Maintenance Standards

At a minimum, lawns should be mowed, trimmed, and edged weekly from March to November; and biweekly during the remainder of the year. Lawns should not be allowed to grow more than five (5) inches in height, and should be regularly edged along the driveway, sidewalk, street, curbs, and landscape beds to prevent grass “runners.” Chemical edging is not permitted.

Effective weed and pest control should be applied regularly. Manual weed control may sometimes be necessary in addition to chemical treatment, especially during the hot summer weather when chemical treatment isn’t advised.

Bare spots resulting from treating weeds or an irrigation issue, should be resodded with St. Augustine grass (water daily after applying new sod until established).

Sparse lawns should be evaluated by a lawn care company to determine the cause, and resodded promptly (water daily after applying new sod until established).

Landscaping should, at a minimum, be of similar style and substance to the landscaping package installed by the founder. At a minimum, there must be a planting bed(s) adjacent to the exterior front wall of the Unit. It must extend at least four (4) feet out from the Unit, and must be landscaped with plantings including shrubs, and can include other plantings, such as ornamental bushes, trees, plants, or grasses.

Removal or modification of landscaping requires DRC approval by submitting an Architectural Review Application, which can be found at DRC Applications.

Landscaping should be trimmed regularly.

• The ideal time to trim plants is in the spring.

• Accent plants (e.g. Hibiscus, Croton, philodendron, Hawiian Ti, Bougainvillea) should not exceed the height of the bottom of the gutters or eaves of the house and kept in an orderly manner.

• Shrubs (e.g. Capella (Schefflera), Boxwood, Viburnum, Ixora) in the line of view from the street to any window (any plants in a line of 3 or more in front of the view of the house will be considered shrubs, and subject to this height limitation, even if it is a Croton or Bougainvillea, for example) should be maintained at a height no taller than 30 inches, and should be maintained in an orderly manner. An exception to this will be provided if the shrubs are in front of a large front wall of the house with no window, or a small accent window located high off the ground (i.e. you are not covering a window).

• Shrubs or hedges on the side of the house can be higher than 30 inches, especially if screening HVAC equipment, trash bins, well pumps, or power/communications boxes, but maintained in an orderly manner. If this is a continuation of a row or collection of shrubs that starts forward of the front corner of the house, the shrubs shall gradually increase in height from the (maximum) 30 inch height to the desired height on the side of the house.

• No hedge or fence shall be in the front yard, or within 10 feet of the front of the house (must be set back at least 10 feet from the front of the house). Landscaping beds should be weeded regularly to keep free of weeds and grass. 

Landscaping beds shall be mulched. Mulch must consist of generally-accepted mulch products that are natural or synthetic products intended to appear natural. Examples of such are wood chips, shredded mulch, rock, and colored rubber products. Mulch shall be replenished as needed.

Trees should be trimmed regularly (at least annually). Oak canopies should be maintained at least 8 feet from the ground. Palms should be trimmed of dead fronds. Seed pods should be removed by the time they finish growing (usually in the fall).

Built-up leaves (e.g. Oak and Magnolia) in lawns, landscape beds, sidewalks, street curbing and drains should be regularly raked/swept and removed during the season in which they fall. Fallen leaves, for several reasons, inhibit growth of plants and grass. If the grass and landscaping dies, the Owner will be required to replace it (e.g. with new sod or new landscaping, subject to DRC approval).

Dead or removed crepe myrtle street trees must be replaced with another crepe myrtle, at least 4-feet tall, in a cluster of at least three trees. Approval to remove a street tree and to replace that tree requires DRC approval by submitting an Architectural Review Application, which can be found at DRC Applications.

Crepe Myrtle trees should be trimmed annually in late winter (February is ideal), no lower than the knuckles. 

The Unit should be pressure- and/or chemically cleaned, when necessary (e.g. when there is mold, dirt, or rust visible from the street or neighboring Lots), including the walls, windows, doors, garage doors, and roof.

In addition, driveways, sidewalks, fences, mailboxes, landscape curbing, and the concrete street curbing/gutter should be periodically pressure- and/or chemically cleaned to comply with the Community-Wide Standard. This should be done at least semi-annually (twice per year), unless you are in an area where these items get dirty or rusty quickly, in which case you may need to wash more frequently. If your sidewalks, driveway, or curbing look ‘striped,’ they haven’t been properly cleaned.

Weeds in sidewalks, driveways, and curbing along the street in front of your lot should be removed, either manually or chemically.

HVAC equipment and well pumps should be hidden with landscaping, as was installed by the builder. Trash bins should not be stored in sight of the street or any neighboring properties, except for the day of trash pickup (and the prior evening). Store in the garage, behind a fence, or provide screening.

Acceptable Screening Options (DRC Approval Required before installing):

• A fence, hiding bins from the front and side, opening only toward the back of the Lot, at least 10 feet back from the front of the house. 

• Landscaping, which, upon installation, covers at least 80% of the view of the trash bins from the street and neighboring properties, and 100% within one year of installation. 

• Any screening (fence or landscape) must be approved by the DRC by submitting an Architectural Review Application, which can be found at DRC Applications.

Houses should be repainted when necessary, including walls, trim, doors, and garage doors; generally, at least every 10 years if using high-quality paint, such as Sherwin-Williams Emerald or Duration. If visible cracks or spalling are present, these issues must be repaired, and at least the entire affected wall(s) repainted. Color changes require DRC approval by submitting an Architectural Review Application, which can be found at DRC Applications.

Mailboxes should be maintained in a functional, neat, and attractive manner. Mailboxes should be cleaned periodically, and when faded or corroded, should be refinished or repaired in the same style as new. Replacement street numbers shall be the same style and color as the original gold numbers, and are available at the Beautiful Mailbox Company.

Damaged mailboxes shall be repaired or replaced immediately.

Replacement mailboxes must be approved by the DRC. They shall be black in color with gold address numbers, and shall be the same style as the original mailboxes provided by the Founder, which were provided by the Beautiful Mailbox Company. If you are in the section of the community with white mailboxes, you may replace yours with the same style white mailbox with uniform address numbers, if desired.

No boats, RVs, trailers, golf carts, or unregistered/inoperable vehicles shall be parked within view of the street or neighboring Lots, except for up to twenty-four (24) hours before and after use for loading/unloading or cleaning purposes.

No vehicle shall ever be parked on a lawn. 

Please try to refrain from parking vehicles in the street or blocking the sidewalk.