Snow Removal Update

Kari Miller sent me the following info this morning:

"I received a call from Dan at Goetz to confirm they started clearing snow at 6:00 pm Saturdayand will be finishing clean up today.  Hugo had 16 inches of snow! I have been providing homeowners that call with the following information.

Thank you

Please refer to the following Snow Fall Parameters that are required  by your Association and Vender.  You had 9+” of snow last night.

Snow Fall Parameters

2”-4” – All snowfalls of 2” or more will be plowed.  Plowing includes driveways and walkways.  Additionally, areas prone to ice buildup will receive applications of de-icing chemicals.  Snow removal will begin when substantial accumulation has ceased.

4”-9” – Single storms that are forecasted to produce accumulations of 4”-9” inches will be plowed and de-iced to allow safe travel during the first service.  Trucks will be dispatched when accumulation reaches 3.5”-4.0” at the job site.  A final plowing will be performed when substantial accumulation has ceased.  During final clean up all areas prone to ice buildup will receive applications of de-icing chemicals.

9+” – Single storms that are forecasted to produce 9” plus of accumulation will be serviced to allow a flow of traffic in/out of driveways.  Plowing will continue during the entire storm to achieve the above.  Final plowing will be performed when substantial accumulation has ceased.  During final clean up all areas prone to ice buildup will receive applications of de-icing chemicals.

The Association, working with the Contractor, reserves the right to push/pile the snow anywhere on the common areas where it is most cost effective for the Association.  This may mean that areas adjacent to individual units and/or yards may be used for the storage of plowed snow. 

Note: According to the contract city sidewalks will be plowed within 24 hrs of the completion of a snowfall.  This is done because city sidewalk is considered a non-critical service.

Adult Holiday Party at Blue Heron set for Dec. 15

Come celebrate the holidays with your neighbors!  Drinks and appetizers will be provided.

Blue Heron Grill

Saturday, Dec. 15

8:00 pm

Public Ice Skating and Hockey Rick Initiative

Hello VG Residents,

This message is going out to gage how much interest there is in having an ice skating rink at Val Jean Park and potentially Arbre Park. We have two beautiful parks that are otherwise abandoned during the winter months. I already know plenty of kids, as well as adults, in the neighborhood who would love to get outside to skate, learn to skate and/or play hockey.

Unfortunately, the City of Hugo has only one public hockey rink located by Hugo Elementary School and it is maintained by the residents who live near it. After meeting with Scott Anderson, the Hugo Public Works Director, I learned that the City of Hugo does not have any sort of funds for hockey rinks, general skating rinks, warming houses or lights. This is unfortunate for kids who would love to be able to figure skate or play hockey, but may not learn until a later age or just wont have the opportunity to develop like the kids in neighboring cities. For comparison, Shoreview and Arden Hills have skating facilities at Sitzer Park, Wilson Park, Shoreview Commons Park, Cummings Park, Bucher Park, Bobby Theisen Park, McCullough Park, Shamrock Park, Valentine Park, Freeway Park, Hazelnut Park, Perry Park as well as 3 rinks in North Oaks. Each park has a warming house, a general skating rink, a hockey rink and lights.

So far I have pulled together a small group of people in the neighborhood who I knew would be interested in a rink. What we would like to do is find out how many others are interested, who would be willing to assist in planning, and who else would be on board with funding the necessary materials. After speaking with Scott, I have learned that the City of Hugo would store the boards during the summer months and that we would have access to water for flooding the rinks.

I would like to get a larger group of interested residents together to come up with a plan that we can submit to the ARC Review Board. In an ideal world we would have a hockey rink, a general skating rink, lights and a warming house. What we will most likely propose is a temporary (winter months only), slightly smaller hockey rink with short boards and a general skating rink for those who do not wish to play hockey but would like to skate.

If you have any interest in being a part of this initiative, please contact me by December 10th.

