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24 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2016 EVERY DROP COUNTS Water is critical to our survival regardless of where we live – and here at Four Seasons it's also a multi-faceted issue that the Landscape Committee will continue to focus on during the coming months. California is now in its fifth year of a state-declared drought. On April 1 of 2015 Governor Brown issued an emergency executive order to reduce the state's urban water use by 25 percent, and in June of this year the latest emergency conservation standards took effect (until January 31, 2017). Some of the initial restrictions were lifted to give local water agencies the chance to demonstrate future preparedness using a "stress test approach" to water conservation in order to ensure at least a three-year future supply of water to their customers. Your Landscape Committee has already made several recommendations to minimize water consumption and protect our community, such as revisions to our list of approved planting, lawn and plant replacement in common areas, and fountain removal or modification. Many homeowners have also cooperated by redesigning their front yards to reduce lawn area, including drought- tolerant plants and replacing wood chips with rock and stones. This is a good start – but we can do much more. While the BCVWD (Beaumont-Cherry Valley Water District) has lifted the following mandates, it still strongly recommends that homeowners continue these practices: Water home landscaping only between the hours of 8 pm and 8 am. During this period the wind dies down so more water can reach intended targets instead of sidewalks and streets. Watering when the wind is flat also reduces evaporation. Water only two to three days a week to help meet our goals. The BCVWD also provides an excellent list of water conservation tips on its website at http://www.bcvwd.org/tips.html. For a recorded BCVWD message that summarizes all current restrictions call (951) 845-9581. Finally, at Four Seasons and surrounding communities it's imperative that we also realize we live in a hot, dry climate zone that experiences frequent winds. For this reason, Cal Fire has designated this area as a high fire hazard zone. This means that we must become what the U.S. Forest Service calls a "fire adapted community" – which it describes as "a knowledgeable and engaged community in which the awareness and actions of residents regarding infrastructure, buildings, landscaping, and the surrounding ecosystem lessens the need for extensive protection actions and enables the community to safely accept fire as a part of the surrounding landscape." ~ Sharyn Costello Landscape Committee Architectural review Committee What the heck is yard art anyway? Each of us likes to landscape our yards and show some individuality, which the Architectural Review Committee encourages. However, we all need to realize that in a covenant controlled community such as ours, there are some restrictions to the amount of decorative items or yard art that is acceptable. The guideline is that front yards need to appear to be uncluttered and conform to the community. Although there is no number restriction for yard art, if your front yard has a greater number of large sized items displayed than other homes, it does not conform to the community. Your option is always to move some to the back yard as there is no restriction on yard art in the back. Potted plants in the front are also considered yard art. As a reminder all yard art or wall art (decorative items hung on your house) in the front must be submitted and approved by the ARC before displaying. You have received the revised Architectural Review Guidelines. We would like to thank all homeowners who provided us with feedback during the comment period. The Committee did review all the responses. Please refer to the new guidelines when submitting your requests. There is a new Exhibit A and Exhibit C which are on the website and also available in the rack in the management office. Each month we will be featuring a clarification or explanation of the guidelines to help homeowners better understand the requirements of our architectural standards. We hope you will find them helpful. ~ Tom Halley

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