Connemara Call
September 2023: Issue 5: Volume 2
Community Updates
Connemara neighbors and friends,
Fall is finally here! Time to welcome in cooler weather, watch our calendars fill up with activities, and log those memories of another great summer in Connemara.
Some of the more notable events over the past several months have been another phenomenal season for our Connemarlins, the graduation of many of our seniors, the completion of our court resurfacing, and the establishment of a fervent pickleball following. All the time spent planning and volunteering is greatly appreciated by the Board and the community.
The Board would like to thank Kristen Snell for her two years volunteering as the Social chair. She was solely responsible for establishing and scheduling the arrival of the food trucks over the past two years, a much-welcomed addition to our neighborhood. She was instrumental in organizing many of the events for the younger ages and did a wonderful job. Our new Social chair is Katie White (soon to be Katie Martin!). Katie and Lee are relative newcomers to the neighborhood and Katie would welcome a few additions to the Social Committee. If you have volunteered before and can offer a hand, or if you are a neighbor looking to get involved with the many social activities we hope to provide over the year, please reach out to our newest Board member!
This fall and winter, the Board will be reaching out in an effort to increase the number of people participating in the planning and execution of events in the neighborhood. There has been a noticeable turnover in new families arriving and some of the long-time residents moving out. In order to create seamless transitions for the next leaders and volunteers, it is imperative to increase involvement. Becoming a volunteer or Board member is the best way to see how Connemara operates and to dispel any myths about the functioning of our HOA. Many thanks to all who have been involved and continue to do so.
Our next capital project is the installation of new LED fixtures on courts 3 & 4 in an effort to bring our newly resurfaced courts further up to speed.
Thanks, everyone!
Dave Skillen - dskillen98@gmail.com 706-540-9820
Katie White - katiewhite.bsc@gmail.com
Landscaping Updates
We have been in touch with Gwinnett County Water Resources and have been pre-approved for two truckloads (36 tons) of rip rap to be delivered to the neighborhood in February. The county will provide the material and we will be asking for volunteers to help lay the rocks along the river bank below the bridge to hopefully reduce the sediment wash that comes with heavy rains. Also in the new year, we will be looking to rebuild the fence along Connemara Trace.
Photo by Christopher Calia
Treasurer's Report - September 2023 Year-to-Date Balances
Hello neighbors!
Following are Connemara's Income/Expense Statement along with the Balance Sheet reflecting March 2023 YTD. The format is different than prior reports which only focuses on Current Year-to-Date balances vs year to year comparisons.
For the 10 months ended March 31, 2023, Connemara had Operating Income of $188,162 and total expenses of $137,280 resulting in Net Income of $50,882.
Upcoming capital projects include resurfacing all 4 tennis courts, installing an AED device which will be located near the Tennis Courts and miscellaneous landscaping projects.
Connemara HOA Board Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every month in the Clubhouse beginning at 7:00 p.m. All homeowners are welcome to attend!
Connemara Courtside
Hello Connemara Tennis and Pickleball Community,
You’ve probably noticed that activity levels on the courts seem to be at an all-time high! That’s a great thing! We want everyone to come out and enjoy the newly resurfaced Tennis and Pickleball Courts, whenever they can.
As a reminder, court reservations can be made for all three Tennis Courts, and both Pickleball
Courts by using our “ReserveMyCourt” reservation system at
https://rmc2020.reservemycourt.com. I encourage you to sign up if you haven’t already. Once
signed up, you’ll have access to Tennis and Pickleball Court News, and the ability to check for
court availability from the comfort of your own recliner.
As of this writing, we’re entering the third week of the Fall ’23 ALTA Season. For this season,
we have four active ALTA Tennis teams in the neighborhood, a Women’s A-2 Sunday, and A-3
Thursday Team, a Men’s B-4 Saturday Team, and a Senior Men’s C-1 Wednesday Team. If
If you’re interested in joining a team or creating your own, drop me an email and I can help point you in the right direction.
Pickleball activity, if you haven’t noticed, has been tremendous. The courts seem to be in
constant use, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t come down to participate. We have “Open”
play times on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights starting at 7 p.m. During these times,
anyone can come down and join in on the fun. Of course, you’re still able to reserve your own
court time using the ReserveMyCourt reservation system.
ALTA has just announced a new Winter ’24 Pickleball Season, to begin in late January, in
response to the popularity of the Summer ’23 Pickleball Season. Pickleball Matches consist of (2) Mixed Teams, (1) Women’s Team, and (1) Men’s Team. A Team’s Roster will typically
consist of 14 to 20 people. We are in the midst of creating our first Connemara Pickleball
Team(s). If you are interested in joining a Pickleball Team, again, please drop me an email and I’ll forward your request to the right people. There was also a post to the Connemara Facebook page, regarding this topic.
Lastly, as for recent improvements, we’ve updated the benches on Courts 1, 2, and 4, and
installed a new Portable Pickleball net on the Fieldside Pickleball Court (Court 3B). Soon, we’ll
have new LED Lights installed on Courts 3, and 4, to match the LED Lights on Courts 1 and 2.
Hope this update has been illuminating!
Until next time, see you on the courts!
Dave Dwyer
Connemara HOA Tennis
Photos below by Charles Sherman
Social Updates
Fall is on its way, and we are ready for cooler weather! We have some great events planned for the end of the year.
On October 15th we will be carving pumpkins at the tennis court parking lot. Please BYOP (bring your own pumpkin)!
November 8th will be an exciting evening as we are trying a new event that I hope will be a hit. Tyler Patterson will be teaching us her skills during a Paint & Sip! If you have any ideas for this, don’t hesitate to reach out!
Last but not least, SANTA is coming to the clubhouse for cookies and to read stories on December 17th!
Details and updates will be posted on Facebook. We can’t wait to see you!
Thank you,
Katie White
Photos below by Charles Sherman
Pool Updates
Sunday, October 1st, is doggy dive-in day, the pool will close Monday, October 2nd.
Thanks for a great pool season.
See you next year, The Dockstaders
Photo by Charles Sherman