In This Issue - May 2009
May 19th Annual Members Meeting
State of the Neighborhood Address
Welcome to Cypress Isles!
When Can You Water?
Concrete Cleaning Suggestions
Who Ya Gonna Call?
Oh, Deer!
Raccoons in Your Attic?
Cypress Isles Contact List
Dateworthy Notes
Fake ADT Reps Scout Cypress Isles
CIN Publication Schedule
Whatcha Gonna Click?

May 19th Annual Members Meeting
Cypress Isles homeowners are URGED to attend the Annual Member Meeting (or even run for the Board) on Tuesday May19th at 7:00 p.m. at Connect Realty, 11555 Lake Underhill Road.

Want to Direct? Fill out the yellow Candidate Information Sheet that you got in the mail and get it to the Secretary or bring it to the meeting.

Want to vote? Get there by 7:00, sign in, and meet your neighbors from those "other" streets.
Can't make it on the 19th? PLEASE fill out a proxy and get it to the Secretary.

Your Board of Directors

State of the Neighborhood Address
As your HOA president, let me bring you up to date on the "state of the neighborhood"

General
As we all know, we are coming out of a relatively stressful dip in the economy. The good news is that it appears the worst is over. "Bank owned" properties are now selling quite well, as well as traditional sales. "Short Sales" are slowly disappearing. While I don't expect to see things like 2005 again, we will get back to a normal rate of growth soon.

Cypress Isles weathered the storm very well. We had a few elective foreclosures, but they were well taken care of for the most part, and things are on the rise.

Crime
We are doing well in our efforts to prevent crime in our neighborhood. With a notable exception, there have been very few incidents in the last 6 months. This exception was beyond our control, and was well handled by the Orange County Sheriffs.

The COPS car is helping. The "busy corner" between CI and Bradford Lakes is not nearly as busy now, as well as other known trouble spots. Many thanks to board member Harold Engold for spearheading this effort. If you get a chance, stop by Cedarwood and take a look at the car. It can easily be mistaken for a sheriff deputy's cruiser (a good thing!)

Cut-through traffic is still a problem, but as we get more COPS car drivers, I believe we can patrol the neighborhood more often and discourage speeding, just by being visible.

ARC
The Architectural Review Committee has been busy. Since the economy is now starting to crawl its way back upward, the excuses for letting your yard get messy will not carry as much weight. This is a deed-restricted community, and we as homeowners agreed to keep our properties to certain standards.
Please be diligent on this. Avoid that annoying letter from the management company and keep up to standards.

Lawn Watering
Please follow the county standards for watering your lawn. It is possible to "over water." When this happens, the sidewalks get flooded and as a result, our children take to the street, which then becomes a safety issue.
We have a tremendous sidewalk system in our neighborhood, which is even friendly to bicycles. Let's try to make them easier to use, and thus ensure safety.

Tree Trimming
While we're talking about sidewalks, it is also important that we keep our trees trimmed so they do not interfere with sidewalk traffic. If your tree or bush is intruding on the sidewalk, please take a few minutes and trim off the intruding branches. Those of us who do a lot of walking will appreciate you! Some trees also have branches hanging very low over the street - causing damage to both the trees and the vehicles driving under those low-hanging trees. With hurricane season just around the corner, now is the time to look around and remove any diseased and/or damaged tree limbs, place them at 3' lengths curbside, so they will be disposed of well before any storms turn them into projectiles.

Recreational Vehicles
We now have firm language for the parking of RVs. Allowing for common maintenance and other pre and post trip duties, you may park an RV in your driveway or yard for up to three business days prior and three business days following each use. If you need more time, please contact the board and let them know. I assure you they will be reasonable on this.
The intent of this is to allow well-kept RVs to be used, but not permanently stored, on the premises.

A New City?
Many of you are aware that there is a movement toward incorporating a section of East Orange County into a new city. I have been paying close attention to this movement. There will be many public meetings and open forums on this topic. It may be wise to attend them and find out what is going on.

