We all remember garage sales, don’t we?
They were events, happenings, family and neighborhood gatherings. You could party, make a little money selling your unwanted but usable things, clean out your garage or basement, and celebrate the disappearance of that rug, those old dishes, or ancient desk you replaced long ago. If it rained, you did it another day.
Then you came to Sun City, and a higher value was placed on neighborhood esthetics and orderliness. A lot of you took your stuff to Goodwill, or maybe you went to a yard or garage sale at a relative’s or friend’s place outside the community. The association’s rules and regulations prohibit garage sales at residents’ homes.
Garage sales have a history. According to Phyllis James, N19, the first, and probably only, outdoor garage sale was actually held in Sun City in the summer of 2004.
“Pulte Homes was in charge at that time, and there were no CC&Rs in place that prohibited a sale. There were less than 2,000 homes here then, and a sale allowing participation in 200 of them was approved. We printed up 300 signs that people could put up, and nearly 200 residents actually participated,” she said. “Garage sales have been part of our lives for so long. We tried to hold another one in 2007, but the transition from Pulte to resident control was underway and the board tabled a proposal. Then the CC&Rs were enacted.”
Fast forward to today. A recent, unique proposal may change all of this.
In the past few months, neighborhood reps, the Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC), and the board of directors have been discussing the possibility of a garage sale, Sun City style. Early this year, the board and NAC agreed that changing the CC&Rs was not feasible because two-thirds of the residents would have to approve it. The NAC made two other proposals: hold a sale in the Fountain View parking lot, or conduct one in Dsrendel Hall (which would avoid the possibility of bad weather). The Fountain View option was eliminated.
At its March Committee of the Whole meeting, the board said it would consider approving a Drendel event, if there is sufficient resident interest in participating. Now, it has come to this – the NAC and its neighborhoods are surveying the community to determine the level of interest in a late summer or fall event called, “Clean Sweep Fall Sale.”
In a recent message to neighborhood reps, NAC chairperson Marilynn Berendt said, “A Drendel event would require a lot of planning and help from our maintenance staff to set up tables, etc. Residents would have to bring their sale items to Drendel for set up and set themselves. Before the board makes a decision they asked our NAC to ask the neighborhood reps to canvass their neighbors to see how many residents would actually be interested in participating by renting a table for $5 or $10 for this sale.”
A Drendel sale would tentatively be held sometime this fall, Bender said. Most neighborhood surveys were completed by April 8. The feedback from all neighborhoods will be compiled and a report sent to the board in time for its Committee of the Whole meeting on May 4.
