The Association prides itself on the appearance and consistency of our development. This entails significant maintenance and upkeep, much of which is addressed in the Covenants and Rules, particularly in the Frequent Maintenance Issues section found in the Covenants, By Laws and Rules document beginning on page 39 located on the Resources page. Some of the onus for maintenance falls upon homeowners directly, but others are contracted for by the Board for the Association as a whole. While the Covenants and Rules are the absolute authority, the current page provides detailed information in the next three sections on who is responsible for what and when it is to take place. Following the first section, External Modifications and Villa Staining, are Landscaping and Snow Removal and Irrigation and Lamp Post/Mailbox Post (and Mailbox) Replacement
Per the Covenants of the Association, homeowners must seek prior approval for any external modifications to include door, window (several vendors may be found on the Window Vendors and Staining Contractors page), garage door and roofing replacement as well as significant landscaping changes. The Architectural Control Committee (ACC) is tasked with managing this process and ensuring compliance with the Covenants. To reach ACC members, see the Contacts page. The first step is to complete and submit either via email or by printing and mailing/delivering an:
The Covenants also decree that each homeowner in the Association must have their villa restained every 6 years. There are 8 approved colors, but as each villa must have a different stain from its side to side neighbors that leaves 6 to choose from. Restaining is the optimal time to have any rotting or damaged wood siding replaced as well. All siding must be cedar. A supplier for the stain is the C.E. Lee Decorating Center at 1728 N. Ironwood Drive in South Bend. Phone is 574-272-6888 or https://www.celeeco.com/. Make sure you receive the KPVA member discount. A list of potential staining contractors originally collected from a registry at the C.E. Lee Decorating Center may be found on the Window Vendors and Staining Contractors page. Note that there is also a separateMember Recommended Contractor List, which may be found on the Resources page. When your villa staining is finished, a form needs to be completed and submitted to the ACC (directions on the form). The current villa by villa staining schedule and the form:
The Board of the Association has contracted with Pedro Rocio and his company, New Generation Landscaping & Lawn Care since October of 2023. His contact information is 574-302-0341 (mobile number for call and text) and email pedrorocio574@yahoo.com. He also has a website: https://www.newgenerationlandscape.com/. Pedro is available for homeowner landscaping work and projects. His responsibities to KPVA homeowners under our contract with him (as also included on the About page):
Here is the 2025 landscaping schedule:
For over twenty years, the Board of the Association has contracted with Gary Boyer to provide assistance with irrigation systems. Gary has separately provided maintenance and replacement of villa lamp posts, lighting fixtures, bulbs and villa mailbox posts. Gary is most easily reached via voice and text using his mobile number of 574-340-3308. While he does have an email address, BoyerSpesh@aol.com, he does not have a website.
Note that in each case described below, Gary will charge for a service call, labor and irrigation parts, while most non-irrigation parts needed will be separately billed to the villa homeowner by the Association. In the case of wooden parts, the association has a relationship with a local carpenter who custom builds the mailbox post apparatus and lamp posts. As regards replacement address numbers for the mail box or home, the Association maintains an inventory, which is replenished in bulk via an account with HD Supply (Home Depot).
Besides the common area irrigation responsibilities (described on the About page), Gary will perform start up of your system in Spring (May) when you will need to turn on the water valve typically located in your basement. There will be an email announcement approximately one week in advance that this needs to be done. Likewise in Fall (October), he will blow out the system with compressed air to prevent freezing and damage over the winter. You will need to turn off the water valve in order for him to proceed. It is important to respond promptly to water valve turn on and turn off announcements, as repeated trips by Gary to the same properties to perform the startup and shutdown procedure costs the association needless expense.
During the growing season, the preferred sprinkler days are Monday, Wednesday and Saturday leaving Thursday and Friday for cutting, which is best performed when the grass is not wet. You should contact Gary when you see problems with your sprinkler "heads." For example, a stream of water running down your driveway or running over the curb and generating a stream down the street as opposed to just a spray of water extending out over the grass. As described in the Covenants, most sprinkler systems water not just your yard, but part of neighboring yards. Finally, as prior landscaping companies did not remove grass clippings, significant thatch has built up over the years leading to the phenomenon that your sprinkler heads may appear to be sinking into the ground (in fact the ground is rising above them due to thatch buildup). Gary can install risers to reposition the heads to clear the grass in those cases where a head is now too low. Per the 2025-2026 two year irrigation agreement with the Association, Gary bills homeowners $50 per hour of labor and provides a 15% discount to the total of labor and parts prior to adding a $45 fee for the service call.