Currently, most of the options include Waterford Lakes as part of the new city. I will be watching this to see what kind of effect this will have on homeowners in Cypress Isles, as well as possible tax implications. So far, every proposal I have seen does not show a significant increase in property tax. This has largely to do with our above average value and tax base for Orange County. Simply put, we are already paying for more than we are getting, so it would be possible to form a small infrastructure such as a city without the need for more taxes.

I'll be updating you on this as I find out more, but in the meantime there are other resources available:
EastOrlandoHOA.org, OCFL.net,
NJCCorporateEnterprises.com

Summary
I'd like to thank the current board of directors for their service this year. It has been my honor and pleasure to serve with them:

VP Ron Wiley - ever diligent and current leader of the newly formed Grounds Maintenance Committee.

Treasurer Myron Davis - Myron has kept our records accurately and up to date for 10 years, since our "turnover" and beginning of our HOA in 1999. This is a thankless job, so be sure to say "thank you" when you see him.

Secretary Dennis Horazak - Dennis has an amazing gift for recalling statutes, documents, writings and other codes. It has helped us in many situations. He also keeps the minutes of the meetings, another thankless job.

Cookie Symons - Cookie is the ARC chair. Back in 2007 she took on the difficult and time-consuming task of updating our "color book" to meet with WLCA's color standards for our homes. The book was approved in Nov '07, and Cookie has been the "guardian" of the book ever since, lending it out for perusal by CI homeowners who wish to change their house color. Cookie also assists in hand-delivering our newsletter, which saves us a lot of money.

Harold Engold - COPS Committee Coordinator -- Excellent job, and we NOW have a car! He is also on the ARC, and assists Cookie in hand-delivering our newsletters.

Bob Hopper - "the new guy" - Bob was grounded for a while with a serious ankle injury but he is back in action and assisting in the board's duties.

And also thank you to Sandy Horazak for publishing our excellent newsletter. She has added many money saving procedures that has helped us keep our dues down.

Also, to Dennis Bode, our excellent Webmaster, who maintains our website - posting our newsletters, meeting minutes, Neighborhood Watch alerts, and other important info on our website-- the best website in Waterford Lakes.

I've left out a lot, there is so much that these people do as volunteers. Please consider giving them a hearty thanks next time you see them.
We've had an interesting time the last few years, but it may be time to exhale. It appears as if the worst is over and we made it. Let's move forward and learn from our past mistakes. Enjoy your neighborhood!

John Will Tenney, President

This newsletter was funded in part by

Welcome to Cypress Isles!
Go over and say, "Hi!"

Welcome to our new neighbors at:
523 Spring Island Way

If we've missed anyone else who recently moved in, please let us know so we can mention you in the next newsletter.

When Can You Water?

St. John's River
Water Management District.

Concrete Cleaning Suggestions
(Reprinted from August 2006.)
Cleaning and sealing is better than repeated pressure washing or acid washing.
After the last ARC inspection there were questions about issuing notices to homeowners who had rust stains on their sidewalks or driveways. This we all know is a common problem due to the soil makeup we have here in Florida. Many individuals have taken the time to pressure wash and acid wash those areas of the sidewalk or driveway, only to have the rust return quickly.
To make matters worse, every time you pressure-wash or acid-wash you remove another fine layer of the concrete, which makes the concrete more porous. Thus any chemicals that spill onto the concrete will stain the area much faster and make it more difficult to remove the next time.
After trying all of the same things I mentioned above, I found a solution that works, using products sold by Home Depot.

Clean with BEHR Concrete Etcher & Rust Remover

Seal with H&C Silicone Concrete Sealer / Clear

Cleaning the area with the BEHR product does not remove as much concrete as either pressure washing or acid washing would. Once the area has dried, take a paint roller and generously apply the H&C Sealer.
The sealer penetrates well and will close up the open pores of the concrete. Once dried, the sidewalk or driveway does not look any different than it did before, but the sealer will keep rust from adhering to the concrete the next time it rains or the sprinkler is on.
Please share this with any of your neighbors who might be experiencing this problem.

