RPM /The community / Polaris /Jardines 8 / Town centre /The golf course.

Hi Folks,

Just back from a lovely 12 days at Condado. Managed to get some information from Lila of RPM with regard to the issues most people have been raising concerns about over recent months. In particular, I speak here about issues associated with Jardine 8 but a lot of things have a common theme to all areas. Although I was promised a list of everything noted for our Jardine (8) it was not forthcoming by the time we left so I just have verbal responses right now. Please bear in mind that this is Lila's interpretation of it speaking entirely in English which may lose a little in translation here & there.

I will endevour to persue the publication of this list, as I intend to put up a case to our president about the lack of mature plants in and around Jardine 8. There are only another one or two Jardines which come remotely close to our short-fall and I think each of these Jardines have an equally justifiable case for further planting. Anyone belonging to Jardine 8 and the other two (might be 4 & 9, but not sure) should take a walk through from 13 down-over then from 1 up-over and form their own opinions. Now, I am told from a resident friend on Jardine 12 that their garden is the one that features in the DVD presentation, and this is in my opinion the Jardine that should be setting the tone for all the others. After all is said & done, if this DVD is a representation of goods for sale - then we have been miss-sold !!  As much as we enjoyed our time around the pool area of Jardine 8, it is painfully obvious that there is not one single mature palm tree in this area, where in other Jardines there are several clusters of two or three. The same applies to the open grassed areas between the appartments, again sparsely populated with sizeble plants. Five out of 6 of the mature olive trees in Jardine 8 have died off or are dying off. The impressive uplighting of trees in our Jardine is also lacking somewhat.

I would not like people reading this to get the wrong impression that we are not pleased with the way the resort is coming on, but it must be emphasised that all jardines/naranjos/whatever should be finished off to the same uniform standard. We all paid roughly the same purchase price according to position-typically a bit more for a south or south west facing aspect, and will all continue to pay roughly the same community fees (apart from the stupid variations for the same properties in different gardens).

Town centre. This is shaping up nicely, but has a long way to go before it will have a good buzz about it. The area is so large inside and this needs to be populated by many tables/chairs/parasols once we get the restaurants this place needs. We visited La Torre while there and you truly can compare the difference occupied units make to the feel of a place. I only write this to say to all not to expect too much too soon - it took La Torre 3 years to get to this stage.

Golf course. Again, loved my cycle rides around the course buggy paths. Course will be stunning when finished - the contours and layout of the holes are very appealing to look at. What is obviously apparent, is that there is stil a massive amount of work required here to get this course into a finished state. A visit to play golf at La Torre on Monday with our neighbours from upstairs made it evidently clear that when Condado is finished to the standard that La Torre is now, it will be a real gem. But to get there, there is a massive amount of landscaping required in areas like the edges of fairways, around greens & lakes, the barren areas between fairways, condition of the turf on the fairways, etc,etc. The only part of Condado I would say would be fit for play in the next six months is the greens. I would have expected to see at least 200 workers spread out over that course if there were any serious intentions of opening it this year - in reality a dozen or so workers were visible on the course at the most.

 Points discussed with RPM:-

• Generally, now community fees are being taken, the things that have been needing attention for some time can start to be progressed.
• Broken footpath lights in gardens. Polaris claim these have been damaged by children on bikes - rubbish of course, but it is a case of how far can you take the argument. The scope of repairs has been summarised and tender invited from 3 different parties. There was talk of replacing the lights for a more robust version.These costs will be reviewed and selected/approved by the presidents for the work to go ahead.
• Street lights/garden not illuminated. Combination here of Polaris responsibility & community from what I could gather. My slant on this was that no particular service that has not been in acceptable functional operation for the 12 months of warranty or whatever should not fall on the community to put right.
• Fences around swimming pools. Repairs to the sub-standard finishing on the fences & gates were to commence straight away this week. Signs of pool rules are already being erected.
• Plants in gardens. The dead & dying plants in the Jardines are to be replaced following the end of the summer period, when the replacements would have a better chance to survive. I get the impression there are still arguments here on who's responsibility this will be - Polaris, the gardening sub-contractor, or even the community.
• Ammendments to properties that do not comply with the rules. These modification put in place by the owners that conflict with the community guidelines will be ordered to be removed. If owners refuse to comply they can be fined by the local authority continuously until the property is restored to the state that is allowable.