Lamp Post: Each villa has a lamp post which is wired underground from the fuse box on the side of your home where your air conditioner condenser unit is located. There are various reasons the light on your lamp post may cease working to include a burned out bulb, a dead photocell (turns the light on and off at dusk and dawn), a blown fuse, a bad ballast/transformer or if the wire to the lamp post is inadvertantly cut. Likewise, your wooden pole may ultimately rot below ground level and fall over or in some cases get knocked over. For example, a landscaping mower could inadvertantly strike it. Gary will help with any of these issues (at your expense). Your first step is to contact Gary. If a pole is not needed, he may replace the bulb, photo cell, fuse or wiring if it has been cut. If the ballast/transformer is bad but the actual fixture is in good shape, he can remove the existing ballast/transformer completely and wire up a new LED bulb, which uses less energy and lasts longer than the prior high pressure sodium (HPS) bulb.
For background, prior to 2023, KPVA purchased light fixtures that employed high pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs, which require a ballast and transformer to operate (the bulb needs a high voltage spike to start, but then the voltage must be limited to avoid burnout) and give off the distinctive yellow/orange color favored for street light installations. However, there has been increasing societal pressure to move away from these bulbs in favor of LED bulbs due to their reduced energy use, increased life span and "whiter" light. Further, the manufacturer of the older fixtures the Association had relied upon dramatically increased the price for a complete assembly. Thus, beginning in 2023, a new supplier was picked for replacement fixtures that accept LED bulbs and thus, do not require a ballast and transformer to operate. As a result, if the external fixture is in good shape, Gary can strip the internals and configure them to take an LED bulb at lower cost than replacing the ballast and transformer to continue using the HPS bulbs. If the external fixture is damaged, a complete new fixture must be purchased by the Association from the new supplier.
Beyond electrical issues, if a new pole is needed, Gary will contact a Board member who will order it from the carpenter. Gary will pick up the pole when ready and stain it prior to installation. In this case, you will need to provide or procure matching stain to your current home color (you can consult the aforementioned Villa Staining Schedule if you do not know your villa stain color.) Also, as described above, Association members receive a discount when purchasing stain from the C.E. Lee Decorating Center at 1728 N Ironwood Drive in South Bend. The phone number is 574-272-6888. Finally, Gary will transfer the sheet metal guard found at the bottom of the existing lamp post to protect the base of the new lamp post from weedwackers. If you have no such existing guard, they can be purchased on-line from Amazon or from local hardware stores for less than $20 and will help extend the life of your post (search for "mailbox post protectors").
Prices as of Spring, 2025 are for a complete replacement fixture $293, a new photocell $35, wiring for conversion of an existing fixture to accommodate an LED bulb $10, replacement HPS bulb $34 or LED bulb $44, labor $78 and service call $45 for conversion to an LED. The wooden lamp post is $170. While Gary stocks and provides photocells and replacement light bulbs of either kind, a new fixture must be acquired by and billed by the Association to the homeowner.
Mailbox Post and Mailbox: The process for replacing part or all of a wooden mailbox post is similar to the lamp post. The finished product is composed of a post installed in the ground, a "paper box" (think newspaper) upon which the Mailbox is mounted and a "brace" mounted between the paper box and the post to provide support. Gary needs to be contacted and he will reach out to a Board member to order either a paper box and/or brace for replacement or else a complete assembled post, paper box and brace from the carpenter. Gary will then retrieve the ordered product and stain it with stain you will need to provide or procure (see above section on lamp post replacement). He will then install the ordered product at your villa to include installing the mailbox, itself, which the homeowner must procure if there are none currently stocked at the Association guardhouse (see next paragraph) as well as moving your address numbers from both sides of the existing paper box and moving the the sheet metal guard at the bottom of the existing mail box post, which protects the base from weedwackers. As with the lamp post, if you have no such existing guard, they can be purchased on-line from Amazon or from local hardware stores for less than $20 and will help extend the life of your post (search for "mailbox post protectors"). Prices as of Spring, 2025 are paper box $185, brace $18, and complete assembled post, paper box and brace $275. These are prices just for parts. Assembly/painting and installation are $45 and $210, respectively and do not include time spent picking up and delivering as well as the fee for a service call. A two pack of replacement numbers (you will need five such packs to cover both sides of the paper box) are $8 each and available from the Association.
The required mailbox is an Architectural Mailboxes/Gibraltar Patriot Large Capacity Plastic Post Mount Mailbox Model Number GMB515B01 in Textured Black (dimensions 12.4" by 21.3" by 9.5") available at Menards as well as on-line at Amazon. Note that while the model name and number (Patriot GMB515B01) are consistent, you may find the same mailbox made by Solar Group, Architectural Mailboxes or Gibraltar depending upon the retailer in question. Solar Group, founded in 1957, originally manufactured them under the Gibraltar name but then purchased the Architectural Mailbox line in 2020 and merged Gibraltar with it in 2023. Here is the current, as of Spring, 2025, manufacturer web page for the mailbox using the Architectural Mailboxes name. Gary will mount the mailbox to the paper box of the installed post as a last step. The Association will bill the homeowner for the costs of any wooden parts as well as the mailbox ($39) if it was available at the guardhouse. Broken plastic parts on the mailbox, itself, may be purchased on-line for replacement in lieu of purchasing a new mailbox.
Page Last modified on 04/16/2025