QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
June 30, 2010
There were several things accomplished in the this quarter in The Orchards. The curb and storm drain cover on the corner of Meadow Glen and Silverthorn was repaired. Didn’t fix the problem of the puddle collecting there, but that was an engineering problem caused by the developer. With the rain that we got this last winter and continuing this Spring, that is certainly evident. I think that the storm drains put in by the mailboxes on Silverthorn have helped with that runoff though. The other item was to have the asphalt cracks sealed and that was accomplished also. The street sweeper has also been through. In fact, he did Paradise also!
The Board directed me and Jessica Dempsey to meet with the City of Cheney Park and Recreation Department to talk with them about the park situation in the Orchards. In 2007 we voted and proposed to the city our wishes for the development of the park at the end of Meadow Glen behind the Holiday Inn. Paul Simmons and Todd Ableman came out and did a walk-around with us, and Paul seemed enthusiastic about going forward with the proposal if grant money can be secured. All of the paperwork that we had submitted to the City for consideration in the 2008 budget had gone missing with the change of personnel, and it has been a job to recreate that paperwork and get copies to him. We were also asked to talk with John Johnson, a city engineer, about the rainwater runoff from Murphy Road all the way down the hill through the Barrington’s parking lot and the undeveloped field to the north (?) of the apartments which is all draining into our runoff swales that run behind the houses on Silverthorn and then down Meadow Glen and the larger swale that runs behind the Holiday Inn. The outcome was not as satisfying as we had hoped for. The agreement with the city is that the swales are to be maintained with grass to filter the rainwater. There has been erosion along the runoff swale, causing the large river rocks to dislodge up at Silverthorn and areas along the Holiday Inn side, where there is no vegetation, are eroding and will need to be addressed. Bottom line is that we are a private neighborhood and can make some changes as long as we do not affect our neighbor’s property adversely.
The maintenance person has asked Mr. Sprinkler to address the sprinkling system. The repairs done to it following the first bad winter were incorrectly sized. This spring when they tried to start up the system two leaks were found in the soaker system which services the Silverthorn landscaping. I won’t know until the July meeting if those issues have been resolved, but Greg Bell who lives by the park, says that they are running, and I don’t see leaking.
Nothing happening with the Yard of the Month which was proposed. I have tried to interest the Cheney Gardeners in coming into the Orchards to look at some of our yards though. They are still young, but there are some of our neighbors who are doing a really nice job in plantings and architectural details. Please send me your email address if you want to receive further newsletters. (For those homeowners who got a hand delivered copy of newsletter this month)
