AZ Active Retirement Living

Hmmm. Where did that shrub go?

I just came across this article and found it interesting. I thought I would share it with those of you who may not have had the opportunity to see the original in the Daily News Sun.

Apparently Sun City Grand has purchased a GPS system with the computer software needed to map out every little detail in the community. This will purportedly help them keep track of the community assets. Sun City Grand has always had a healthy budget/reserve account. It will be interesting to see whether this purchase pays off for them.

Sun City Grand leaves no tree unaccounted (This link will take you to Erin's original article)

August 14, 2009 10:25 AM Erin Turner Daily News-Sun

Creating an inventory of the community's assets - down to the very last shrub - is designed to allow Sun City Grand officials to run things more efficiently.

A new global positioning system and corresponding computer program will allow department officials from the Community Association Management to plan financial reserves more accurately and water community golf courses more efficiently, said Jeff Hochman, director of golf operations.

"It's going to be used in conjunction with our reserves (and) especially with our landscaping, to get an accurate account of the plants and have an understanding of our liability," he said. "The advantages are tracking all of the assets of the community - everything from plants to air conditioning units, computers (and) vehicles."

The Sun City Grand governing board approved $48,000 for the purchase of the Landlogic GPS system and wages needed to get the system rolling in November 2008.

While the program is just getting under way - with part-time employees manually logging community assets, such as plants, cart paths, walls, recreation buildings and vehicles - it likely will be the middle of 2010 before everything is entered into the system, Hochman said.

But once the system is complete, officials will know about every asset in the community, where it is located and how many of each type there is.

"It's really understanding what we do have versus what we think we have," he said.

The system will aid in golf operations, especially. Tracking all aspects of a golf course, from shrubs to cart paths, will allow Hochman to organize irrigation plans and develop water conservation procedures.

"Golf wanted to get all of our sprinklers and irrigation in order. It's helped us get an exact acreage. (And will) help us get the right number of materials to order," he said. "As water issues come down the pipe, we're able to identify areas and be able to measure out on areas we may need to reduce. It's going to save time."

Hochman said the system will be maintained and updated by all department heads once all community assets are entered. The system, he said, has been more useful than he could have imagined.

"Every time you do something new, you find something else you can use it for," he said.

Erin Turner may be reached at 623-876-2522 or eturner@yourwestvalley.com

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If you are in the market to buy or sell a home in one of the Phoenix west valley active retirement golf communities, please call me or visit my website http://KathyAndersonRealtor.com. Here you will find information on homes for sale in Sun City Grand Surprise Arizona, resales in Corte Bella, Sun City Festival real estate, Arizona Traditions MLS listings, Trilogy at Vistancia and Sun City West, PLUS see a map of the Surprise AZ area retirement communities. Don't hesitate to call or email if you have questions.

Subscribe to my AZActiveRetirementLiving.com blog feed

Ken Meade Realty
Sun City Grand Office

(602) 703-8930

I was already planning on doing a blog post about the Loop 303/Bell Rd intersection work that began a week or two ago when I ran across the following presentation the ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation) had made to the Sun City Grand homeowners association.

http://www.grandinfo.com/ddocc/bellrdand303intersectionscgmeeting.pdf

While road construction is never fun to have to deal with, these improvements will no doubt save lives. With the continued growth of the Surprise Arizona area and beyond out to Sun City Festival this intersection has become increasingly congested and more dangerous. More than once in the last year someone has been killed crossing over Loop 303, evidenced by the crosses and flowers at the side of the road.

Sometime in May one of the representatives of the ADOT came to our office to tell us about the work being planned for Loop 303. Most of the work up to this point was being done north of Sun City Grand. He let us know at that time they were going to begin work on the Bell Rd/Loop 303 intersection. We were told they would be doing a temporary overpass that would alleviate congestion during rush hour traffic times while making room for the bigger changes to Loop 303 coming down the road (no pun intended).

Of course the proposed work concerned the residents of Sun City Grand just as future work will undoubtedly impact Sun City West & Corte Bella residents. All along the way ADOT has been forthcoming with answers to questions and concerns. Growth is inevitable and the Loop 303 will one day be a welcome, and much improved, connection between I-17 up North and I-10 to the South.

Click on the following links for more information
http://www.azdot.gov/Highways/valley_freeways/Loop_303/North/index.asp
http://www.azdot.gov/Highways/Valley_Freeways/Loop_303/North/meetings_notices.asp#notices

Each one of Arizona's active retirement communities has something to offer. And, each has its' own unique ambience. When trying to decide which community is the best fit for you, you need to ask yourself, "What kind of lifestyle am I looking for?". Do you want a gated country club style community? If so, Corte Bella or Trilogy @ Vistancia might be your cup of tea. Are you looking for more of an intimate neighborhood style community? Then start with Arizona Traditions or Sun Village.

But if you want resort-style living AND... several golf courses, loads of activities and clubhouses, restaurants & more than one rec center with state of the art equipment... than you are going to want to concentrate on Sun City Grand, Sun City West, and (eventually) Sun City Festival. For the purposes of this post, I am concentrating on Sun City Grand. So here we go. My...

TOP 10 REASONS TO RETIRE TO SUN CITY GRAND

#1 - The limited use of walls in the community creates gorgeous views of golf courses and the White Tank Mountains throughout the community.

