Willow Creek News and Views – August 2020

A publication of Willow Creek Homeowners Association, Inc.
“Deed Restricted Single-Family Neighborhood”

Hello from your Willow Creek Estates Board members.

It’s August and yes, it’s hot. And dry. Our poor plants and yards are suffering even with once a week watering. There are many Texas native plants which require little watering and several of you have installed these plants and shrubs. There are websites that list the best native plants and/or drought-resistant plants for this area. Just use Google or your favorite search engine to look the up the type of plants which should be used. Or talk to our local native plant experts at the San Marcos Discovery Center at 430 Riverside Drive, phone number 512-393-8327 or go to the website at www.sanmarcostx.gov. Are you interested in Xeriscaping? This type of landscaping reduces water consumption by 60% or more, reduces yard maintenance and keeps ongoing costs low. Before starting though, please check your covenants and restrictions and contact the Architectural Control Committee.

October is right around the corner. Normally we would be scheduling Neighborhood  Night Out on the first Tuesday night in October. We’re thinking about a “drive thru” experience—offering a bag filled with a granola bar, maybe chips, packaged cookies and some water, one bag per person. We’ll say hello (wearing masks of course) and accept your annual dues payments, $20 in cash or by check. We’ll jot down your names and send receipts after the event so we can keep the line moving. You will also be eligible for door prize drawings. We may delay the “drive-thru” event depending on the status of Covid-19. We want everyone to be as safe as possible so we adjusted our game plan and developed contingencies. We’ll keep you posted!

Your annual DUES are due! It’s a $20 great value deal since we use your dues to serve you. Our expenses continue because we use the dues money to support updates to our fabulous new website and more frequent newsletter mailings (for those who aren’t on email). Hard copy mail works in times like these but it does cost postage. Later this year we’ll have our annual holiday lighting contest and then in the spring our annual garage sale should be spectacular. Don’t forget you can use PayPal to pay your dues easily: just go to our website www.wchoatx.com and scroll down the page to get current on your dues. Or you may mail your dues payment to WCHOA Treasurer, PO Box 1883, San Marcos, TX 78667-1883. So please please please pay your dues!

Wow! Our walkers and joggers have increased since most people are avoiding gyms!! It’s amazing when walkers/joggers are out in 100 degree heat but it helps if we remember there are people who enjoy the heat. If you go out at noon for a quick drive to the drugstore, you’ll see a few resilient pedestrians “enjoying” the heat. Do not assume because it’s super hot that people are not on the pavement walking or jogging through the neighborhood. Keep your eyes open and watch out for pedestrians! Here’s some tips:

• Slow down when you see a pedestrian or jogger
• Carefully move to the center of the road
• Watch out for oncoming vehicular traffic and make sure the pedestrian acknowledges you
• Pass carefully and give a friendly wave of acknowledgement
• Driving at sunrise, dusk or night-time brings its own challenges

Thank goodness we have very few streets that have “pass through traffic.” We appreciate those of you who’ve slowed down and those of you who take extra care for our pedestrians. Keep up the great work. We have a limited number of “zoomers” and their pictures may appear on Facebook posts.

In our last newsletter we asked for volunteers to be on the Board. The response was not enthusiastic. We know that serving on HOA Boards usually falls into a couple of camps: no, heck no and no no no no no. It’s often a thankless job to serve on the Board since some folks in our neighborhood forget that our HOA and its rules are MANDATORY and you are an automatic member as a property owner regardless of whether your property is in the city limits or in one of the county pocket streets. The dues, however, are optional.

Think about that for a quick minute. Why do we have a few rules? Why do we promote safety, health, lot maintenance and more? Why do we support making the neighborhood a beautiful, peaceful location? Willow Creek Estates is something special and we want to keep nurturing its beauty and fostering adherence to the few rules we have in place. And we want to maintain everyone’s property values as a bonus.

So, if you are interested in serving your community, we continue to look for individuals who care. We need names for volunteers to be Vice President, Treasurer and President. Of these three positions, the Treasurer position seems to require the most work so if you’re a numbers geek the Treasurer position has your name on it.

What are the next steps for a ballot? We can elect a new board at an annual meeting, the directors can call for a special meeting, or we can mail requests for nominations and then hold a vote by mail. The Board prefers a face to face meeting if at all possible. Thus, we’ve decided to delay until January 2021 and plan a special Face to Face meeting then. If things don’t improve by then, we can conduct a Zoom Call if necessary. So, it’s status quo for now. Questions can be directed to us at wchoa99@gmail.com.

Welcome to our new Vice President Jeff Jewett. Thank you, Jeff, for volunteering to help the WCHOA Board!

•Please support our Local Business Partners!•

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~ NEWSLETTER EDITORS: WCHOA Board

Website:  wchoatx.com

Email Address:  wchoa99@gmail.com

Mailing Address: WCHOA, PO Box 1883, San Marcos, TX 78667-1883