Spring 2025

LATEST NEWS
Spring 2025

LETTERS FROM THE LAKESIDE
As winter reluctantly loosens its icy grip, the Upstate of South Carolina undergoes a remarkable transition into the gentle embrace of spring. The landscape begins to awaken with a subtle symphony of colors and life. Spring in Upstate South Carolina is a season of gentle renewal, where the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains come alive with vibrant color and the air grows soft with warmth. Dogwoods and redbuds bloom in bursts of white and pink, while fields and forests shift from winter’s muted tones to a lush, vivid green. Azaleas and wisteria cascade in brilliant hues, and the days stretch longer, bringing more time to enjoy the peaceful beauty of the landscape.

One of the most charming signs of Spring in Heritage Lakes is the welcome appearance of geese with their goslings. The adult Canada geese, tall and alert, guide their fuzzy, yellow offspring in neat little lines, creating a heartwarming scene that signals the season’s full arrival. These family groups are a familiar and endearing sight within our community, where nature feels especially close and alive. The honks of geese overhead and the sight of new life on the water add a quiet joy to the rhythm of springtime in this part of the South.

Some folks have seen some close calls between cars and our feathered friends. Please remember to slow down and keep an eye out for them as you drive through our neighborhood. We, the ducks and the geese thank you!

COMMUNITY CLICKS
Your community as seen thru a neighbor's lens.

Spring Tulips
Photo by Dee Chudy

FROM THE WEB/SOCIAL GUY
Hello neighbors! Many of you have no clue who I am so I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Richard Chudy and I handle the day to day duties of designing and maintaining our website, Facebook page and Mailchimp email blasts. My wife Dee and I moved here to Heritage Lakes from Southern California (via Cabo San Lucas, Mexico) in February of 2021. Looking back it has been one of the best decisions we've made! We love the community and truly enjoy being involved. It's been a great way to meet our neighbors and form new friendships. If you haven't thought about joining our Board or volunteering some of your time, we couldn't recommend it more.

Currently, we could use more volunteers to help plan and organize events, like our HUGE Fourth of July celebration, Movie Nights or Community Workdays... please don't hesitate to let us know. We're a quick email away, and although we're all volunteers, we promise to do our best to get back with you within 48 hours of your emailing us.

Sincerely,

Richard Chudy
Website/Social Media and Communications

OUR CONDOLENCES…
Loss is inevitable. Forgetting those no longer with us is not. Condolences to our neighbors who have lost a loved one this year:
Many of you have had the pleasure of knowing Virginia Risdon who resided on Percheron Path. Virginia passed away at the age of 102 this April and will be missed by all. Virginia was a kind and generous person, as demonstrated by her $1,000 donation to last year's Fourth of July celebration - her favorite Heritage Lakes event. RIP, Virginia.

WHAT'S BEEN DONE
Where do we start? Hurricane Helene dealt the Upstate a tremendous blow and Heritage Lakes took a few lumps as well. As you all know many trees came down in our neighborhood as well as along Hwy 14. Too many downed trees to count but as of April 7th, the majority of debris has been cleaned up and hauled away.

There still remains work to be done and your Board is working on budgeting to get our woods back up to par – that area is still in need of fallen and leaning tree removal. As well some common areas need attention to downed tree removal as well. Fortunately we have our stalwart resident and volunteer groundskeeper, Brian Barron (along with his crew of other neighborhood volunteers). Brian is working on bids to do that last leg of post-storm repairs.

If you'd like to join Brian and our community volunteers in keeping our much loved neighborhood looking its best, send us an email to let us know you're one of the few willing to step up. Your help is not only needed, but it is truly welcomed and appreciated.

MORE IMPROVEMENTS
So you thought that post-storm grounds maintenance was all that was accomplished this year? Well, you thought wrong.

If you follow our neighborhood news, be it through our website, Facebook page or email blasts, you know there's been a ton of improvements of late. First on the list are new roofs on all our common buildings... clubhouse and poolhouses alike. Gilstrap Roofing ended up winning the bid and in the end we did remarkably well. Insurance by the Cinicinatti Insurance Companies was great to work with as their adjuster and claims department approved our claim and covered the vast majority of the cost. Bottomline, insurance covered nearly $17,000 leaving us to cover under $5,000 of the repair bill.

Next up was the replacement of all the windows in the clubhouse. Several bids were acquired by our Board President, Chris Marron. Window World was the winning bid and we now have all new windows replacing decades old. Cost was $7,544.00.

