In This Issue - February 2005
Holiday Lighting Contest Winners
Welcome to Cypress Isles!
Annual Meeting Will Be May 17th
Street Trees - What Have We Learned?
Need Plastic Window Thingies?
Entrances May Be Partially Funded by Orange County
Cypress Isles Contact List
Neighborhood Watch
Watch Your Speed!

Holiday Lighting Contest Winners
Remember last year's Holiday Lighting Contest? Here are the kudos and prizes.
On Sunday night, December 19th, the lighting judges rode through Cypress Isles, enjoying the many well-decorated homes, especially these:

1st place ($75): Gladys Secada, 523 Spring Island Way
2nd place ($50): Victor & Rochelle Reyes, 517 Spring Island Way
3rd place ($25): Jim & Linda Couch, 13203 Spring Haven Court

Always Perfect - Wendy & Richard Lowe, 819 Spring Island Way, for consistently brilliant displays
Consistent Elegance - Al & Lorna Santamaria, 725 Divine Circle
Most enchanting elves - Robert & Monika Conner 861 Spring Island Way
Bravery with at-risk decorating - Adolph Strumbly & Veronica Becker, 719 Spring Island Way, for somehow decorating the entire height and outer surface of their 40-foot-tall lawn tree. (How'd you do that?!)
Straightest Net Lights - Jim & Kimberly Schmitt, 909 Spring Island Way (What's your secret?)
Just try to steal this! - Lee & Robin Blackwell, 534 Spring Island Way, for placing Santa's sleigh on top of their crape myrtle.
Best Penguin - Denny & Sandy Horazak, 726 Divine Circle. OK, also only penguin.

Congratulations to all and to all a good year.

Welcome to Cypress Isles!
Go over and say, "Hi!"
Hello to our new neighbors at 522 Spring Island Way and 701 Cedarwood Court
If we've missed anyone else who recently moved in, please let us know so we can mention you in the next newsletter.

Annual Meeting Will Be May 17th
Like all meetings, the Annual Meeting will be held at the offices of Exit Real Estate, 11555 Lake Underhill Road, before Hooter's.
The Annual Membership Meeting will be held on Tuesday May 17th, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. Approximately 5 weeks before, in the week of April 11th, each homeowner will receive a written invitation to attend the meeting along with a 'Candidate Information Sheet' and a 'Proxy Sheet'. We urge you to consider running for a position on the board. Furthermore we strongly urge each of you to attend the meeting in order to meet the candidates and vote in person. If you are not able to attend the meeting, please send in the proxy to the Secretary or bring it to the meeting. Your presence in person or via proxy is needed to obtain the required quorum to be able to conduct the meeting.

Dennis Horazak, President

Street Trees - What Have We Learned?
Orange County may give us different trees that can stand by themselves.
Orange County is offering to provide free trees to participating Cypress Isles homeowners this spring as part of their Streetscape Program. These trees could be used to replace the damaged trees that are leaning all over our neighborhood.
It's no secret that our young trees between the sidewalk and the curb ("street trees") are leaning all over the place, mostly into traffic. Many owners have made various attempts to brace or stake the tree in an upright position, but with mixed results. The result looks more like a tree emergency room than tree-lined streets.
The problem may have been largely caused by the under-drain excavation project of 2003, which probably damaged the root structures of many of the young trees that were planted just one year earlier in 2002. The problem was exacerbated by the hurricanes in 2004.
Some trees seem beyond repair, while others would seem to be all right if they would only "take root." Trees with loose roots - those that you can tilt with your bare hands - may respond to daily treatment with a special compound - H2O. Giving your tree 5 gallons of water every day may be what the roots need to take hold, even if the tree is a couple of years old. The daily soaking nourishes the roots and help to move the soil into place around the roots. It's worth a try.
Trees that are firmly rooted but leaning can be straightened, but the procedure is a little tricky and depends on the size of the tree. If your tree is stuck sideways and needs straightening, carefully follow the instructions in the newsletter insert, or ask your landscaper to carefully follow them.
There may be no way to restore some damaged trees, but Orange County has offered to provide up to 2 free replacement trees per home as part of their ongoing Streetscape Program. The choices are:

Bald Cypress - The Bald Cypress is a native tree that can live in practically all soil conditions. These trees do not develop "knees" unless they are in or near a body of water.
Red Maple - The Red Maple 'Florida Flame" variety is quite popular in Orange County.

Following Streetscape Program. Guidelines, the Bald Cypress may either be a street tree or a lawn tree, but the Red Maple may only be a lawn tree.
If you would like to participate in this street tree program, contact Jean Thomsin at: j.thomsin@earthlink.net (preferably) or 407.306.8459 by March 12th.
Homeowners who sign up for this program will receive their free trees sometime in late April or early May.
Dennis Horazak &
Jean Thomsin (Master Gardener)

For more information about each type of tree go to www.cypressisles.org, click on Archives, and read the attachments to the minutes of the January 18, 2005 Board meeting.

