The POA has received numerous complaints from members about the appearance of our entrance sign. The board agrees it does not communicate the upscale nature of Lockwood, but there are things that must be considered before proceeding.

First of all, the existing sign is on Holden Trust property, and any new sign will likely also need permission to proceed, as we expect to need more area than we have in our current easement. Holden’s stated long term plan is to develop either side of the Clubhouse Drive entrance into single family home sites and possibly enlarge the road to 3-4 lanes from Stone Chimney to our gate. Granted, we do not want to wait until this comes about, given the current real estate market, but one way or another Wayne Holden, the Holden Trust executor, will have influence on the size and placement of a new entrance sign.

Also, you may recall that a referendum on a new sign was taken a few years ago, and the project was vetoed. There was disagreement over the design of the sign, which will need to be addressed, and at that time it would have meant a $50 per property owner assessment. We will not need an assessment, but we do need a design that is acceptable to the majority of our members before any project is undertaken. Kitty Kesler is organizing a committee to investigate various designs that the community can review and comment on.

It should be noted that an entrance sign is only part of the appearance problem with our Clubhouse Drive entrance. There are large areas without grass that are unsightly, and you should note that it is in those bare spots that the road edges erode. To properly rehabilitate our entrance, in addition to a new sign, tress need trimming to allow more sun, low bare spots adjacent to the road surface need to be filled to provide support for the asphalt, bare areas must be seeded and irrigation installed to grow and maintain grass. Tree trimming was approved at the July 14 POA meeting.

These steps do not necessarily have to be taken all at once, but growing grass along the entrance road works best in the order of 1) irrigation 2) tree trimming 3) fill 4) seeding. A new sign can precede these steps or wait until after they are done.