Valley Pond Townhome Association » Griff Wigley

City Parks Department cuts down the noxious trees

Griff Wigley — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:46:47 +0000

I’m not sure when it happened exactly but some time in the past few weeks, a crew from the City of Northfield Streets, Parks & Facilities Divisions mowed down all the noxious trees at the south end of the pond in Hidden Valley Park. There were hundreds of small trees there, blocking the view of the pond for those of us on the south end.

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

Pond dredging not scheduled for 5-7 years

Griff Wigley — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:01:07 +0000

It turns out that it’ll be a few years before Hidden Valley Pond is dredged. Here’s the email from Brian Welch, Engineering Resources Manager for the City of Northfield:

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.

10 inches of fluffy snow: time for a new photo banner

Griff Wigley — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 22:57:11 +0000

AARRGGHH. Autumn has come and gone and I neglected to put up a photo banner for it.

Yesterday’s 10-inch snowfall, however, prompted me to take some photos last night during the height of the storm and again this morning when the sun came out. The new banner is up!

Old banner:

New banner:

Photos: Harvest moon over Valley Pond

Griff Wigley — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:49:00 +0000

Photos: heavy rains fill the pond

Griff Wigley — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:44:00 +0000

Several inches of rain in the past two days have filled Hidden Valley Pond to the highest we’ve ever seen it… to the top of the stormwater pipe.

Goodbye to the Willow tree

Griff Wigley — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:37:00 +0000

With permission from the City of Northfield, a group of local lumberjacks took down the decaying Willow tree at the foot of the stormwater pipe at the southwest corner of the pond this week.

More than a few perfect summer days

Griff Wigley — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:19:00 +0000

Blue sky, spectacular clouds, a gorgeous pond. Are we lucky or what?

Photos: Barr Engineering surveyor

Griff Wigley — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:24:00 +0000

As Robbie wrote back in June,

The City has contracted with Barr Engineering to help the city develop a prioritization of stormwater ponds in need to dredging and other rehabilitation work to improve management of surface runoff.

A guy from Barr Engineering did his thing today.

Backyard acrobats

Griff Wigley — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:08:00 +0000

The acrobatic squirrels in our backyard overlooking Valley Pond are both annoying and funny.

Deer in Hidden Valley Park: getting closer

Griff Wigley — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:29:00 +0000

At about 9 am on Sunday, I saw this deer trot across Hidden Valley Dr. at Peterson Dr. and head into Hidden Valley Park, startling a couple who were walking their dogs.