Valley Pond Townhome Association

April-October 2015 VPTA board minutes now posted

Griff Wigley — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 15:50:10 +0000

The VPTA board minutes for the months of April through October 2015 are now up.

2015 VPTA Policy Booklet now available as a PDF

Griff Wigley — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 16:02:28 +0000

The 2015 VPTA Policy Booklet that was handed out at the annual meeting is now available in a PDF, thanks to Treasurer Sherry Freking:

See all previous versions on the VPTA Policy Booklets page.

VPTA volunteer work crew cuts down invasive trees in Hidden Valley Park

Griff Wigley — Wed, 20 May 2015 11:36:39 +0000

The noxious/invasive trees that the City of Northfield cut down in Hidden Valley Pond back in the winter of 2012 (see blog post here) have been growing back:

So yesterday, a volunteer crew of VPTA members cut them down with a tree whacker and loppers, gathered them up, piled them on the edge of the park, and started hauling them to the City compost site:

The health of the pond is now improved a bit, thanks to Jim and Janet Dale, Theo Durbin, Anita and Chuck Hellie, Kris Herrreid, Kim Johnson, Jerry Krause, Gene Moninger, and neighbor Tim Pautzke. And the view of the pond for many of us is considerably better. (All but one photo by Janet Dale.)

Photo album: 2015 annual VPTA meeting

Griff Wigley — Fri, 15 May 2015 13:34:44 +0000

Scenes from Tuesday’s annual meeting, held at the Northfield High School cafeteria:

2015 Annual Meeting scheduled for May 12 at the Northfield High School

Griff Wigley — Tue, 05 May 2015 16:02:25 +0000

The Valley Pond Townhome Association annual meeting for 2015 will be held on Tuesday, May 12, 7 pm in the upper cafeteria of the Northfield High School.

Photo album from last year:

Jan-March 2015 VPTA board minutes now posted

Griff Wigley — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:54:23 +0000

The VPTA board minutes for the months of January through March 2015 are now up.

City of Northfield does another controlled burn around the Hidden Valley Park pond

Griff Wigley — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 16:33:29 +0000

A crew hired by the City of Northfield did a controlled burn around the Hidden Valley Park pond yesterday afternoon:

My photo album from the 2010 burn shows the burn as it was happening.

Hidden Valley Park trail now plowed in winter

Griff Wigley — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 03:33:18 +0000

Back in Feb 2008, I blogged about the lack of plowing the trail around Hidden Valley Pond in winter, and how other adjacent trails are sometimes plowed.

The issue of plowing paved trails throughout the city came before the City Council last winter and on Feb. 11, 2014, the council approved this motion:

The Northfield City Council hereby approves a motion to remove snow from all City trails, as described in Option Three.

Here’s an excerpt from a PDF memo to the Council by then City Engineer Joe Stapf that describes Option 3:

Option #3 – Simply plow the Outbounds using the personnel and equipment we already have, except everyone needs to understand it will take longer to finish the Outbounds, and the streets will remain the highest priority in snow removal. Currently we plow BOTH streets and the established Outbound routes simultaneously; once the drivers of the snowplows are done with their routes, under this third option they would use whatever equipment remains and some would start on the additional Outbounds. This third alternative is the simplest to implement. However, the level of service may not be up to everyone’s expectations in that some trail segments may not be cleared until the day after or even the second day after the snowfall.

Here are two photos of the plowed Hidden Valley Park trail from November 20, a couple days after a snowfall:

Aug-Nov VPTA board minutes now posted

Griff Wigley — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 02:37:59 +0000

The VPTA board minutes for the months of August through November are now up.

April-July VPTA board minutes now posted

Griff Wigley — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 23:25:42 +0000

The VPTA board minutes for the months of June & July are now up. April and May were already up but I neglected to blog about it. It won’t happen again!