Wow!

There has been a great deal of maintenance and public works traffic in our neighborhoods over the past few weeks. A lot of progress has been made towards improving trails, park and open space areas, and maintenance items addressed. All that Highland City can do at this time should be completed within the next 3 weeks. Our city has really put forth a great deal of effort to getting things done. Make sure to stop by and tell them thank you! If you don't get the chance to personally say "thanks", you can always send an email to Jody@HighlandCity.org. She will make sure to forward those thank-you's to the right group of people involved in getting things done. Wow! Isn't it looking great!

City Council Elections

Just a reminder to get out and vote tomorrow, Tuesday, September 15th. City Council currently does not have anyone that resides in an open space development. This could be important to have good representation for issues that have and will continue to be addressed in regards to open space. Three candidates running for City Council reside in open space developments, Roger Dixon, Brent Wallace, and Tim Irwin. 2 of the 3 remaining candidates have big changes in mind for open space. If you would like to learn more about the candidates and what they have to say about open space as well as other city related issues, please visit the official city website at HighlandCity.ORG. Also, you can ask any of your friendly neighbors who have been working with open space about the candidates. If you need more information from what is posted, please send your request to the email address at the bottom of the page and additional information will be forwarded on to you. Thanks for getting involved! Together we can make a difference!

Planning for Park and Trees

We will be having a neighborhood meeting at the Vick's home on Wednesday, September 23rd starting at 6:30. Come share your ideas on a mini park and tree planting along 11800 North. This will be a great opportunity to give some input on what you would like to see the Planning Commission consider for recommendations to the City Council on a park in our neighborhood as they take on the task of park prioritization. Also, this will be a fun opportunity to learn about some beautiful trees that we get to plant around the entrances to our neighborhoods. Come give your ideas and input on beautifying our neighborhoods together! Please RSVP to the email you received if you plan to attend and, if you want, bring a treat to share. If there is a large number of people planning to attend, the location may change.

Remember, we do not have a park yet, just a playground. The city is in the planning process for future parks. This is just to give input on what you would like to see in the future when Highland can budget for it. The tree project, however, is a go! This will happen in April 2010!

Potential Ithica Park Layout

This image is a potential rendition of what the Ithica Park/Open Space could look like. Please refer to the Park and Playground post from September 2nd for more details. This is only a rendition of an open space vision. We are not getting pavilions at this time. We will need to continue to work with the Planning Commission and City Council to receive funding approval for park completion.

Progress!

A lot has happened since we presented our requests to the Highland City Council. Here is some of the progress:

• The Ithica Park/Open Space, has had all of the dead trees replaced, weeds taken down several times and sprayed with weed killer, it has been seeded several times, and is looking much better. It will take some time for this to develop a thick turf, but it is making progress.
• Patchy grass and sunken sod around drainage grates along 11800 north are being repaired at this time. Additional patchy grass areas and missing sod along Cyprus Drive will be addressed within the next few weeks.
• Surveyors have come out to evaluate the flooding and poor drainage in the detention area/Chamberry Park. This is a work in progress, but they are reviewing it at this time.
• Leveling of open space just south of the power station has been seeded and the turf is starting to come in nicely.
• A number of dead trees have been removed and trees will be planted along 11800 North. This will happen in the spring through volunteer efforts and with help from the city to balance out the north and south sides of the road and to beautify the entrances to our neighborhoods.
• The sidewalk along Cyprus Drive at the edge of Argo Circle Park should be completed within the next few weeks and crosswalks added for school children crossing Cyprus Drive.
• More curb cuts and trails/incomplete trails will be completed to connect the trails throughoug the neighborhoods.
• A number of small maintenance issues have been addressed and have been completed or are in the process for completion.

Some projects that are still being evaluated and will require some more work are:

• The Highland Hills entrance sign letters on Athena Drive
• Natural vegetation/wild flowers along Highland Hills Trail (Jupiter-Athena trail)
• Potential park and/or park amenities
• Future trail and undeveloped open space completion

There has been some great progress made and a significant amount of time spent in trying to complete these projects by the city and the contracted property service company. Efforts will continue to be made to follow up with completion of these projects. If you would like to send your thanks to city employees for all of their efforts in this progress, you can send them to Jody@HighlandCity.org and she will forward them on to the proper people.

Park and Playground

The Planning Commission will take some time to review the information on Highland City park recommendations. There are pros and cons of developing Chamberry Park into a neighborhood park. After the Planning Commission makes its recommendations on land acquisition and park completion to the City Council, the City Council may or may not approve. Because of the current economic state, this could be a long process. While this process may be long, and we may or may not get an official park, we have been promised a playground. This is a decent sized playground and there are a few recommendations that the city suggested for placement. While Chamberry Park was originally designed to have a "tot lot" in the north-east corner, this has been discouraged by the city engineer. The chronic flooding in the detention area (Chamberry Park) would be difficult to work around when placing a playground. The two suggestions for placement were the Ithica Open Space or Argo Circle Park. Replacing Argo Circle Park's playground does not mean that we would be able to keep the small playground that is currently there. It would also be costly to remove this and add the new larger one. Because we do not want to lose the smaller tot playground, and for cost effectiveness, Ithica Open Space made the most sense. In the hope that a park can be completed some day, the most ideal location for the playground placement is in the center. This would allow for the playground to be central to possible future park amenities. The city is currently analyzing this location and it is anticipated that it will be in place by spring. This was unexpected and exciting news! Please make sure to send your thanks to Highland City for their gracious offer of this playground. Any thank you's can be sent to Jody@HighlandCity.org . She can then send them on to the appropriate people.