Need Plastic Window Thingies?
Do you need replacement plastic clips to support your window dividers? Two local places have them.
The little plastic things that keep the aluminum window dividers in place are called 'Grid Clips' and they are made by

Norandex window accessories can be bought locally from two companies:

H&H Windows is another local shop that carries parts for the Norandex windows. This shop is listed on the Cypress Isles Web site under "Services". A table listing Centex sub-contractors has an entry for "Window Repair Parts :- H&W Windows at 407-859-5480". The shop still carries the parts and calls them "Field Goal Clips" because of their shape.

Thanks to Jean Thomsin and Dennis Bode for this valuable information.

Entrances May Be Partially Funded by Orange County
If we get the grant, County would pay half of entrance upgrade cost.
The Entrance Refurbishment Committee is seeking grant money from Orange County during March to help pay for our entrance upgrades. The money would be provided by the county's ReNEW Capital Project Grant program, which provides funds to neighborhoods, homeowner associations, and non-profit organizations that want to make physical and aesthetic improvements to their community.
Cypress Isles recently submitted our letter of intent to request funding, and we hope to be invited to submit a formal proposal in March. If our proposal is successful, Orange County will split the cost of our entrance refurbishments with us, significantly reducing the financial impact on Cypress isle homeowners.
We all owe our thanks to Claudia and Scott Rilea, Jean Thomsin, and the Entrance Refurbishment Committee for all their planning, estimating, sketching, and writing for this proposal effort.

Lee Blackwell

Editors Note: A big THANKS to Lee for taking on this ReNew Grant project and coordinating the proposal submittal.

Board Affirms Late Payment Policy
Here is the Cypress Isles policy regarding late payments. If you pay on time, you can skip this section.
Cypress Isles has followed the same policy regarding late payments since its inception. This policy was re-affirmed by the Board of Directors on December 8, 2004. Here is the policy.
Quarterly assessments must be received on or before their due dates: January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.
Homeowners who are 10 days late paying their assessments will get a reminder letter warning them that a $25.00 late fee will be added to their account when the account becomes 30 days late.
Homeowners who are 30 days late paying their assessments will be assessed a $25.00 late fee (to cover late processing expenses) and informed of the association's intent to place a lien to recover all amounts due.
Any questions?

Cypress Isles Contact List
Board of Directors
Dennis Horazak, President 407 207-6557 densus@bellsouth.net
Ron Wiley, Vice-President 407 384-2564 rwiley4@cfl.rr.com
Bill Snook, Secretary 407 380-2202 wsnook1@cfl.rr.com
Myron Davis, Treasurer 407 737-8200 mdavis8200@adelphia.net
Lee Blackwell, Member 407 275-2541 monsterous@aol.com

Rex Bowman, Community Management Professionals
.407 903-9969 Ext. 114 Rex@community-mgmt.com

Architectural Review Committee
Lee Blackwell 407 275-2541 monsterous@aol.com

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

Handy Numbers
Orange County Sheriff
Non-emergency 407 737-2400
Animal Control (unleashed pets, etc.) 407 352-4390

Neighborhood Watch
We don't have a lot to report but we like it that way. There has been one report of mischief around the time the Middle School gets out. I believe that time to be approx. 3:50 PM. Some holiday lawn ornaments were moved around. A second report was an expensive Skate Board being taken along Spring Island Way. The Skate Board was left unattended by the garage door for just a few moments.
That's all it takes. It's unfortunate that we just can't do those things. This also occurred around the time the Middle School was let out. At this point I would suggest if you are home around this hour of the day you keep your garage doors closed and maybe step outside maybe just to stretch those legs and let these kids know there are more of us around. Maybe we can keep them honest.
Have a wonderful New Year.

Cookie Symons

Watch Your Speed!
Smile, you're on radar!
As you all know, the speed limit in Cypress Isles, and in most developments, is 25 miles per hour. However, many people are ignoring that and go flying through Spring Island Way as if they are practicing for the Daytona 500. Our paid off-duty deputy sheriff has been issuing speeding tickets. You could be next, so watch your speed. It's more than just a cost-saving tip for you and safer streets for children, pedestrians, and animals - it's the law.

Happy Birthday to:
May 5 - Steve Wood
May 23 - Michael Symons
May 27 - Jean Thomsin

Happy Anniversary to:
May 22 - Cookie & Scott Symons
May 27 - Sandy & Denny Horazak
June 1 - Jean & Joka Thomsin