get the first fine of $25.  In general this means you'll have a month or more after the first notice before a fine shows up.

If there are special circumstances about your situation, we always would prefer you to contact Wendi and explain or ask for some additional time, rather than waiting until a fine is sent.  Communication is key!  
 

Now is the time to do some yard preparation so that the weeds stay under control.  Some of you have landscapers that come by and take care of your yard -- consider asking them to be sure they apply a "pre-emergent herbicide" (translation: something that kills weeds that haven't come up yet).  If you don't have a landscaper, stop by any hardware store and ask them for advice on how to prevent weeds in your gravel areas.

You may end up with weeds -- it always happens when it rains, but we've had more of a "non-soon" instead of the usual monsoon this year.  If you do get weeds, take a look at this article on our web site by Dan. It has some good information about using "post-emergent herbicide" (translation: something that kills weed after they come up).