Detention Basin - Come Show Your Support!

Highland City is holding a special session tomorrow, Tuesday, June 22nd, to consider the city budget for next year. It will be held at 6:00 p.m. at the Highland City building. One of the budget items will be to address sod in the detention basin (Chamberry Park), piping the open drainage system and canal behind the Ithica Park playground, and leveling/covering the dirt hill behind the playground. Please come and show your support for funding these important items so that the work that was started can be completed!

Open Space Steering Committee Meeting Tonight

Tonight, Monday, June 21st there will be another Open Space Steering Committee Meeting at the Highland City Building. From 6:00-7:30 will be presentations on each of the 18 open space developments. Information has been collected from each of the 18 neighborhoods by their representatives. There will be a public comment portion at the end of the meeting. This is a great time to make your voice heard! See you then!

Highland City Open Space Steering Committee

WE NEED YOUR INPUT! THIS DEFINITELY WILL AFFECT YOU! This volunteer committee consisting mostly of open space residents is different from our little neighborhood project group. This committee has been formed by the city through active volunteers to represent the 18 open space developments in the city. It is identifying and working on resolving the concerns and needs in the 18 open space developments. We need itemized information to give to our representatives on the committee to present at the meeting in two weeks, Monday, June 7th at 6:00 p.m. In order to get through all of the developments, time has been set aside at this meeting to briefly present concerns and items for each. There will also be a public comment time at the end of the meeting. Please pass any comments along by responding to this email so that they can be itemized in our presentation to the committee ( openspace@q.com ). You can also contact your city volunteer representative directly.
o Chamberry Fields – Kristi Vick, kvandkv@msn.com (801) 492-0112
o Highland Hills – Carol Kounanis kounanisce@hotmail.com (801)592-2750 or Doug Ybarra doug.ybarra@pearson.com (435)602-0782
o Mercer Hollow – Doug Cunningham, douglastc@yahoo.com (801)216-4144
• Items identified by the Open Space Steering Committee needing attention/resolution –
o Budget – clearly delineating where the $20 maintenance fee paid monthly to the city is used. Also defining open space, city space, native vs. landscaped, parks, etc.
o Restructuring/rewriting the Open Space Agreement and Application
o Improving communication to open space residents
o Orphan parcels – what to do
o Possible lease of open space
o Trails: connections/safety
o Fencing ordinance
o Resident input – wants, ideas, concerns, etc.

Upcoming Planning Commission and City Council Meetings on Proposed Setbacks

A public hearing for the new flexible set-backs for the smaller properties in the open-space neighborhoods will occur at the June 8th Planning Commission meeting. Please pass the word to all open-space neighborhoods as well as all other interested parties. The city needs your input on the ordinance change! Yes, this may affect you! More information can be found at http://highlandcity.org, meeting agendas, planning commission agenda, June 8th. The agenda should be posted several days before the June 8th meeting.

Highland Hills, Chamberry Fields, and Mercer Hollow Progress

A large number of items have been resolved from the original petition and two additional bonuses were received (the Highland Hills Ithica Park Playground and Highland City Tree Commission Tree Planting Project along 11800 North!). While the resolution of items have been making some progress, some items still have not been resolved and a few additional items have been identified since then. Please make sure to comment on anything that may be bothering you, concerning you, or what you are glad has happened. Comments need not be limited to what was identified on the petition. This information will be presented in the Highland City Open Space Steering Committee on Monday, June 7th. Please send your comments to openspace@q.com.

Arbor Day Fun

Wow! What fun! Thank you, thank you to everyone who volunteered! We had a fantastic turnout! There were many beautiful trees dropped off. Many volunteers showed great teamwork from removing center tree packing stakes and tags to moving big trees. Even the smallest volunteers got in on the action!

Trees, Trees, and More Trees!

Springtime is so exciting! Flowers begin to bloom, grass begins to green, songbirds melodies carry through the fresh clean air, and trees begin to blossom! Come participate in the joys of spring as we plant 55 trees along 11800 North for the Highland City Arbor Day Annual Tree Planting Project. Tree planting will take place on Saturday, May 1st starting at 8:00 a.m. The more volunteers we have, the sooner we will be done! We hope to be done by 11 a.m., but we may go until noon. Please contact Kristi Vick if you are willing to volunteer. You are also welcome to show up that day! Don't forget your shovel. The more volunteers, the better!

We have two Eagle Scout candidates that will be needing our volunteer help for this project. Come show your support for the scouts and your neighborhood! The best part: the holes will already be dug! All you need to do is show up and help carefully hoist the tree into the hole and make sure it is planted correctly. Education on proper tree planting techniques will be provided by each Eagle Scout candidate just before we begin the project and the city is also offering a class just a few days before. For more information on the class and the annual Arbor Day tree sale, visit http://highlandcity.org/. Click on the Community Involvement link then Tree Commission link. Also there will be information in the Highland City newsletter coming soon!

Nothing adds more value to a development than a well landscaped area. Trees provide substantial benefits such as: aesthetics, sound barriers, energy concervation, reduction in air pollution, economic value, wind reduction, and provide privacy. For more information on the benefits of trees, visit http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/tree_benefits.aspx.

We hope to see you all there! Have a happy spring!