Tara Preserve faces preserve cutbacks

Tara Preserve’s community is maturing and with that maturity comes a new set of issues for the community’s landscapers.

West Bay Landscapers will continue caring for Tara Preserve. During the March meeting of the Tara Preserve Community Development District, Chairman John Schmidt expressed his concern with the quality of the landscaping being done by West Bay, telling the representative that he would give the company 30 days to shape up.

Schmidt walked through the community with the landscapers and identified nine areas that needed attention. One of the biggest issues was the cutback of the preserve — in some areas the preserve was encroaching upon CDD property and easements.

“I tried to impress upon them, when someone drives by and sees something like that, they begin to think something’s not right,” he said.

When he walked through the community again in April, he saw the landscapers had greatly improved. He checked the nine areas and found the issues to be resolved or at least were being addressed.
“I was pleased with what they had done,” Schmidt said.  “They’re making improvements.”

Moving forward, Schmidt will conduct monthly walk-throughs with the crew to make sure specific areas are being addressed as well as update them on anything new. However, a new issue faces the CDD: cleaning up the preserve.

“We need to get the preserve looking pristine,” Schmidt said. “Then we can go forward to make other (community) beautification efforts.”

As is common for a community of Tara Preserve’s age, its natural habitat areas are being invaded by non-native plants like Brazilian pepper. Without proper care, these species can choke out the preserve and then grow out into the community. Schmidt said he’s especially concerned with Brazilian pepper because its bark can sometimes cause allergic rashes similar to poison ivy when touched.

“We’ll certainly have to look at that in terms of what to do and how much money we will have to have to attack the problem,” Schmidt said.