Ron Wiley

Who Ya Gonna Call?
WLCA Office (Dawn) 407-380-3803
453 Mark Twain Blvd. wlca@bellsouth.net

Orange County Sheriff's Office

Non-emergency 407-836-HELP (4357)

Animal Control (unleashed pets, etc.)
407-352-4390

Progress Energy Streetlight Repair or Power Outage 1-800-228-8485
www.progress-energy.com

Call before you dig (Sunshine Network) 811
www.call811.com

Oh, Deer!
Much to the enjoyment of our residents, these beautiful deer have been observed taking morning and afternoon walks through Cypress Isles. Let's hope the speeders take notice, take heed, and do not take them out!

Crystal River Drive

From Beauty…
to
THE BEAST!

Raccoons in Your Attic?
Smarter than the av-er-age pest, some local raccoons are making their homes in our attics…

Just wanted to let everyone know that they may have raccoons in their attic. We heard footsteps on our roof. The footsteps were not on the roof, but in our attic.

We called a few trappers and we chose one who clearly was more thorough than the others. He went up into our attic and saw a mother raccoon and her three babies. They had torn four batts of insulation, and the insulation around one of our air conditioning pipes. They had also defecated on the insulation. In case you do not know, the feces are toxic if you breathe the fumes without a special mask or if you touch it without gloves.

The trapper set up traps and began re-enforcing all air vents on the roof with a heavy-gauge metal mesh. He caught two raccoons in the two traps and concluded they were not the mother and babies that were in our attic but a female raccoon that was pregnant. After approximately a week of not hearing any noises in our attic, he proceeded to close up and re-enforce (with the heavy-gauge metal mesh and spray foam which hardens) all possible entry points where the roof meets the white soffit.

He then proceeded to clean up the attic and repair the damage the raccoons had done.

Prior to finding out that we had raccoons living in our attic, we had called Animal Control because we had been seeing raccoons almost every day while walking our dog. On one occasion, the raccoon ran toward my dog and me while on the way to my garage. Luckily, I closed the door down before he reached us. Animal Control came to our house but told us they only take care of cats and dogs.

Animal Control told us that the way to keep raccoons, squirrels and rats out of our attics is to:
1) REMOVE ALL BIRD FEEDERS;
2) GARBAGE CANS SHOULD ALWAYS BE TIGHTLY COVERED.
3) NEVER PUT GARBAGE TO THE CURB IN PLASTIC BAGS (unless you put it to the curb when the sun has already risen).
4) FEED YOUR PETS INDOORS.
5) NEVER FEED ANY ANIMAL THAT IS NOT YOUR PET.
6) DO NOT FEED BIRDS, RABBITS, DEER, SQUIRRELS OR ANYTHING ELSE.

Animal Control also said that BIRD FEEDERS BRING RATS, SQUIRRELS AND RACCOONS. If you store bird food in your garage, it is only a matter of time before you have rats, squirrels and raccoons in your garage, house and attic.

Needless to say, this was very costly and stressful. Take time to walk around your house and look around. Look at your soffit to make sure it isn't pushed up. If it is, you need to have your attic checked. Also, walk around your yard. You might notice feces that look like rope. Those are raccoon feces (you can look it up on line to see a picture). Raccoon feces contain roundworm, which is harmful to your pets and humans (especially young children, the elderly and people with a compromised immune system).

Good luck and if we all work together, maybe we can get the raccoons out of our neighborhood.

