Welcome to Opal Ridge Community
This website was created by home owners in the Opal Ridge community for the sole purpose of serving all the home owners living in the Opal Ridge subdivision located at Crystal Valley Ranch in Castle Rock, Colorado. We developed this website for all who live in our neighborhood community so everyone can join together by using the BLOG on this site to voice their comments, concerns, criticisms, news, events and wishes for our Opal Ridge community.
With approximately 50 families living in this community, it would be nearly impossible to hold a meeting where every homeowner could attend, so out of necessity, we have formed a 'virtual community meeting place' where homeowners can become part of ongoing discussions regarding important issues in our community and for the use of notification of groups or events going on in this neighborhood.
Recent Issues:
Embarrassing Grounds & Pathetic Entrances!We have been informed by John O'Connor [director of the Crystal Valley Ranch HOA] that we have no sub-HOA, Ryland Homes developed this community without establishing a 'sub-HOA',so we are limited on how much say we have on what happens in our community. All other communities under the umbrella of Crystal Valley Ranch HOA have a sub-HOA in place and because they have this sub-HOA,they can benefit from the extra dues collected and have nice looking entrances to their sub-divisions and better maintenance for their neighborhood and will have a lot more 'say' in what happens in their community.
If we want anything nice to be done in our Ryland community, we would have to form a group or committee hat would present our organized plans for approval by the main Crystal Valley Ranch HOA. We understand that this isn't John O'Connor's fault, but rather, Ryland Homes fault for not setting up the sub-HOA for our community, therefore, for us to set one up would cost tens of thousands of dollars. John O'Connor has made it clear to me though [by his actions and his words] that he is willing to work cooperatively with us to help us achieve the goals we set for our community but that it would be much easier and better if we came to him as a group with one or two people appointed to be the main contact(s).
I talked with John O'Connor director of the Crystal Valley Ranch HOA and was informed that we could actually develop an un-official sub-HOA without spending the tens of thousands of dollars it would take to create a legal HOA and have one person represent the entire community and if the majority of the homeowners could agree on new improvements and could come up with the funds to do these upgrades, we could present our plan to the Crystal Valley Ranch HOA for approval and would actually be able to operate as a sub-HOA and improve the neighborhood as we see fit.
Weeds in our common areas!
I recently talked with Duane Farnsworth who is one of the owners of Douglas County Maintenance and Repair [Landscape company hired by John O'Connor and the CVR HOA] and asked him why there are so many weeds in our common area and he responded, '
We're not contracted to pull weeds' so I asked again for clarification, '
So you are telling me that your company isn't pulling any weeds in the Crystal Valley Ranch area?' and he responded, '
That's right, it's not our responsibility'.
I called John O'Connor and he told me that this was supposed to be 'natural grounds' so there were to be some weeds and they would get cut down with the grass and they hired a company to then spray the weeds once the grass has been cut, but if you drive down Loop Rd, you will see weeds as tall as 2' high and some pretty nice sized tumbleweeds growing nearly 2' wide! Within 30 minutes of my phone call, there were workers out behind my house with weed eaters cutting down the weeds! We need more people to get involved to make sure our grounds are kept up to a higher standard. I've driven all over Douglas county and I think Crystal Valley Ranch is the worst looking community I've ever seen in regards to the common areas. For the prices we paid for our home and for our monthly dues, I would expect better looking grounds.
What are your thoughts?[Click here to read other's comments or to post your own]We invite you to fill out the contact form and give us all your contact information so you could become a participating member of this community and voice your opinions and desires.
We look forward to hearing from you.
