May 2023 Newsletter

May Newsletter

Community Events

Be sure to sign your 2023 waiver and reactivate your key fob so you can join us for opening day!


More information below under the community information section.

Community Volunteer Opportunities
Beyond Hunger Raised Garden Beds at the Aurora YMCA
My name is Peter Duda, I work at the Southwest YMCA as the Beyond Hunger Manager. This year we are adding some raised beds as part of the program.
We will have beds at 4 locations:
  • Aurora
  • Arvada
  • University Hills
  • Southwest

We are looking for volunteers who might be interested in helping with the gardens. Below is an interest form. If interested, please click on the link below.
Click here to sign up for the interest page!
Want to advertise your business and help your community have amazing social events or have a panel to advertise your business on the new Urban Soccer Fields that will be installed at the Aurora YMCA at Wheatlands this spring?

Become a sponsor at our social events
or
have a panel on the Urban Soccer Fields.

We are in the planning process for this year’s social events, and we are always looking for sponsors to help with the events.

We are also looking to have the Urban Soccer Fields open and ready for use this Spring and we would love to help promote your business!

If you are interested in being a sponsor, please click on the link below to download the form. Fill it out and email it and any questions to [email protected]
Click here to get the sponsor form for social events!
Click here to be a sponsor for the Urban Soccer Fields!

Upcoming Community Events

Click here to sign up, so we know how much pizza and icecream we need!
Click here to sign up for the 2023 Garage Sale!
Click here to view the Garage Sale Map!

Community Event Recap

We had a fantastic turn out for the Wheatland Easter Celebration! The weather was wonderful, and we had over 350 residents attend the event. Everyone loved seeing, taking pictures with and dancing with the Easter Bunny. The kids loved learning about, seeing and touching the fabulous animals that Animal Safari brought. The take home Easter Craft and Easter Egg Hunt with over 3000 easter eggs were a big hit. The wonderful face painters did an amazing job and Cruz and Eats food truck had their fabulous breakfast foods. And finally, a very special thank you to Jen and Michael Cronk and Rebecca Joyner from 1320 Home Real Estate for sponsoring the hot beverage tent. We really appreciate all that you do for the community!

Due to low attendance, unfortunately this event was cancelled. We will reschedule another Poker Night for the Fall. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

Community Information

Get Ready for the 2023 Pool Season


You can now activate your pool fobs for the outdoor pool on our website by clicking here. In order to have your key fobs activated, all current Wheatland’s residents will need to fill out a new Disclaimer of Liability/User Release forms for the 2023 pool season. This is a yearly waiver and must be completed for you to have access to the pool. Once you fill out the form, you will receive a confirmation email and your fob will be activated. Please note if you are behind with your monthly metro district payments or have fines with the district your pool fob will not be activated until you have corrected your account.


New to the neighborhood? Lost your pool fob or need a replacement? Visit the Aurora YMCA at Wheatlands to get a new fob during regular business hours.



Get to know your Wheatlands lifeguards!


Please welcome…

o Head Guard – Robert Baker

o Shift leads – Alara Bobus and Hailey Hanson

o Floating Shift lead Ashley Christensen


If you have any questions or concerns about the pool, please contact Ezekiel Evens (Aquatics Manager) at [email protected]


2023 Pool Hours


May 28th – August 13: Summer Hours

The pool is open every day from 10AM-8PM for residents to enjoy except for 3 Saturdays in which the Wheatlands Sharks swim team hosts their swim meets. The swim meets are scheduled for June 3rd, June 10th and July 8th are from 7am-2pm. Residents may enjoy the pool from 2pm-8pm on days of the meets.


August 14th to September 4th – Back to School Hours:


Monday – Friday

12pm- 4pm *Swim at Your Own Risk*

4pm-8pm Lifeguards on Duty

During *Swim at Your Own Risk* we will not have any lifeguards in the stands during this time. All children under the age of 18, need to be accompanied by their parents or guardians to participate in the Swim at Your Own Risk hours.


Saturdays & Sundays Lifeguards on Duty 10am-8pm.




New Pool Furniture:

We have ordered new pool furniture for this summer and are eager to replace our older chairs and lounges. We ordered 96 of the lounges and 20 matching chairs for the tables at the pool. The furniture is high quality commercial pool furniture and are the same ones they use at Water World. We ordered them in a skyblue color and hope it will enhance your pool experience this summer. We can’t wait to enjoy these new chairs with you! Pictures of the new pool furniture are below:

Landscape Maintenance:

Cox was able to come in and do leaf removal and shrub pruning in March and April. Now they will start putting down fertilizer and turning on water as weather allows. They will be pulling off the tree bags soon. The faucet and the sink needed to be fixed at the park bathroom and both are up and running for the summer season. A tree was hit on Powhatan so our Arborist is working on replacing. Main line for sprinklers is being prepped and ensuring that it is working and not leaking. Continue to maintain the detention ponds and keep them cleaned out. Cox also made a correction from our last board meeting and newsletter that the district will be able to water more frequently than twice a week since we are part of the large water variance program through the City of Aurora. We have participated in the program for a long time and under the variance the district still needs to show a 20% reduction in water usage however the water times and days will not be restricted for the district property. Residential homes will still be under the 2 day a week restriction per the City of Aurora. To view your allowed water times, click here: https://www.auroragov.org/residents/water/watering_times


Pool Maintenance:

The board hired the Pool Doctor this year to maintain our pool. We hope with their expertise the pool will be running smoothly all summer long. They have already provided several recommendations to the board. With their recommendation, the board replaced the pool drains in April. We also needed to order new pool covers as ours were over 10 years old and were ripping and falling apart. The Pool Doctor will be on site regularly throughout the pool season to ensure our filters and heaters are working properly. Another thank you goes out to the YMCA staff for all their hard work getting our lifeguards hired, trained and ready to open the pool later this month.


