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Landscape Committee By the time you read this we will be well into October. El Nino conditions are predicted toward the end of the month, which (hopefully) will begin to ease the affects of the drought on our community and bring back the beautiful green landscape we all know and love. We will be meeting again with the City of Hemet to discuss fall planting and design on the outside of our entry gates on Florida and World Cup, as well as, discussions on El Nino preparedness ensuring that storm drains, pipes and channels are clean and cleared. Again, here are more examples of water saving techniques we all can easily practice around the house: INDOOR • If you accidentally drop ice cubes, don't throw them in the sink. Drop them in a house plant instead. • Install aerators on the kitchen faucet to reduce flow to less than one gallon per minute. • Soak pots and pans instead of letting the water run while you scrape them clean. • Wash fruits and vegetables in a pan of water instead of running water from the tap while cleaning. • Collect the water used to wash fruits and vegetables. Use it to water house plants. • When washing dishes by hand, don't let the water run. Instead, fill one basin with wash water and the other with rinse water. Better yet, use the dishwasher. Dishwashers typically use less water than washing dishes by hand. If you install a water-and- energy-efficient dishwasher you could save three to eight gallons per load. Always run a full load. OUTDOOR • Aerating your lawn once a year will make it easier for water to soak into the ground. • Set your lawn mower to three or three in a half inches high. Taller grass shades the soil keeping it cooler and protects the roots to increase the chance of survival. • Minimize evaporation by watering between 9 pm and 6 am. • Divide your water cycle into shorter periods to eliminate run off. • Direct rain gutter spouts and other runoff towards shrubs and trees, or collect the water and use for your garden. • Use drip irrigation for shrubs and trees to apply water directly to the roots where it's needed. As a reminder, if you are going to make changes to your landscape, please submit your plans to the Architectural Review Committee for approval before the work has started. Forms are available at the Lodge front desk. 11 | Four Seasons Hemet Herald | October 2015 | When you have submitted an application (Exhibit A) to make changes to your home or landscape and it has been approved, you discover a problem or change your mind and want to add, deduct or change the plan. Do you need to notify the ARC? Yes you do. To accommodate you and expedite the approval of your change, we (Kathy Enos and Michelle) have designed a new form, Exhibit D. You can pick it up at the Lodge desk, fill it out and return to Michelle Restle prior to the next ARC meeting. If your neighbor is making changes to their landscape adjacent to your yard and you think it would look good on that side of your driveway also, do you also need to file an Exhibit A form for that change? Yes you do. We suggest you file at the same time as your neighbor does. This will need to be done in order for both of you to have the work begin. Often I am asked if you need to file an Exhibit A to paint the outside of your house. Yes and No. If you are painting the whole house, shutters, trim or garage door the same color it originally was or is, you do not have to file an Exhibit A. But if the color is not the same, yes you must file an Exhibit A. Even if the new color is off a little, you must file. Note: the ARC will probably not approve a color that is the same or close to the color of the house next to yours. Avoid water run-off: At the end of August our water provider EMWD did not meet the State requirements to reduce water consumption. Therefore we are now in Stage 4A drought status, which means a reduction of another 10 percent. It has been hotter than normal so some residences have been watering their lawns longer and we have seen water running down the streets again. Please look outside when your sprinklers are on to see if there is water flowing into the street gutter. If so, you must reduce the time they are on. Stage 4 can cost you $50 or more if you are cited for excessive water run-off. Solar Alert : Under a new State law, wait time for a permit to install a solar system has been reduced to 10 days for most residential homes. Hold on! The ARC only meets twice a month with two to three weeks in between, so you may have to wait before the contractor starts work. Most of the delays for ARC approval is the placement of conduit (the tube the electrical lines are enclosed), the transmitter and cut off switch. Before you submit your Exhibit A to the ARC, pick up the guidelines for Solar Installation at the Lodge. Show this to the contractor so they can incorporate the requirement into you plans. Architectural Committee

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