Thank you,

Rob Weaver 

rob_weaver@hotmail.com 

651-334-6649

Tree Pruning - Hugo's Public Works Director Explains

Boulevard tree canopy. 
These trees were pruned to encourage upward growth,
then outward growth over the street.
Low-hanging limbs were removed to
avoid large vehicle traffic and pedestrians.

As you may know, the City of Hugo requested that SFV residents prune their boulevard trees this winter.  More on the history of that request can be found in these two previous website posts:

• City Requests Boulevard Tree Pruning This Winter
• Boulevard Tree Pruning - Are you interested in hiring a pro?

UPDATE:

Hugo's Public Works Director, Scott Anderson and I discussed this subject over the phone earlier this week.  We both agreed that more information might be helpful, especially if that info comes from the City of Hugo.  Accordingly, Mr. Anderson sent me the following email yesterday:

On Nov 28, 2012, at 9:19 AM, Scott Anderson wrote:

Mark,

There have been a few questions regarding the City’s request for boulevard trees to be trimmed in the Victor Gardens neighborhood.  I thought I’d send you a quick email to help understand why the request is being made. 

Years ago, CPDC and City of Hugo staff met to discuss maintenance responsibilities in the parks and common areas of the development.  It was agreed that all boulevard trees, except in park areas and adjacent boulevards, would be maintained by the HOA or homeowners.  This is why when a boulevard tree, not adjacent to a park, is hit by a car (or eaten by a beaver) the HOA is responsible for its replacement.  The City does pick up and remove the dead tree for public safety reasons.  This agreement gave the homeowners of Victor Gardens a bit more control over how and when the maintenance of the boulevard trees was performed. 

The City of Hugo is requesting that the HOA and homeowners perform the much needed pruning of the boulevard trees to prevent future damage to limbs by City equipment used during maintenance activities such as snow plowing and street sweeping.  Up to this point, HOA direction has been for minimal pruning and the result is trees with limbs beginning to grow out into the roadway.  City staff would like to see the trees pruned in a way that encourages upward growth and eventually outward growth.   

With that being said, the Hugo Public Works Department is willing to perform the tree pruning, however, it would be done according to the City’s “Tree Trimming Policy” and a more aggressive approach (to maximize the time between pruning) would be taken.  The request from the City for the HOA and homeowners allows the residents to perform the pruning in a manner that better suits themselves and still satisfies intent of the City’s policy. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to call!

Sincerely,

Scott Anderson

Public Works Director

City of Hugo

651-762-6326 Office

651-762-6374 Fax

Goetz Landscape Will Offer Tree Pruning Services

For those SFV residents who responded to my pruning inquiry email, thank you.  I've submitted to Goetz Landscape Inc. an approximate number of boulevard trees that residents said they might be interested in having Goetz prune.  Additionally, a number of you said that you had other side-yard or back-yard trees that you might be interested in pruning also.  A few of you also asked about removing dead shrubs, beaver damaged, trees, etc.

Now that Goetz has that raw data, I'd expect them to respond within the next few days with pricing and next steps for those interested residents.  

When I have more info, I'll pass it along.

Disclosure Statement

Santa to Visit Wagner's Garden Center Saturday, Dec. 1

Say hello to Santa this Saturday, Dec. 1,  11:00am - 3:00pm at Wagner's Garden Center in Hugo. Enjoy refreshments, carolers, face painting and free photos with Santa.  Link to Wagner's website here.

Santa to Visit Lake Area Bank on Dec. 14

Santa Claus will visit Lake Area Bank on Friday, December, 14, 3:30-5:30pm

Tell him that you've been nice and don't forget to bring along your wish lists!

North Village Villas - Tree Decorating this Saturday, Dec. 1

The Victor Gardens North Village Villas sub-association is seeking volunteers on Saturday, December 1st around 1:00 PM to help decorate trees.  Volunteers will work together to beautify the North Village Villas entry/approach with holiday lights.

Please join us on Saturday! See you at 1:00.

