At our last VPTA board meeting, we discussed whether the Association should pay to have the City of Northfield install one or more pet waste stations (example here) along the trail in Hidden Valley Park. 

The Board decided that a better first step would be to ask the City to install “Please Clean Up After Your Pet” signs to see if that solved the problem.

This week,  a City crew installed signs at the three entrances/exits to the park. Our cost: $54.

A tip-of-the-blogger-hat to Street & Park Supervisor TJ Heinricy and his staff for doing this.

Mr. Wigley,

We plan to dredge the pond just east of Heywood Rd (between Creek Ln & Sunset Dr ), that we refer to informally as Rosewood Pond. The pond near Hidden Valley Rd. is in reasonably good shape compared to the ponds at Rosewood, John North Park and Grant Park. Those three ponds will be addressed first, and then Hidden Valley and the two ponds near the High School (east of Division on either side of Washington St S) at a later date.

Given the cost of restoration for each pond we expect that it will take at least 5-7 years to complete the first three ponds (the are included in the CIP to be presented to the Council tomorrow night). Hidden Valley Pond would likely come after that, closer to 2018-2020. The current rate of sediment infill is low so we do not anticipate significant changes to the pond’s functionality in that time frame.

We have a meeting scheduled this week with the regulatory agencies (DNR, Corps of Engineers, BWSR, etc.) to discuss their jurisdictional claims on the first three ponds. The construction time frame will be governed by any regulatory permitting process we are required to complete. Once we have a handle on the permitting process we will hold a neighborhood meeting for the Rosewood Pond area. The John North Park Pond work will be discussed in conjunction with the road work planned in 2012 for that neighborhood.

TJ will likely be involved in the initial draining of the Rosewood Pond, but the dredging project itself will be run through the Engineering Dept. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Regards,

Brian

——-
Brian Welch, Engineering Resources Manager/Transit Manager
City of Northfield
801 Washington St S.
Northfield, MN 55057
507-645-3027

See: Stormwater Pond Evaluation and Prioritization: Assessment of Six Basins (PDF). It was prepared for City of Northfield on June 13, 2011 by Barr Engineering.

http://northfieldnews.com/content/pond-cleanup-project-begin-fall

According to Brian Welch, engineering resources manager for the city of Northfield, the Cannon River and the ponds that flow into it have seen a significant increase in sedimentation and runoff since then.

“We knew we needed to reduce the runoff levels to 1984, so we had to go back and look [at the Cannon River],” he said. “Now we know we need to cut the levels in half. We knew that a number of ponds needed work.”

With that in mind, Welch and his team have proposed a pond maintenance and rehabilitation program designed to return Northfield ponds to their original states.
In a plan to dredge the ponds and restore them to their original dimensions, six have gotten priority: Rosewood, Grant Park, John North Park, Hidden Valley and Sibley View (East and West). Rosewood, located at the corner of Heywood Road and Creek Lane, is about 10 years old and has about 29 percent sedimentation. It will cost around $58,600 to maintain.

Storm Water Ponds! Could this be us?
A blog post speaking of the anatomy of a storm pond.

City to conduct assessment of Hidden Valley Pond this week
Brian Welch, GIS Technician for the City of Northfield, has this update in Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski’s June 25 Friday Memo:

Photos: Barr Engineering surveyor

Hi-In case you haven’t heard or seen them, there are 14 hiding in the grass just west of Myron’s(NE corner of pond). It is not a good location, with people and dogs going by on the path. Arlene was on their deck when I walked by today and pointed out that the parents had led them across the path to a bush in their yard and were hiding there. We talked softly and suddenly they were running across to the west, back to the grasses.
Very cute and tiny. Of course, I didn’t have a camera or phone with me.

So when I spotted them on Saturday, I ran for my camera but was not fast enough. I finally got a shot of them on Sunday but they move so fast… it took 3 different times for me to get them actually in focus. We have counted as many as 24 and as few as 21, so that seems to be in the ball park as to the number. With a little research, Mallards don’t usually have this many in a brood, so she must have inherited a few from another mom, poor thing. They are never in line and seem to burst on the scene when they appear. We have seen two other momma ducks, one with 3 and another with 6 ducklings.

Griff did a blog about them on Locally Grown.  Check it out.