So all in all, had an enjoyable time (even though the Irish bar did not open as hoped-did we really beleive it would ?) and managed to meet some more really nice friendly neighbours - Tom, Joan, Emma & Stephen / Mike & Jan / Anthony & family. Look forward to seeing you all again along with others we have not caught up with yet.

Regards,

This message was last edited by Billbo on 17/07/2009.

Hi will & Jackie

crickey it must have taken one of you an age totype all the info out. Thanks

Not a lot Ican say as itall seems to be covered.

I have to say though that I agree wth Polaris that the damage to the lights in and around the gardens and to some of the olants are causedby the children. We are in Jardin 5 and when we were over a few weeks ago I witnessed one small Spanish bot tearing the leaves off one of the plants. Though he soon stopped when I told him NO in a loud & stern voice. Strangly enough the lights outside the apartment that he went into wasbrocken as was the light outside the home of another Spanish family who justlet their children run riot , with no supervision .

Now I`m not saying thatit is just the spanish children that are to blame .But these are the two areas I noticed had brocken lights where as al the remaining lights were intact & working.

As a retired childminder, maybe I aught to go over & offer my services on "How  your children should behave when there is no adult supervision "Ha Ha . No, Just kidding

Jan

This message was last edited by Jann on 25/07/2009.

When the gardeners are cutting the grass, has anyone seen how the lawnmower jumps forward when they release the brake ?.

I have seen this happen on the gardens and also seen them hit the lights, although it did not break, surely this is also a possible cause of the damage.

I've seen them mow down 2 lights in our garden!

Dan

Hi All

With reference to the garden lights being broken, I was talking to my garden president and he was telling me they believe a lot of them are being damaged by the gardeners hitting them when cutting the grass but unless someone witness this happening and then reporting it to the president’s the garden company will not pay for the replacement lights. So I would suggest if you see lights being broken by anyone you report it to your or one of the presidents.

Phil

Can anyone tell me who the president for Jardin 13 is and how to get in touch with him? Many thanks.

Hi Arlene.

Jardin 13    Jose Luis Garcia Casas   Apt. J1587   Sorry but don't have an email address for him, perhaps Sergio does?

Phil

 

Cheers Phil.  Arlene

Hi Arlene

I agree they don’t fall down on their own but my point was if we see the person that knocks them over we should report to our president or RPM we have witnessed this happening so the person or company that has broken the light can be asked/required to pay for its replacement.  That way the cost doesn’t have come out of our community charge and will make the perpetrator hopefully more careful in future.

Phil

I suspect to get any accountability on this we would all have to be bloody private investigators taking a photo or video of the deed as it happened. Everyone just denies it is their responsibility so what happens then........................it just comes back to the community to pay for .

I saw yesterday`s pictures from the golf course. Seems to me that there is no grow-in going on ? A lot of repair work is needed, and in order to be able to play in November, I believe a staff of 30-40 people would need to go full-time on this task. The longer this is postponed, the more costly the operation will be. Anyone heard a new date for the opening? On our last visit at Easter, we were also told that the Driving Range should be opened in August. Any news on that?

Not read all the thread but

the kids riding bikes and crashing into the lights in the gardens.

i want to meet the kid who crashed in to half of the lights in the pool of garden three 6 months ago

anyone know if they are fixed yet or who that kid was?

fozzer

did the kid have SCUBA on when he crashed into the lights?

We just returned from CdA yesterday after three fantastic weeks at the resort. Like many of us, the golf course is what we are waiting for now and I can assure everybody that it is looking great. The grass is growing, believe me! They have started cutting some of the fairways. leaving that nice square pattern of lighter and darker grass.

The tees on some of the holes on front nine is alomost ready. All 18 greens look fast and furious. When we were out in May, the fairway on hole 13 (close to Al Kasar) did not have any grass, now it is green and thick.

Obviously, it takes some time before it it is playable, but my point is: Things are happening, and it is happening fast. The only fairway with big, brown spots is hole 12. But they worked on that nearly every day. Re-seeding, fertilizing, cutting, watering...

A team of Jack Nicklaus representatives inspected the course on Tuesday. I spoke to a guy who had been in touch with them, and they had confirmed that he course will open this year, probably in December. They will open Las Terrazas first.

I visited the sales office, and Agustin, the office director, also confirmed that the course at CdA will open this year, probably around Christmas. He also said that Al Kasar will hold a temporary club house with shop and changing rooms until the permanent club house is in place. He could not confirm if Polaris will start building the club house this autumn.

Tom Erik