C.A.N. Report – April 2009

EVENTS:
The Annual Children’s Party in the Park is Saturday, April 25th. If you don’t yet have your Food Pass, please call the POA at 627-2800 to R.S.V.P. and make arrangements to get the pass(es). They will not be available at the event!

The Special Events Committee has selected SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12th as the date of the 4TH ANNUAL ART FESTIVAL AND CRAFT FAIR AT PGA NATIONAL. The event will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. in Masters Park (same location and time as last year). If you are a crafter and have never sold your items, it isn’t too late to get involved. You can not only make some holiday money for yourself, but you can also provide some great gifts for those who buy from you to give to their friends and family.

Several of last year’s participants commented that the residents of PGA National didn’t support the event as they have in the past. Although it was extremely windy and a little cold last year, it was still a wonderful day. If you missed it, you certainly missed out on some beautiful items at great prices. Don’t miss it this year – mark the date on your calendar and stop by the park. It will be worth it!

STUFF AROUND PGA:
That turn lane at PGA Blvd/Ryder Cup Blvd (to go east on PGA Blvd from Ryder Cup) is expected to be started in about 30 days. Northern Palm Beach County Improvement District is coordinating this project.

L.A. Fitness has completed renovations to the plaza (formerly known as Shoppes on the Green). Yes, they changed the name! I think you will agree that the place looks great!

Improvements at each entry: The Maintenance Committee has been hard at work planning a “face lift” to each entry to PGA National. At this time, I can only tell you that plans include re-facing the signs/walls to match the stonework at the Resort and completely re-landscaping the entries. More information will be provided in a future article once plans (and costs) are finalized.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
It’s almost that time again! On June 1st the POA will mail the assessment notice for the annual assessment due on July 1st. If there is any reason you can’t pay by the due date, you must contact the POA or the account will go to collection. Start preparing now, please!

BYE, BYE BIRDIES
Before snow birds leave for the season, please be sure your property is cleaned up and in good condition. Not being in town and therefore unable to have the driveway or roof cleaned is not an acceptable reason for requiring your neighbors to look at a dirty house for several months. The POA Board (and your neighbors) appreciate your cooperation!

C.A.N. Report – March 2009

Lots of things are happening in and around PGA National so I thought I would focus on things happening that you might not know about:

The Face Lifts
If you haven’t been down Fairway Drive, you don’t know that Shoppes on the Green (where Walgreens is located) is under construction. L.A. Fitness is moving into the former Publix space and plan to open soon. In connection with the opening, they are really beautifying the plaza (and changing the name but I’ll come back to that). The roof will finally lose the “freckles” it acquired after the storms caused mis-matches tiles to be used; the teal awnings will be replaced with a more contemporary style; the entire plaza will be painted; and the parking lot is being re-landscaped. In short, the place should look great when they are finished! Yes, I did say they are changing the name. The quaint “Shoppes on the Green” name will be changed to L.A. Fitness Plaza. The signs on Fairway Drive will soon be replaced to reflect the new name.

The next bit of news relates to the former fire station (behind the Mobil and north of “L.A. Fitness Plaza” (wow; it is going to be hard to re-program that name!). It will soon become Gardens Shul and will soon begin its renovation.

The City of Palm Beach Gardens is presently re-designing their park immediately outside the Northlake/Ryder Cup Blvd gate. Plans for the park include a fully accessible handicap “boundless” playground area; surrounded by picnic pavilions; basketball courts; softball and soccer/football fields and a whole lot of parking. A dock is being built just north of the parking lot on Ryder Cup Blvd (ie: the dock will only be accessible from the City’s park side, not from Ryder Cup Blvd. The gate between PGA National’s parking area and the park will stay where it is and will remain closed.

With all this beautification the POA needs to keep up, right? A lot of changes you might not see have just occurred: each of the POA guardhouses were just painted and new flooring was installed. Roofing quotes are forthcoming and the Board is looking into ways to update their appearance (without spending a fortune, of course!). In addition, the Maintenance and Long Range Planning Committees are working with PGA Resort to re-design all the entries which will be re-landscaped and the signs/walls will match the stone used at the Resort.

Turned on or turned off?
At the annual meeting, Northern Palm Beach County Improvement District reported that they are working on getting the right turn only lane installed at the north end of Ryder Cup Blvd so drivers can turn onto PGA Blvd without getting “stuck” behind someone going straight into Mirasol. The Board attempted to resolve this a few years ago but it was cost-prohibitive. With appreciation to the City of Palm Beach Gardens and NPBCID, a way was devised to allow the turn lane to be installed without breaking the bank! No, I don’t know the estimated completion date yet but I will keep you informed.

The traffic light on Hyatt Drive is also “in progress”. For those who don’t know, Hyatt Drive is the street just east of Ryder Cup on Northlake Blvd that goes to Chatsworth, Commerce Park and the City Park. If you have never tried to exit from Hyatt Drive to go east onto Northlake Blvd, the rules are something like: 1) stop at the stop sign and pray you will be able to get through this turn; 2) inch slowly forward so you can see the cars flying west-bound over the turnpike overpass and pray you can estimate their speed; 3) look west to the cars racing from Bee-Line Highway towards Military Trail and pray you can estimate their speed; 4) watch for cars coming out of the new development on the south side of Northlake and pray you can figure out whether they are going straight or turning; 5) once all three areas appear clear say the last prayer and GO LIKE HECK! In other words, unless you are a really, really religious person with a lot of faith you should do what I do…. Turn right out of Hyatt Drive, go WEST on Northlake Blvd and make a u-turn at Ryder Cup Blvd to head east!

SOME REMINDERS:

Fun Stuff: The ANNUAL CHILDRENS PARTY IN THE PARK will be Saturday, April 25th from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. in Masters Park. The post cards will be mailed to all PGA residents this month. Don’t forget that you must R.S.V.P. and pay $1.00 per food pass at the POA office. All food passes must be purchased BEFORE the event; they are not available at the park. The Special Events Committee will not be selling extra soda and water this year. Each food pass entitles you to one soda so if you need additional drinks, please plan to bring your own. We hope to see you there!

The CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS is holding their Spring Craft Show 2009 on Sunday, March 29th from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the City’s Taste of the Gardens Green Market behind the Municipal Complex on the corner of Military Trail at Burns Road. In addition to the regular Green Market participants, lots of talented crafters (including yours truly selling sterling silver and gemstone jewelry) will be at the event so stop by and say hi!

Not so Fun Stuff: Dogs, dogs, dogs. If you have them clean up after them! In addition to being unsanitary and just plain rude, it is one of the most inconsiderate, low-class, disgusting things you can do to leave your pets waste without cleaning up. The City Ordinance says you are required to have a visible means of cleaning up after your pet. You don’t want to pay for my shoes and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like to step in it or smell it either so please pick up after your pet!