Dan Hickox, chairman of the Landscape Committee for Shadowood Greenways HOA, requests that you read the following:
As you know, in January of 2025 we made a change in landscape contractors.
Shadowood is unique in the fact that we have large common areas, irrigation, lighting, walkways, the bridge and tennis courts, thus this infrastructure must be maintained. Along with that we are responsible for paving all the streets and for certain sewer lines within the community apart from 11th Street. The HOA maintains a budget for normal expenses and a reserve fund for longer-term expenses.
HOAs are required by law to maintain a reserve fund to plan years in advance for these things. The current Board took over with no reserve fund or long-term reserve study and minimal savings. In the past three years we have brought Shadowood back to legal status by performing a reserve study, building up a savings account, opening a CD account and restructuring our landscape contract with our new contractor Solitude.
The Board is aware of the current appearance and condition of Shadowood. During the changeout to a new landscape contractor, we reduced the service level to (1) save money, and (2) determine what services we really needed. Landscape maintenance continues to be our largest expense, and to validate what we need to spend we had to do this. It has become apparent that a couple of areas will need to be upgraded in the future:
- Tree maintenance and preservation
- Weed control
Tree maintenance is a separate item in the budget and has cost about $18,000 the last two years. We expect this to continue as there are several trees in the common areas that will require maintenance in the future.
In the next few weeks, Solitude will complete the drainage and irrigation upgrades in the common area by the tennis courts. Following that, if we have funds remaining, we will have some of the areas wood-chipped or mulched and others cleaned up. We will be starting an annual weed control program with Solitude in the fall so there will not be the weed issue we experienced in 2025. We are beginning to discuss any other add-in items needed for the 2026 contract, but the end result will be that we are getting the service we need and saving money on our overall contract.
In closing, I would ask for your patience as we move forward to 2026. We have made many improvements for the community, upgrading the website, updating legal issues with our law firm, online payments, and many others. The sacrifices we had to make in 2025 will be well worth it in the long term.
The bottom line is all about money. Our goal is to not raise dues if possible, and the current Board was elected to maintain Shadowood and be financially responsible.
If you want to know what goes on in the HOA, come to the meetings, visit the website, or chat with a Board member.
Dan Hickox, Shadowood Greenways Treasurer and Landscape Chair