#2 - Sun City Grand has 4 regulation length golf courses, Desert Springs, Cimarron, Granite Falls North & Granite Falls South. In addition to the courses being kept in excellent shape the golf rates are very reasonable

#3 - There are about 50 Charter Clubs, 34 Interest Groups, Support Groups, and Community Support/Specialty Groups. It's easy to find new friends in Sun City Grand with similar interests. In fact, if you find yourself bored, or lonely, you'd better take a good look in the mirror.

#4 - This community has its very own Day Spa where you can get facials, massages, manicures and more

#5 - Two rec centers, Adobe Spa/Sonoran Plaza & Cimarron provide the community with 5 pools, spas, state of the art excercise equipment, dance studios for yoga, aerobics, spinning classes etc., clubhouses, tennis & bocce ball courts, a ballroom and so much more.

#6 - The Adobe Spa has an indoor air conditioned walking track for when the temps start creeping up. The picture below was taken from one of the windows along the track looking down on the Adobe pools. Outdoor walking trails throughout the community also make it easy to stay on top of your walk-fit program as well as providing areas to take in a scenic & safe bike ride.

#7 - Sun City Grand is financially healthy, ensuring the facities will be maintained and updated for many years to come.

#8 - The minimum age requirements have been lowered to allow up to 15% of the residents to be between the ages of 45 - 55. So even if you aren't quite ready to retire, you can purchase a vacation get-away now that you can retire to later.

#9 - Close to all the ammenities you might need. Including hospitals, medical facilities, restaurants, shopping and more. This is very important for many people and one reason they decide against other outlying communities.

#10 - You feel like you are living in a resort. I hear this from my clients all the time.

#11 - (OK. I couldn't stop at 10. In fact I could go on and on). Sun City Grand is part of the community of Surprise Arizona, which is one of the up and coming areas of the valley. It is also home to the Surprise Spring Training facility which attracts thousands of baseball fans to the area every year as well as 16 miles from the new Cardinals stadium that was home to the 2008 Super Bowl.

In short, if you are looking for an active adult community that has it all, Sun City Grand should make your short list. For someone that wants to experience life and do things they never thought they'd get a chance to do, in a climate that is hard to beat most months, than you need to pay a visit and see what I'm talking about.

First of all I want to say, this information is not limited to Sun City Grand.   Part One here is all about some of my favorite local birds and they are all birds I have seen here in Sun City Grand, but you could just as easily see them in any of the other area communities.

Of course there are many more bird species than what I have listed here.  I've left out the finches, the sparrows, the wrens and yes... even the doves.  The birds I have listed here are the ones that are more apt to catch your eye because of their size, antics or uniqueness to Arizona.

We have a number of bird species that are always fun to watch.  Some of them live here year round and others migrate in and out of the area.  Sun City West has swans that live on the golf course lakes and have been named. 

Unfortunately, Sun City Grand doesn't have resident swans yet but one of the more majestic birds that you will see flying around our lakes are the Blue Herons.  They can have a wingspan of 5'-6' and create quite a picture when flying overhead.

In the last two months, while driving through Sun City Grand, I've had the pleasure of seeing roadrunners making a mad dash across the road in front of me.

These birds are much larger than I imagined.   They can reach close to 2' in length

The Quail are some of my favorite local birds to watch.  They are creatures of habit and local residents will tell you how a quail family will travel past their back patio at the same time each evening.

The babies are adorable little puff balls and the families look out for each other vigilantly.  In fact there is usually a scout in the group watching out for potential danger and constantly vocalizing to the group.

I had the pleasure last year of having a family come through my front courtyard every day for about three weeks, at aproximately the same time each day.  I was sad when they stopped coming by.  It was probably because my cat was always sitting in the window watching for them too.

Of course everyones favorite are the hummingbirds.  The last two days our backyard visitors have been absolutely exuberant.  It's as if they are celebrating the recent rains.

Last night my husband went out on the back patio and one flew off his perch and right up to Rick as if to say hi.  Then, ZOOM, he was off.  We quite often have what I call hummingbird wars over the bird feeders I have out for them.  We get much enjoyment from these social creatures.

Last (but certainly not least) is the Great Horned Owl.  There are several species of owls you might see come out at dusk but the sight of this guy always amazes me.

My husband went to a clients house in Sun City West once to deliver something and saw an owl sitting on a yard ornament.  He just glanced at it and thought it was one of the fake plastic ones that people use to scare off other birds.  That is until the bird blinked his eyes and turned his head.  It scared the bejeebers out of him.  He said the owl was sitting only about 6 feet from the front door and he wasn't the least bit concerned with having Rick that close.

Well that's it for this post.  As I said there are many more birds I could have mentioned and I'm sure I've forgotten other people's favorites but at least this gives you an idea of the variety of wonderful birds you can see right here in Sun City Grand.

Stay tuned for Part Two where I will talk about some of the creepy crawlies you might encounter as well as the four legged critters running around.

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If you are in the market to buy or sell a home in one of the Phoenix west valley active retirement golf communities, please call me or visit my website http://KathyAndersonRealtor.com. Here you will find information on homes for sale in Sun City Grand Surprise Arizona, resales in Corte Bella, Sun City Festival real estate, Arizona Traditions MLS listings, Trilogy at Vistancia and Sun City West, PLUS see a map of the Surprise AZ area retirement communities. Don't hesitate to call or email if you have questions.

Subscribe to my AZActiveRetirementLiving.com blog feed

Ken Meade Realty
Sun City Grand Office

(602) 703-8930