Change to lawn mowing schedule

The owner of GM LawnPro and I met earlier this week to discussed the cutting height and mowing frequency. He will raise the cutting height on his lawn mowers beginning with the next mowing.

He said that he is seeing unnaturally slow growth of the lawns both here at the Manors and at his other clients, which he attributes to the cool wet weather we had in early spring that has remained cool but with less rain. He proposed - and I accepted - a reduced frequency of cutting until the lawn growth rate returns to normal. He will make his next cut on Tuesday June 16th and the next one 10 days after that (Friday June 26th) - and so on - until we agree that the growth rate has recovered and requires mowing on a normal 7 day cycle. If we finish the growing season with less than the 26 contracted mowings, we will receive a credit.

Retention Ponds

The Central Park Master Association (CPMA) is responsible for maintaining the six retention ponds scattered around the Central Park development. Kramer-Triad is the property manager for the CPMA (as well as the Manors) and on our behalf, they have contracted with LakePro of Swartz Creek, MI to maintain the six ponds located on our common property.

Per the contract, Lake Pro services our ponds six times each year, beginning in mid-April and continuing at regular intervals through September (about four weeks apart). During each visit, they chemically treat the ponds to control algae, provide floating and submerged weed control and also apply a blue dye to improve the water appearance.

JUNE 4 UPDATE: The CPMA Board of Directors at their June 4, 2009 meeting authorized Kramer-Triad to amend the contract with LakePro to add two additional treatments for the 2009 season, bringing the total to eight. They also directed Kramer-Triad to inform the Board members via e-mail when LakePro notifies them that they have delivered each treatment.

JUNE 8 UPDATE: LakePro has given us tentative treatment dates for the remainder of the summer. They are June 11, June 18, July 1, July 14, July 27, August 11 and September 3.

Factors that contribute to the rapid growth of algae include water temperature, rainfall and the amount of nutrients introduced by lawn fertilization and waterfowl. While we cannot control most of these factors, we can try to keep the geese population to a minimum. Please do not feed the waterfowl (or any other wildlife, such as the deer). Kramer-Triad has also installed exclusion devices on some of the ponds that will hopefully convince the geese to hang out elsewhere.

Central Park Picnic

The residents of the Meadows and Gardens subdivisions to our south are organizing a Central Park Picnic this Saturday (June 6th) from 3pm to 6pm. All residents of the Manors and Kensington condos are also invited to attend. The event with take place on the commons area that is just south of the intersection of West Broadway and Central Park North.