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| Four Seasons Hemet Herald | September 2014 | 12 As we outlined our charter in the August, 2014 Herald Magazine, we now find the ARC activity must become more sensitive to the recent approval of AB#2100 by the California Legislature. It relates to homeowners associations' control of plant installation or removal and water reduction. Nothing in the new law releases an owner from complying with other landscaping maintenance requirements in an association's governing documents, such as keeping landscaping neatly trimmed and free of weeds. An association can still impose a fine (after notice and hearing) against an owner if the owner does not mow his or her lawn as may be required by the Association's governing documents. An association can send one notice of violation to an owner who has reduced or stopped watering his or her landscaping, informing the owner that while the owner may be excused temporarily by law from watering his or her landscaping, as soon as the declaration of drought is lifted, the owner will be obligated to restore his or her landscaping to an attractive condition. We bring this information to your attention to insure that any landscape changes require prior approval of ARC. Please be sure you have reviewed the application process as outlined in the Guidelines on pages 3, 4, and 5. Together we can get through this water conservation mandate. Your cooperation will be appreciated. Architectural Review Committee In early August, several members of your board of directors, members of our Euclid Management staff, and chairpersons of various committees, met to address the issues regarding the drought conditions we currently face. The focus was maintaining the landscape beauty we all enjoy, while conserving water. In addition, discussions as to how the homeowner can be informed and helped to conserve water and maintain the greenery required by the CC&R'. Drought conditions have brought forth new challenges. It is a fact that landscape maintenance consumes the majority of a homeowners monthly water usage. One might say to themselves "I would like to cut my water usage but I'm not sure what to do." An important factor in water consumption savings is setting your landscape watering timer correctly. Most of us tend to over-water our lawns. The roots of our grass should develop deep growth in order to access available water held in the soil. Over-watering does not encourage deep root growth and high temperatures will quickly affect our lawns. This is where setting your timer correctly is important. The best time to water is early in the morning… about 5 am. Watering early in the morning allows water to be absorbed by plant roots before warmer temperatures tend to speed evaporation. So, if your timer is set to water later in the day, reset it to water earlier. Do you need help to reset your water timer? Ask your landscape maintenance worker to assist you or to reset the timer for you. Most of the landscape workers would gladly help you with this task. It only takes a couple of minutes to accomplish. Another source for assistance might be your neighbor. As we all know, our neighbors help whenever they can. There are many more ways to conserve water and still maintain the greenery we enjoy. In future articles we will address other water saving thoughts pertaining to landscape (i.e. drip irrigation, micro- sprinklers, sprinkler heads, and inserts, etc.). In the meantime, please monitor your landscape water usage while maintaining greenery as required by our CC&Rs. Happy greenery! Landscape Committee