The Detention Pond

The chronic flooding that has been occuring in the detention pond/Chamberry Park was one of our big petition items. City Council passed with a unanimous vote 5-0 this evening, Tuesday, October 6th, to fund the improvements necessary to fix the chronic flooding issues. This "fix" will provide an increased slope to the area, increasing the grade from 1/2 % where it currently is at to a 2 1/2% grade. Because of this, it will preclude any future city soccer to occur at this location, but it will allow this area to be utilized by the neighborhood without the intrusion of "soggy socks" or the health risk associated with swampy areas. It is possible/likely that the grade may not be that noticable to those that utilize this area, according to the city engineer. Good news! The city engineer will now review the information to determine the best course of action based on the late start in the season. Improvements may begin next week, or in the best interest of appearance, it may be postponed until the spring. We'll keep you posted.

Chamberry Park, as identified by the city, is a park as well as a detention basin. So what is a detention basin? A detention basin is a lower area that is designed to temporarily hold a certain amount of water to drain out to another location. This is very important to us in this location because we are in a critical run-off area. Also, with our clay soil that causes water to run off more quickly than sandy or loamy soil, it is very important for our area to have a place for this rapid runoff of water to accumulate thereby avoiding flooding in other areas. This detention basin is intended to hold this runoff, however, it should be draining shortly after rain/run-off. Fixing the slope, as well as the sunken areas, should eliminate the flooding issue we see now.

Wow! A big thanks to our city council and city engineer for allowing this to move forward!

Playground Grand Opening!

Come join our neighborhood at the Playground Grand Opening, Monday, October 5th at 5:30 p.m. in the Ithica open space/park. Come join in the fun of the grand opening of our new neighborhood playground and open space improvements. Bring your family and friends.

Please plan on bringing chairs and/or blankets. This will be a pot luck event, if you can bring something, please contact Jenny B. (info in the flyers). BBQ's will be available.

Open Space Residents Meeting

Last week we had our open space resident's meeting. During this meeting we discussed the timeline of events, what the city has done or has committed to do, what the city has not committed to do yet, our need to develop our own "Open Space Vision", the Tree Commission project in April 2010, and the importance of the upcoming city elections.

Timeline of events:

• 8/4/09 - our petition outlining 19 issues was presented to city council.
• 8/14/09 - a letter from the city was received indicating they would meet with us.
• 8/27/09 - meeting with the city administrator and director of public works where a detailed list of 42 issues was presented with 79 pictures illustrating problems

What the city has done/committed to do:

1. Ithica Park - fix turf issues, install playground (BONUS!), replace dead trees, extend sidewalks
2. Chamberry Park/Detention basin - permanently fix flooding (requires city council approval due to the funding)
3. Argo Circle Park - install sidewalk, add access to playground
4. 11800 N. Open Space - fix sod in several areas, add crosswalk for Cyprus and 6150 W.
5. various areas - replace dead/inappropriate trees, add curb ramps to access trails, install park benches (BONUS!), more attention to sod issues

What the city has NOT committed to do now:

• install pavilions
• install sod east of Highland Hills trail (behind Athena and Jupiter Circle) - a previous city council ruling has already been made
• extend trails - Cyprus to Lausanne, Fish Pond Trail (west of substation), extend power line trail (north of substation)
• fix the Highland Hills entry sign (this is residents responsibility - bids are currently being acquired)

Our Open Space Vision:

• Several items were discussed and input was given. Some of this information will be taken to the Planning Commission to allow us to provide input on the parks prioritization task they are working on. Other items were discussed and ways that we can accomplish achieving our open space vision. Brett B. shared with us a power point presentation of our "Open Space Vision".

Tree Commission:

• 55 trees will be planted along 11800 North. This project will require 2 eagle scout candidated, multiple volunteers, and some help from the city public works department. A detailed power point of the trees to be planted was shared. Also, a few suggestions for additional trees and placement in the neighborhood was discussed.

City Elections:

• Hot issues are open space management/development and ridding of, fiscal conservatism, and downtown development.
• make sure to study the issues and get out and vote! Our area will be directly affected by the decisions that the city council and mayoral candidates make. Early voting begins October 20th (beat the crowds), general election day is November 3rd. What vision do you want to see your open space and city take?