Woodhaven Country Club

Quorum Article - July 2000

Woodhaven Country Club occupies 120 acres in East Palm Desert. Its entrance is on Washington Avenue between Avenue 42 and Fred Waring Drive. The developer was David Miller of Miller’s Outpost. Woodhaven is a sister club to Rancho Mirage Country Club.

Although a relatively small development, Woodhaven boasts a 37,000 square foot clubhouse set in an 18-hole par 70 golf course. Its dining room seats 300 people, making it a popular spot for weddings and receptions. Facilities for social activities include a card room. Two racquetball courts are located in the clubhouse, along with a fully equipped exercise and fitness center. The clubhouse has its own swimming pool and spa. There are also eight recessed tennis courts, four of which are lighted for night play. The tennis coordinator runs league play as well as clinics.

The developer has retained ownership of the club and membership is non-equity and non-transferable. However, residents at Woodhaven enjoy preferential membership rates for golf, tennis and social activities. The club may fairly be described as “semi-private.” The onsite rental and sales office provide further interface with homeowners and residents.

The Woodhaven homeowner association comprises 504 condominium units, which come in four 2 and 3 bedroom models ranging in size from 1,350 to 1,900 square feet. All units are in a 4-plex configuration and approximately half of them are in 2 stories. Construction took place in 1984 and 1985. The units are laid out on a deceptively simple rectangular street plan that gives maximum enjoyment of fairway views. Sales of units at Woodhaven during the past year have ranged from $130,000 to $239,000.

A 7-member board of directors operates the association. Board members are all retired professional folk. Their policies are fiscally conservative and the association’s reserves are in excellent shape. Board membership is drawn from a very active and down-to-earth homeowner group. Some 30 individual homeowners serve on the board and various committees. Participation in clubhouse activities is enthusiastic.

Resort Community Management (RCM) assists the board in its duties. Don Wolfe is the full-time association manager. Caren Boozer assists Sharlene. Woodhaven has enjoyed full-time management for only the past 3 years.

During this time, the units have been completely repainted, the streets have been slurried and a roof maintenance program has been instituted. This requires the full-time employment of a roofer provided by BLS Construction. In addition, RCM provides a full-time on site maintenance man. Bubble Springs provides the pool service for the Association’s 4 pool and spa sets. Guardsmark provides gate and patrol security services.

A landscape renovation program is underway. This program has been designed and is being implemented by Sunshine Landscape. It is modeled after the success of a similar program they instituted at Palm Desert Resorter. It primarily involves replacing old, woody and overgrown shrubs with more colorful drought tolerant plants such as Lantana. This program includes upgrading the water feature and landscaping to enhance the presentation of Woodhaven at its Washington Avenue entrance.

An interesting point of interface between the Club and the Association is the irrigation water they share. This water is pumped directly from the underground aquifer. Both Club and Association jointly participate in a California Edison energy saving plan under which they restrict the pumping of irrigation water to hours other than noon to 5:00pm.

Homeowner Association dues at Woodhaven are a low $278 per month and include cable and $74 in proprietary dues to the club.