Sunrise Mountain View Estates

Do you use one of our pools on a regular basis? Are you in favor of keeping the pools  in excellent condition?

Would you be willing to serve as “eyes” and “ears” for the community, to make sure the pools  are kept in excellent condition for the benefit of all SMVE homeowners?

We are seeking a new Chair of the Pool Committee to keep the board informed about pool  maintenance issues, and to serve as a point of contact for homeowners who have a concern about the pools. The chair also meets occasionally with the contractor who tests water quality and maintains the pool equipment.

The time commitment involved tends to be around two hours per week, averaging out to around ten hours per month or less.

Twice a year, the chair accompanies the PIMA County health inspector on an hour-long inspection of each pool, but the chair can delegate that responsibility to another volunteer homeowner, if preferred. (Two homeowners with previous pool experience are available to help with the annual inspections, if desired.)

The chair’s most important responsibility is to be aware of changes in pool  conditions that adversely affect homeowner safety or enjoyment. This doesn’t involve a specific task or activity; it just means being attuned to changes requiring attention from the pool contractor or some other contractor.

The ideal candidate for this role is someone who uses the pools on a regular basis, but the only real requirement is that you agree that keeping the pools in excellent condition is vital to the enjoyment of your neighbors and beneficial to all of our property values.

As Pool Chairperson, you’ll help the board allocate the pool budget to where it can do the most good. You’ll have the satisfaction of making life better for everyone who uses the pools. And you’ll get to know more of your neighbors along the way, including other homeowners who volunteer their time in service to the neighborhood.

If you’re feeling neighborly and can commit the time to help your neighbors in this particular way, we would love to hear from you. If you are interested in helping, please contact ✉ Larry Spencer, Secretary or call him at

New member brings valuable perspective

Dave and his wife, Karen Robbins, closed on their home in SMVE in January, 2016, in the middle of their second year snowbirding in Tucson. After 44 years in Connecticut, they relocated permanently from W. Hartford to Tucson in November of that year. Dave was a mathematics professor at Trinity College in Hartford for 42 years, and Karen was a nephrology nurse-educator at Hartford Hospital. She continues to be active in the American Nephrology Nurses Association, for whose journal she is associate editor. She also anticipates volunteering for SNAP. Dave still dabbles in mathematical research.

Dave’s perspective is informed by his snowbirding experience as well as by his more recent experience as a year-round resident of SMVE. If you see Dave around the neighborhood, please welcome him and thank him for joining in the committee’s efforts to fulfill its duties to the SMVE Board.

Dave takes the place of Guy Scharf, who is retiring from the committee after several years of service at all levels of involvement with the SMVE Board, including President of the Board. If you see Guy around the neighborhood, please thank him for his record of extremely valuable and dedicated service to SMVE.

The other members of the Architecture Committee are Joe Steiner and Bill Coan. Joe’s background consists of 34 years of teaching at high school and college levels. He moved to SMVE in 2012 and served on the SMVE Board for several years, both on the Safety and Security Committee and as Vice President. Bill is a retired software developer who serves as a mentor to vulnerable members of the greater community, including Syrian refugee families, adults suffering from mental illness, and prisoners re-entering society. He moved to SMVE in 2014 and began serving as chair of the Architecture Committee in February of 2018.

Like other homeowners in SMVE, the members of the Architecture Committee were attracted to SMVE by the beauty of the neighborhood’s natural setting and the architecture of its private dwellings.

The Architecture Committee is charged by the SMVE Board with helping homeowners improve the value and appearance of their homes in conformance with SMVE’s CC&Rs and Architectural Standards. For more information about the Architecture Committee and SMVE’s CC&Rs and Architectural Standards, visit SMVE Architecture.

If you have had a weed problem in the past, it is likely that you will continue to have problems because weeds drop seeds that linger waiting for future rains to give them new life. To reduce problems in future years there are really only two alternatives:

1. When the weeds first appear, dig them out before they have a chance to drop seeds which will hang around causing you issues in the future.  It is always easiest to dig out weeds when the ground is wet and the weed is young. Weeds that go to seed can drop seeds that cause problems for several years.
2. An alternative is to consider using a pre-emergent prior to the rainy season.  Pre-emergents attack the seeds and prevent the growth of the weeds.

Persistence pays off when dealing with weeds regardless of which alternative you pick. Know that if you have had a weedy yard in the past, unless you have taken some sort of corrective action, you are likely to have it again — and it is likely to get worse each year. The only thing that will reduce or stop the issue is to remove the weeds before they have a chance to reseed. This has to be done several years running as seeds can lie fallow for a long time.

Homeowners who have visibly weedy yards that must be addressed will be notified in August.