Whitney Oaks Christmas Light Installation

Whitney Oaks is the one Rocklin neighborhood where the association posts its holiday decoration rule for anybody to read. Good news: Whitney Oaks Christmas light installation can be planned around real wording instead of a neighbor’s best guess. We show up with the lights, deal with the tile roof and the tall ladder, and clear it all off in January.

The Whitney Oaks Community Association (WOCA) is managed by FirstService Residential. Two of its posted documents talk about holiday decorating, and they don’t say quite the same thing.

• The Owner’s Manual, last revised in 2016. Its holiday decor rule says exterior decorations must not be put out until one month before the holiday, and must be removed no later than two weeks after the holiday.
• The Architectural Rules, adopted in 2017. The landscape lighting section says lasers and colored lights that can be seen from the street or common areas are not allowed, except during a holiday period of December 1 through January 2.

See the gap? One document gives general decorations a month of lead time. The other only opens the door for colored lights on December 1 and shuts it on January 2. How the two fit together for your house this year is the association’s call, not ours. Both documents are several years old, and boards do update rules. So before we pick a date, please confirm the current version with WOCA or FirstService Residential. Tell us their answer at (916) 642-7382 and we’ll schedule to suit.

Those same Architectural Rules say lighting can’t be installed in community property areas, including trees located in parks. We stay on your lot. The oaks along the trail behind your fence and the trees at Black Oak Park aren’t ours to light.

Homes here went up between 1997 and 2009, many of them custom or semi-custom, with tile roofing and stone on the front. Tile changes how roofline lights go on. Our clips are made for tile and hook the lip of the tile itself. We also keep footsteps on the roof to a minimum, since one cracked tile becomes a ceiling stain. Stone fronts never get a screw. Wreaths and garland hang from removable hooks and soft ties.

The ground matters too. Whitney Oaks climbs the foothills, with granite outcroppings and lots as large as an acre, so say whether you look up at the street or down on it.

Live oaks are the signature tree up here, and the association’s rules include an oak tree preservation section. We wrap oak trunks and main limbs with lights held by ties alone. Nothing gets nailed, screwed or stapled into bark. Got a London plane or a Chinese pistache out front? Both are on the association’s street tree list, both drop their leaves by December, and bare branches show off a wrap.

Does your yard back up to Whitney Oaks Golf Club? Then the rear of your house is somebody else’s view. Some families add the back roofline, or a lit wreath on the rear gable, so the place looks finished from the fairway.

Several subdivisions here sit behind gates on private streets. Our truck can’t get in without you, so please set up gate access twice: once when the lights go up and once when we return in January to remove them.

We work all over Rocklin, including Springfield at Whitney Oaks up on the ridge, Whitney Ranch next door and gated Crowne Point.

Beyond the roofline, families around Valley View Elementary and Boulder Ridge Park tend to ask for four more things. Pillar and column wraps where the porch meets the driveway. Stake lighting down the front walk, clear of sprinkler heads and never in a common area. One lit wreath high on the garage wall. Lit garland on the front door surround. A timer brings everything on at dusk and turns it off late, so nobody has to remember on a school night.

Nobody needs to meet us at the house. Phone us, or text or email pictures, or use the contact form: one of the whole front shot from the far curb, plus one of any tree you’d like wrapped. We’ll tell you what we’d light, and you decide. Our number: (916) 642-7382.

Confirm the dates with WOCA, then call (916) 642-7382. The documents are public, and years old.

Does WOCA’s one-month rule or its December 1 rule decide my install date?

WOCA’s Owner’s Manual (2016) says decorations go out no sooner than one month before the holiday and come down within two weeks after. Its Architectural Rules (2017) allow colored lights visible from the street only December 1 through January 2. The two don’t match, so confirm the current rule with the association.

Are colored lights allowed, or only white?

The posted Architectural Rules restrict lasers and colored lights visible from the street or common areas outside December 1 through January 2. That document dates to 2017, so ask WOCA or FirstService Residential whether it still reads that way before choosing colors.

Can you light the trees along the trail or in the park near my house?

No. The association’s rules say lighting may not be installed in community property areas, including park trees. We only light what’s on your own lot.

Will light clips hurt my tile roof?

They shouldn’t. We use clips designed for tile that hook onto the tile edge, with no nails or adhesive, and we limit how much we step on the roof.

I live behind a gate. How does your crew get in?

Through you. The homeowner arranges gate access for us twice, on the day lights go up and on the day in January we remove them.