POOL WORK
More than $17,000 of work has been completed. Upstate Pools completed a leak test followed by sealing fixtures, drains and other sources of leakage in the main pool. The kiddie pool has been replastered and retiled. A new pump for our filtration system was installed, our diving board is out for sandblasting and refinishing. Furniture was pressure washed and set out as well.

We did solicit help from the Blue Wave Swim Team, but unfortunately, none showed which limited our ability to do some extra aesthetic work to get the pool area looking its best. Maybe next time?

SPRING WORKDAY
April 5th was the date of this year's Spring Workday. Turnout was okay, but we could always use more hands. The roster of volunteers this time around included a lot of familiar faces as well as some new ones. Those folks are: Brian and Debbie Barron, Buddy Schaefer, Gary White, Mike and Joseph Kovach, Dee Vaughan, Kevin Carr, Angela Green and son Steve, Matt Laird, Sebastian and Logan Szcinski, and Richard and Dee Chudy. Some worked the 5th, while volunteered in the days preceding. Thank you to all that showed up!

As far as the work done by our volunteers, here's a bit of what was accomplished: Trimming and hauling of tree and shrub debris around lake, clubhouse, pool and Hwy 14; Removal of roots in the play area; Repair and repainting of benches and tables; New tetherball installed; Touch up of main entrance sign, Cleaning of white fencing, Cleaning of pool furniture; Treatment of fire ant mounds, Maintenance to tennis court fencing and gate; Purchase, hauling and installation of mulch around pool and clubhouse. The diving board was taken to a local business for sandblasting and refinishing... transport courtesy of Frank and Janice Thompson.

KUDOS, CREW!
Did you know that Heritage Lakes adopted the section of Hwy 14 that runs from Woodruff Road toward Bethel Road? Brian Barron leads a group of volunteers that goes out and picks up all the litter, of which there is usually plenty. They've been doing it for years and they do such a great job that they've received recognition from the SCDOT/Palmetto Pride Adopt-A-Highway program administrators.

FROM KIM BOBO, Adopt-A-Highway Coordinator -
"On behalf of SCDOT & Adopt A Highway I would like to congratulate you and your group, HERITAGE LAKES, for being chosen for the Adopt A Highway Group of the Year 2024."

The award will be presented May 13th at SCDOT, 13 Saluda Dam Rd, Greenville

Bravo Brian and all those that have helped!

EVENTS FOR 2025 (subject to change)

4/12: Easter Egg Hunt

5/26: Memorial Day/Summer Kick Off Party

6/13: June Movie on the Lawn

7/04: 4th of July Extravaganza

7/18: July Movie on the Lawn

8/15: August Movie on the Lawn

8/30: Labor Day/End of Summer Party

TBD: Fall Workday

10/25: Halloween Trunk or Treat

12/20: Christmas Parade

YARD OF THE MONTH
Spring marks the beginning of a new year of showing pride of ownership here in Heritage Lakes... and we encourage all residents to spruce up their landscapes and keep our neighborhood beautiful.

APRIL 2025 YARD OF THE MONTH
Luis and Lucia Gomez
900 Harness Trail

Congratulations on being selected and for keeping it pretty!

Have you spied a particular property that really goes the extra mile? Help us select the next Yard of the Month by emailing us the address of the home you think deserves it most.

SWIM TEAM REGISTRATION
Registration began on March 3rd, early registration deadline is April 25th. May 5th marks the late registration deadline. First day of afternoon practice starts on May 6th and the first day of morning practices begins on May 27th.
Swim team fees are as follows:
$125 - First child
$115 - Second child
$100 - Each additional child ($500 max)
$95 - Guppy registration (age 4-6)

REFER A FRIEND
If you're not aware, Heritage Lakes offers Associate Memberships that allow non-residents to utilize our pool and recreation facilities. Some folks aren't as fortunate as we are in having the community amenities we do and look for ways to enjoy what we do. Have a friend or relative that envys our amenities? Tell them to visit our Membership Page to complete our waiting list form for a chance to be invited to join!

FOURTH OF JULY
It's the biggest event of the year and it will be here soon. One of the tasks in preparing for it is fundraising, and we could use your help. Our fireworks show alone costs about $4,500 and we on the HLPA Board do all we can to pay that bill without using general funds from HOA payments, associate memberships and clubhouse rentals. If you'd like to help solicit donations, know of local businesses that you think would be willing to help sponsor the event or have suggestions on how we can raise funds, please contact us. We're working on a Venmo payment system for individual donations and hope to have that in place by the end of April.

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