highlands at gann ranch - february 2016

Copyright © 2016 Peel, Inc. Highlands at Gann Ranch - February 2016 1

HigHlands at gann RancH

HIGHLANDSat Gann Ranch

FEBRUARY 2016 | VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

CHRISTMAS HOUSE DECORATING CONTEST

It’s wonderful to see how each year our community comes to life and light with beautifully decorated homes!! As is our annual tradition – we once again held the Christmas house decorating contest. In a new twist – this year we had the board select the top 4 homes and we left it to the community to help to vote in the top houses. Top 3 were awarded gift cards! Voting was facilitated through a voting website and we announced the means for placing votes on the Nextdoor APP as well as our Highlands of Gann Ranch Facebook page. Thanks to those who joined into the fun of voting! And now…to once again share our winners!

Third place went to: 2405 Nan. Tied for 1st place were: 2302 Barnett and 2314 Zoa.Happy New Year!

2 Highlands at Gann Ranch - February 2016 Copyright © 2016 Peel, Inc.


EMERGENCY NUMBERSEMERGENCY ..................................................911Ambulance / Fire .................................................911

SCHOOLSKnowles Elementary ........................... 512-570-6200Running Brushy Middle School ......... 512-570-3300Leander High ..................................... 512-570-1000

OTHER

City ..................................... www.cedarparktexas.govCedar Park Post Office ...................... 512-260-7585

NEWSLETTER PUBLISHERPeel, Inc. ............................................ 512-263-9181Article Submissions .......... [email protected] ......................... [email protected]

IMPORTANT NUMBERS

Teenage Job Seekers

Baby Pet House YardName Age Sit Sit Sit Work PhoneDoe, John ...................... 15 .........• ......... • ........• .................. 111-1111

*-CPR Training +-First Aid Training

Attention Teenagers The Teenage Job Seekers listing service is offered free of charge to all The Bridgeland Times teenagers seeking work. Submit your name and information to [email protected] by the 9th of the month!

Highlands or Gann Ranch – Calendar of Events!

February 4 (6:30)Annual HOA meeting (Knowles

Elemementary)May 7

Neighborhood Garage SaleMay or June ?

Neighborhood Triathlon (kids and adults events) Date TBD

October 1Fall Fest

mailto:[email protected]



Hello neighbors! And welcome to 2016. We hope you and your families enjoyed the holiday seasons and are looking forward to a healthy, happy and peaceful 2016. This past year, the HOA board was pretty significantly turned over in positions. We introduced the folks on the board in our last newsletter. All but myself, were basically new folks (Brett was also a prior sitting member but found in 2015 he was not able to participate all that much as the year saw him move from the community). I want to thank Virgil, Stephanie and David for stepping up to join. While we don’t necessarily carry a large load of effort being on the board, it does mean giving up some time – especially Virgil who was willing to play a key role in the coordination of the content and collection of this new newsletter we have.

Regarding the newsletter - I think we’ll likely revisit the frequency of its distribution so that we ensure we are not sending out newsletters just to do so – but instead publishing them on a schedule that will ensure we have substantive content needing to be shared. We could use HELP! We want neighbors to be involved so that this communication mechanism so useful. We need interesting content or topics that you all would like to share. So please – if you have interest or a heart for getting involved here – please let us know. We will raise this at the upcoming board meeting.

Regarding the community events – having, myself, only lived in the neighborhood a few years –the only “events” I have seen being attempted to get organized are 1) an annual neighborhood garage sale 2) the fall fest. Some folks have suggested planning more events (folks have even mentioned prior neighborhood events they have seen tried) – including Sports events (a triathlon near/around the pool), Christmas visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus…or an Easter egg hunt. We all know – some neighbors want to/have time to be engaged – and others just don’t have the time or interest. No matter what – if we do plan to hold an HOA sponsored event - we would like to ensure it is a success – meaning we get neighbors to come and get involved. The best way to ensure that happens – is feedback and involvement in the planning – by MORE folks! So – we’re asking for HELP here as well. If you want to see us organize something and you believe lots of people will come and join in – we are all ears! So please – if you have interest or a heart for getting involved here – please let us know. We will raise this at the upcoming board meeting.

In 2015 the HOA did not take on any significant capital investment projects. We did ok some work that will be done this winter at the pool replacing the seams/joints between the pavement around the pool as much of that was coming loose and if left alone could create issues with water getting under the pavement and seriously damaging things. We also hope that this work will help to elevate to ant issue we’ve seen over the past few years at the stairway entrance into the pool – where the little ones hang out. We asked about other projects that the homeowners thought would be useful for the community

this past year – and one such project suggested was awnings over the mailboxes. We did start investigating costs and efforts for such in 2015 and foresee this being a possible project for final consideration in this calendar year. Of course -- we’re open as always for input and feedback. Our goal for investing is to support projects that will indirectly enhance the value of our community and properties. The housing market has improved greatly over the last few years and we all saw the impact from finally having all the empty lots being built out. Highlands of Gann Ranch has many “features” to make it an attractive community to live - as we “compete” against other newer communities that surround us: walk to schools!, private community pool, walk to large city park facility. We love our homes – and if/when the day comes that we find a need/desire to sell…we sure want to know that our community is not just holding value – but increasing in value! So – to that end, if you have interest or a heart for getting involved in suggesting projects that should be considered please let us know. We will raise this at the upcoming board meeting.