The Nest Introduces New Home Concept Plans

Building on Fall Parade momentum from their Mackintosh model home, the Nest has developed a few new home concepts, elevations and plans. They include a contemporary interpretations of farmhouse, four square and shingle styles. See more on The Nest's Facebook.

Boulevard Tree Pruning - Are you interested in hiring a pro?

Dear Single Family Village neighbors,

As many of you know, the City of Hugo asked me to communicate with our residents about our boulevard trees. The City eventually wants to see a 12 to 15 foot clearance under each of Victor Gardens' boulevard trees. This will likely be an ongoing, multi-year effort. I posted an article regarding this on our website a few weeks ago. Click here for the full story.

Since our boulevard trees are owned by each of us individually and not by the association, residents may hire a professional to perform this service or do it themselves. Victor Gardens Master Association and its various condo sub-associations are hiring Goetz Landscape to prune their collectively owned boulevard trees.

Dan Steuernagel from Goetz Landscape asked me roughly how many Single Family Village homeowners might be interested in specially priced tree pruning this winter. Goetz would like to offer our Victor Gardens Single Family Village homeowners a deal:
For those of you who are familiar with our neighborhood's yearly discounted (bulk rate) lawn detaching, sprinkler blow-out, and core aeration services- it would work similarly:

• Trees would be pruned for a flat per-tree price; regardless of size, age, species, etc.
• All work would be performed by Goetz on one pre-determined "Pruning Day" in December. 
• Homeowners would need to sign up with Goetz on before this date (granting Goetz permission to be on their property and to prune their trees). 
• Homeowners would need to have a check and completed permission slip ready at their front door (hanging on a doorknob or under the mat) before Goetz arrived on the "Pruning Day". 
• If no check and permission slip was left, then Goetz would not prune the trees. 

As a neighborhood, we haven't done this before. I'm a little uncertain how many trees we're talking about. Goetz Landscape could offer us a better deal if more trees were included in the "Pruning Day". Dan can set a price if he knows roughly how many homeowners are interested. More trees = a greater discount for everyone.

Here's my question for you all:  Please reply
If you're interested in Goetz Landscape per-tree pricing to professionally prune your trees and remove the pruned branches, please let me know the following:

1. How many boulevard trees on your property would you wish to have Goetz prune?
2. How many other deciduous (leaf dropping) trees on your property (in your front, side or back yard) would you wish to have Goetz prune?

Please email me in the next few days if you're interested, and please answer the above questions. I'll share the raw numbers with Goetz and they'll make an offer to us based on those numbers.

- Mark

VG Long Term Planning Committee Meeting set for Monday Nov. 26

The newly formed VG Long Term Planning Committee is scheduled to meet:

Monday, Nov. 26

7:00pm

Hosted by Kim Scanlan, 4767 Dahlia Way N. in the Creek Side Villas area.

Tamarack Nature Center's Upcoming Winter Opportunities

Here are a few highlights of upcoming programs offered at Tamarack Nature Center. More opportunities for all ages available online via this link Think snow!

• Adult Yoga - Nov. 28-Dec. 19, 5:30-6:30 p.m., $32/person
• Nature Photography Club - Sat., Dec. 15 & Jan. 19, 10 am - noon
• Winter Bird Banquet - Sat., Dec. 1, 1:00-3:00 p.m. $6.50/person, plus $2/supply fee

YOGA FOR KIDS, Sundays, 3:00 - 3:50 p.m. Session I: December 2, 9, 16 $19.50 series; or $7.50 Individual classes Session II: February 3, 10, 17, 24 March 3, 10, 17$45.50 series; or $7.50 individual classes Ages 5-12 years

VISION QUEST - WINTER PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP-TWO DAY CLASS (for adults) - Sat., Jan. 12, 1:00-5:00 p.m. and Sun., Jan. 13, 8 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.$65/person for the two-day class

TAMARACK NATURE CENTER PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB - Third Saturday of each month Dec. 15, Jan. 19 and Feb. 16 10:00 a.m. to noon



You can also drop us an email with your questions or requests at:tamarack@co.ramsey.mn.us