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The Enclave at Las Colinas HOA

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Is It a Good Rule?

Is It a Good Rule?

The Enclave at Las Colinas is a gated Planned Unit Development (PUD) in Indio with entrances on Fred Waring and Clinton Street. There are 213 one and two-story single-family homes on 53 acres. The homes come in three floor plans and have either two or three-car garages. Some homes include a casita. Home prices range from $250,000 to $350,000 and the assessments are only $100. The common area includes two parks that also serve as the community’s retention basins. The HOA is responsible for the roads, gates, common areas and parks.

Las Colinas is a diverse community where you will find residents of all ages, stages of life and backgrounds. In the

morning, you are likely to see runners and dog walkers and in early evening hours, it’s not unusual to see whole families out for a walk. To help keep the community connected, the board publishes their newsletter in Spanish and English and, with the help of Google Translate, occasionally in Vietnamese.

Home builder GHA was the initial developer of The Enclave at Las Colinas selling 179 of the 213 homes from 2005 until the housing crash of 2008. According to board president, Jim Leighty, “After the market crash, our tireless, creative and totally committed first homeowner board president, Gary Slade, took some exceptional steps to enable residents to stay in their homes. Today we have many original owners who weathered the bad times and are still here.” The 34 remaining lots were left empty until 2016 when Global Development came in and completed the build-out. Today, approximately 82 percent of the community is owner-occupied.

The Enclave at Las Colinas is built on the historical land where dates were first introduced to America over 100 years ago. In 1900, Dr. Walter Swingle and fellow USDA explorer, David Fairchild, studied date palms growing in Algeria, Iraq, Morroco and Egypt. They found that the growing conditions were like those in the Coachella Valley. Dr. Swingle brought back and planted 60 pound off-shoots cut from the bottoms of the foreign palms. These shoots thrived and are the lineage

"THE ENCLAVE AT LAS COLINAS IS BUILT ON THE HISTORICAL LAND WHERE DATES WERE FIRST INTRODUCED TO AMERICA OVER 100 YEARS AGO."

of many of the date palms we see today. This success caused the U.S. Department of Agriculture to open the Date and Citrus Experiment Station in Indio in 1907 which became the world center of date research. Dr. Walter Swingle's home, built around the same time (the historical Swingle homestead) was in what is now the Las Colinas community at the corner of Avenida Atwater and Avenida Davina. On July 2, 1982 the property was listed as "Federal property to be sold to reduce national debt” and thereafter became private property. The home and site were used by the Las Colinas developer for storage and a construction office at the beginning of the Las Colinas development but was destroyed by fire in 2011.

The board has worked hard to maintain their community while keeping assessments affordable. Jim Leighty said, “Our retention basin parks are well used, and landscaping gets plenty

"TODAY WE FIND LAS COLINAS HOMEOWNERS ADDING SWIMMING POOLS, IMPROVING LANDSCAPE AND LIVING THE GOOD LIFE IN THEIR PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM.”

of attention, and we have worked hard to bring our reserve account from being underfunded to the current respectable level. Major refurbishment projects of streets, gates, walls and landscaping have all been funded in advance without need for any special assessments. Today we find Las Colinas homeowners adding swimming pools, improving landscape and living the good life in their pursuit of the American dream.”

They work with many CAI business partners including Conserve LandCare, Asphalt MD’s, Martin Street Sweeping, Signarama, Delphi Law Group, LLP, Guralnick & Gilliland, LLP, and Automation Pride.

The Enclave at Las Colinas HOA has been managed since inception by Personalized Property Management. Jim Knickerbocker, CCAM, is the Community Manager. Jim can be reached at (760) 325-9500 or by email at Jim@ppminternet.com. For more information about the community, you may also contact board president Jim Leighty, PE, at jim.leighty@gmail.com.

Marne Logan, CCAM, is a community association manager for The Management Trust Desert Division. She can be reached at (760) 340-1703, or by email to marne.logan@managementtrust.com.

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