Maria Freeman

Cypress Isles Contact List
Board of Directors
John Tenney, President 407-383-3079 johnwill@tenncomgroup.com
Ron Wiley, Vice-President 407-384-2564 rwiley4@cfl.rr.com
Dennis Horazak, Secretary 407-207-6557 densus@bellsouth.net
Myron Davis, Treasurer 407-737-8200 mdavis8200@comcast.net
Bob Hopper, Director 407-232-5555 epcorlando@cfl.rr.com
Harold Engold, Director 407-273-4990 LTHEJHPD@aol.com
Cookie Symons, Director 407-273-5460 Minnieland@aol.com

Community Management Professionals
Judith Meldrum 407-903-9969 Ext. 106 Judith@community-mgmt.com

Neighborhood Watch
Sandy Horazak, Coordinator 407-207-6557 sanden@bellsouth.net

COPS Committee
Harold Engold, Coordinator 407-273-4990 LTHEJHPD@aol.com

Media
Dennis Bode, Webmaster dbode@cfl.rr.com
Sandy & Denny Horazak, CI News Editor 407-207-6557 sanden@bellsouth.net

Dateworthy Notes

Fake ADT Reps Scout Cypress Isles
Watch out for a red or dark red minivan…
During the evening of Thursday April 23, a young man with blond longish hair in a pony tail, came to the doors of at least two homeowners in the 500 block of Spring Island Way, saying he was an ADT representative. The man did not wear a uniform but carried a black-and-white ADT badge (ADT's colors are blue and white). The man asked how the homeowner's ADT system was working, whether it was on, whether it was connected to the phone system, whether the motion sensors work, and other technical questions. The homeowner told him that everything was working fine, and the man left as a passenger in a minivan driven by another person. Later the homeowner found out that this guy was also at a neighbor's house, which is also protected by ADT, asking similar questions.

After the man left, the homeowner called ADT and found out that:
(1) ADT has several styles of badges,
(2) ADT representatives always wear ADT uniforms,
(3) ADT always contacts homeowners first to alert them that a representative will be calling, and--
(4) there were no such surveys scheduled for our area.

The homeowner got a partial description of the vehicle: a red or dark red minivan (dodge or another US brand) and a partial license number (similar to 25J WLX, or the same numbers in a different order) and reported the incident to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Since this alert went out, I have received from other residents various physical descriptions of the men, but all using the same scheme.

The risk is that homeowners let potential burglars know about deficiencies in their alarm system or tell them they don't have one. The worst-case scenario is if a homeowner or renter lets these guys in so they can see what is of value for them.

Recommendation: Say everything is working perfectly. Get a good description of the person and the car. It is probably not wise to confront the person.

This just in…Overnight on Thursday 5/7 a suspect was arrested for burglarizing unlocked cars in the Lakes Way/Forest Green area of Barrington - a crime of opportunity! Please remember to lock your cars, hide valuables and do not leave your garage remote in the car.

Sandy Horazak
Neighborhood Watch Coordinator

CIN Publication Schedule
The Cypress Isles News is published quarterly by the Board of Directors for the residents of Cypress Isles. We welcome non-commercial articles and paid advertising from our neighbors. Send email submissions to Sandy Horazak - sanden@bellsouth.net. Copy deadlines are February 1 for the February issue, May 1 for the May issue, August 1 for the August issue, and November 1 for the November issue. Articles may be edited for length, clarity, or content. Advertisements are subject to approval of the Cypress Isles News staff and the Cypress Isles Board of Directors, which governs this newsletter.

Advertising in the Cypress Isles News does not constitute endorsement by either the Cypress Isles News or the WLCA. We do not guarantee the accuracy of the advertisements or the performance or proper licensing of our advertisers. We recommend that consumers check references.

Thanks to the Symons' and the Engolds for delivering the newsletter to our homes

Sandy Horazak, Editor

Whatcha Gonna Click?
www.ocso.com Click- on "E-Reporting" - to report certain types of crime online, such as lost property, theft, vandalism, and vehicle burglary.
www.ocso.com- Click on "Property Crimes and Robberies in Your Zone" - to find out what types of crimes are occurring in your area.
www.cfcrimelinewarrants.com - to check individuals for warrants.
www.snopes.com - exposes hoaxes, urban legends, and other email crap