Urban Soccer Field:

The board hired Richdell to grade the land and prepare the soccer field. We are working with them on a schedule to be able to come out and prepare the land. Then we will have the Urban Soccer Field company come out and place the fields. We are still accepting sponsorships for the boards around the field, if you are interested, please let us know.

COVENANT ENFORCEMENT

Here at Wheatlands we know that with the new watering restrictions that are in place Watering Times – City of Aurora (auroragov.org) it can be very difficult to keep our lawns looking nice and maintained. We have spoken to a landscaper and compiled some helpful tips below:

  1. Water in cooler parts of the day, early morning or late at night.
  2. Don’t water to the point of run off, it is better to cycle areas for small amounts of time, for better absorption.
  3. One of the best things you could do to help keep your lawn green in hot dry weather, is get a product called Revive (can be found at Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, and other gardening stores), it attaches to your hose, and you spray it over the whole lawn. It helps break up the soil and provide nutrients, so the water has better absorption. You can do it up to once a week to start and then just monthly.

https://www.revive.com/how-revive-works/

4. If you don’t like using chemical treatments for weeds, try using this natural recipe for weed killer: https://nativeplantherald.prairienursery.com/2019/01/how-to-make-a-homemade-weed-killer/

5. If it is over 85 degrees do not spray your weeds either chemical or natural solutions as the weeds plant cells close and do not absorb anything. Spraying early in the morning to avoid the heat is the best time.

It’s been the perfect storm for Colorado’s tough weeds, with an early spring and just enough hand-watering and natural precipitation to germinate seeds.

If you’re down for the fight and fixing to win, arm yourself with these seven strategic bits of info.

• Fertilizer needs to be in your arsenal. According to researchers at Colorado State University, weeds thrive even better in lawns that are not fertilized. A healthy lawn crowds out weeds, and part of building a healthy lawn is proper fertilization.

• Drying out weeds won’t help you kill them. Again according to CSU, drought-stressed weeds may look like they are about to die, but they aren’t. They’ve evolved to thwart drought. But the healthier that weeds are, the easier they are to control because healthy weeds are better able to take in anything you put on them.

• Know your weed before you pull it. If the numbers are manageable, many can simply be dug out. Other weeds, such as bindweed and thistle, generally should not be pulled because their roots grow deep. Pulling these weeds just activates their regenerative root systems to start more growth. (If you’re trying to fight bindweed naturally, cut it.)

• If you apply a weed treatment, know its limitations. Here are two critical distinctions among weed-zapping products:

Selective products are effective because they’re designed to select certain plant traits to work on, such as broadleaf weeds. These products are effective on dandelions (broad leaves) in the lawn because they deal with the dandelions and don’t harm the grass (thin blades/leaves).

Nonselective products will zap any plant they contact. So if you use a product like Roundup — or one of the newer horticultural vinegars — you need to know that they will affect both the dandelion and the lawn.

• For any product, follow the label. Find out what the product is good for and where it might do more harm than good. If you use a product that requires mixing with water, don’t assume more is better. According to USDA scientists who do testing, using more product is usually less effective than the recommended amount.

• Is there a breeze? Whatever treatment you use, beware of it drifting even in a slight waft.

• The best strategy in the weed war is to be always on the offensive. The more proactive you are in the battle against weeds, the better your success. Treating weeds early and effectively, before they develop and disperse seeds — sometimes tens of thousands of them — gets the best control.

Becky Garber is a member of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado. This article originally appeared in the Vail Daily.




Next Board Meeting


Thursday, JUNE 8th at 6:00pm


We welcome all community members to attend and participate in our board meetings.


Get involved and volunteer for a committee and share your talents!


Going forward the board has decided to allow for flexibility with our meetings

and will post on the agenda prior to each meeting if they will be at the clubhouse or online.


View our website at www.wheatlandsmetro.org to see the agenda and past meeting minutes.


Thank you!

YMCA Programs

Kids Night Out!


When: Friday, May 12th

(No KNO on May 26th due to the Holiday weekend)

5:30 pm-8:30 pm


Where: Aurora YMCA at Wheatlands

6100 S Kewaunee Way

Aurora, CO 80016


What: Kids Night Out

Drop the kids off for 3 hours of fun. Dinner, games, crafts, and a movie. Our staff will start the evening with dinner and then lead the kids through a craft and some fun games and activities, followed by a movie.


Ages: Potty-trained to 12 years old.


Please register by the previous Wednesday.


Cost: $25/child

Limited to 20 kids.


In order for us to have Kids Night Out

will need at least 6 children to sign up.

Click here to register for KNO
Click here to register for cooking class!
We are offering all sorts of swim lessons for kids of all ages!
Click on the link below to register! Sign up soon!
Click here to register for swim classes/lessons
We are hiring lifeguards for the outdoor pools for this summer!
We are looking for lifeguards for Wheatlands and Tallyn’s Reach Pools.

We will get you lifeguard certified if you are interested in becoming a lifeguard or recertified if your certification has expired.

Being a lifeguard is a very fun and rewarding job with great pay.

Must 16 years or older to apply.
Come join the YMCA team!

Southlands Events

The Southlands Shopping center continues to offer events and programs.


Check on the link below for information

Visit our website for more details