Let’s take care of our community! Neighbors - we greatly appreciate all who truly care for their homes, property and the community that we all live in day to day – we greatly thank you! We hope that it is each homeowners desire to maintain the value of their properties which means you - and/or the folks renting your home if it is a rental unit - ensure you not only abide by the HOA rules for maintaining the property…but go above and beyond that in respect for your neighbors. If you are new to the community – please access the HOA requirements for lawn and property care on the HOA management website (http://www.goodwintx.com/ ).

One specific “issue” we seemed to see more often than most this last year was folks not edging their lawns along the sidewalks and curbs. Just wanted to make sure to mention that here – so that as we start to move into spring and grass cutting season starts again – we’re clear on that requirement. We also have some folks, myself included, with some likely original fences in place. Fence lines around the community are a large part of what we visually see! So – we all appreciate that these are maintained when boards are loose or broken. We’ve had some neighbors who have historically themselves, or maybe a prior owner, stained their fence. Really attractive – when the whole fence is one uniform color! If in fact you have a stained fence – we’d appreciate it if that decision to have it uniformly stained – is maintained when boards are replaced.

As we roll into 2016 we’ll have at least 1 new HOA board member – but we do hope that more folks will decide to get involved beyond just being on the board. We have things we can say, things we can plan and projects we can coordinate – and if you want to get involved we’d be happy to have you!

See you all at the HOA annual meeting!Diane Ivanova

Letter from the HOA President



Interested in adoption for your family? The Adoption Collaborative of Central Texas is made up of organizations that are adoption focused and committed to raising awareness about the children in our communities that are awaiting families. The collaborative is driven by the mission of sharing the responsibility to strengthen the adoption community and build forever families. You can work with these agencies to become licensed to foster and/or certified to adopt. There are no fees to adopt from the foster care system regardless of which agency you work with. There is only one pool of children, and they are all in care of the state, every licensed agency has the ability to assist in adoption of any foster child in Texas. Child placing agencies are also foster care providers. The first step is to choose a child placing agency to begin your journey.Learn more about starting the adoption process and the children waiting for forever families at www.heartgallerytexas.com.

Leander ISD Educational Excellence Foundation (LEEF) held its inaugural gala, Drop the Mic, on Saturday, January 9 at the Westin at the Domain. The first time gala was a sold out event with over 360 attendees raising over $100,000 for the education foundation! The seated dinner and live auction event was enjoyed by all but the highlight of the evening’s entertainment was an epic lip sync battle courtesy of LISD high school principals + staff. Each high school competed for votes by a panel of celebrity judges (Bob Ballou, Bob Pickett, Olga Campos, and Quan Cosby) to win a cash prize for their high school Project Graduation. The judges had a very difficult time picking winners of the lip-sync battle - because they were ALL so awesome! The 2016 LEEF Lip-Sync Battle Winners: 1st place: $2,000 for Project Graduation: Rouse High School. 2nd place: $1,000 for Project Graduation: Vista Ridge High School and 3rd Place: $500 for Project Graduation: Cedar Park High School, Leander High School. A heavy Vandegrift contingent voted with their applause giving Vandegrift High School the ”crowd favorite” award which earned the high school $500 for Project Graduation.

The event raised over $100K in one evening for the foundation. These funds will support LISD schools with classroom grants, reading books for children, dual-credit textbooks, AP exams and college coaches.

At A Glance:• LISD is comprised of 40 schools in four cities (Austin, Cedar

Park, Leander, Georgetown)• The district encompasses 200 square miles.• LEEF programs serve 37,000 students.About Leander ISD Educational Excellence Foundation (LEEF)The mission of the Leander ISD Educational Excellence

Foundation (LEEF) is to provide resources to support innovation, enrichment, and equity in pursuit of academic excellence within the Leander Independent School District community. LEEF supports its mission through three main program initiatives: foundations for learning focusing on early literacy, enriching great teaching through innovative teaching grants and professional development, and college bound programs to build a college and career-ready culture among all students. LEEF is making a difference in Leander ISD and strives to ensure that every student in LISD has the opportunity to succeed.

Leander ISD's LEEF Gala



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DISCLAIMER: Articles and ads in this newsletter express the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Peel, Inc. or its employees. Peel, Inc. is not responsible for the accuracy of any facts stated in articles submitted by others. The publisher also assumes no responsibility for the advertising content with this publication. All warranties and representations made in the advertising content are solely that of the advertiser and any such claims regarding its content should be taken up with the advertiser.* The publisher assumes no liability with regard to its advertisers for misprints or failure to place advertising in this publication except for the actual cost of such advertising.* Although every effort is taken to avoid mistakes and/or misprints, the publisher assumes no responsibility for any errors of information or typographical mistakes, except as limited to the cost of advertising as stated above or in the case of misinformation, a printed retraction/correction.* Under no circumstances shall the publisher be held liable for incidental or consequential damages, inconvenience, loss of business or services, or any other liabilities from failure to publish, or from failure to publish in a timely manner, except as limited to liabilities stated above.

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Support Your Neighborhood Schools

While we all may have ideas of what makes a neighborhood great, most would agree that keeping the neighborhood kids active in the community is always a positive. Local PTAs do a wonderful job of organizing and contributing to kid activities.

No kids - no worries! Membership is open to everyone in the community so please consider joining the Knowles PTA for the 2015-2016 school year.

You can sign up on line http://www.joinpta.org choose School District "Leander ISD" School "Patricia Knowles Elementary" or http://knowles.my-pta.org/content.asp?PageID=19

Questions about membership? Contact [email protected], Membership Chair



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DUE: Feb 28thBe sure to include the following so we can let

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highlands at gann ranch - february 2016

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