Playground improvements considered
Sketch of the playground area.
Sketch of a proposed idea for covering the playground with a tent-style canopy.
For the last few months, the WWECIA Board has been discussing some upgrades to the playground area in the park. We’ve talked about replacing some of the equipment, changing out the pea gravel for a rubberized surface, and installing a cover/canopy over the area itself to shade the sun.
It’s the last idea that’s getting some traction as the first step to take. Clyde Garland presented the board with some diagrams (shown here) and a ballpark figure of $6K-$10K for the final cost.
Click the second diagram to see some detail of his proposed design. It would consist of six 10′ telephone poles (10′ above ground, buried 4-6′) with two 20′ (above ground) poles acting as the high points.
The board will probably be making a decision to move forward with this or a similar design at our next meeting on August 11. If you have any thoughts to add, or any questions, please contact a board member (you can email us all at westwoodestates.bryan.tx@gmail.com) and/or attend the Aug. 11 meeting.
Please see and/or add to further discussion in the comments to this post.
Low density polyethylene we hope to use for the playground canopy
Adieu, Gabbard Road
This post is late, but The Road Formerly Known as Gabbard is now officially named North Traditions Drive.
Here is the official document: Ordinance No. 1867 (PDF).
From Martin Zimmerman, Planning Administrator for the City of Bryan:
At its meeting on May 11, 2010, Bryan’s City Council approved a proposal to change the name of Gabbard Road to North Traditions Drive. Please also see attached a copy of the ordinance approved by City Council.
The City of Bryan has already notified the affected property owners, as well as the U.S. Postal Service, emergency responders, the Brazos County Appraisal District and franchised utility companies. New street name signs will be installed by the City of Bryan in the next couple of weeks.
The purpose of this email is to inform you and your neighborhood association of this street name change. Please share this information with your association’s members.
If you have questions regarding this street name change, please do not hesitate to contact me by email or at (979) 209-5030.
Sincerely,
Martin Zimmermann, AICP
Planning Administrator
City of Bryan, Texas
979.209.5030 (phone)
979.209.5035 (fax)
Car Burglaries
From Officer Will Holt of the Bryan Police Department’s Neighborhood Enforcement Team (I highlighted some parts):
Car burglaries are continuing to plague both Bryan and College Station. Both of your HOAs (WWECIA and Rosewood Homeowners Group) have seen a big increase in vehicle burglaries over the last two months. The bad guys are breaking into cars in neighborhoods like y’alls, which normally are very quiet places to live.
- PLEASE remove valuables from your car each night.
- If you must leave them in your car, please hide them.
- LOCK your car doors.
- If you see someone in your neighborhood that you know doesn’t belong there, and they are not going directly to and from another household to visit, then report them immediately to us by calling 361-3888 or 911, depending on the circumstances.
- Record serial numbers for electronic items that you travel with or use in your home, like: iPods, GPS, after-market stereos, firearms, etc.
The vast majority of car break-ins have been “smash and grabs.” Citizens leave their valuables in plain sight, the bad guy sees this from outside the car, breaks the window, reaches in and steals your stuff, and walks away. It is a very quick crime of opportunity that is hard for us to catch, and little evidence is left behind. Don’t be a victim! Thank you.
Officer Holt sends these updates to the Westwood Estates Yahoo Group email list. If you’re not on this list, please sign up. Also, here’s an an attachment with some additional information and reminders he added to his email.
Juvenile Curfew
For those who haven’t heard this elsewhere, here is some information from the Bryan Police Department regarding the summer juvenile curfew:
With summer upon us, The Bryan Police Department would like to remind juveniles and their parents that the City of Bryan has a juvenile curfew. The curfew hours are between 12:00 midnight until 5:00 am on any day of the week. The curfew applies to any person younger than 17 years of age.
A juvenile commits an offense if he or she remains in any public place or on the premises of any establishment within the city during curfew hours or fails to return home by a direct route from such public place or establishment.
Some exemptions are if the juvenile is accompanied by their legal parents or if they are engaged in an employment activity and on a direct route, which is the shortest path of public travel to reach a final destination without and detour or stop along the way.
A person found in violation of this section, upon conviction, is punishable as follows:
- First offense: a fine not to exceed $100.00;
- Second offense: a fine not to exceed $250.00;
- Third and subsequent offenses: a fine not to exceed $500.00.
A parent of a juvenile commits an offense if he or she knowingly permits, or by insufficient control allows, the juvenile to remain in any public place or on the premises of any establishment within the city during curfew hours.
The owner or operator of an establishment commits an offense if he or she knowingly allows a juvenile to remain upon the premises of the establishment during curfew hours.
More information can be found in Section 82-7 of the City of Bryan City Code of Ordinance.http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=14054&stateId=43&stateName=Texas
The safety of our community has no borders. It is the goal of every law enforcement agency to protect the citizens that we serve. We live here with you and we work here with you. Together we can make a difference in our community. Be the eyes and ears of your police department. When you see suspicious activity contact the Bryan Police Department or the Brazos County Sheriff’s Department at 979-361-3888; contact the College Station Police Department at 979-764-3600.
Officer Jason B. James
Bryan Police Department
Public Information Officer
979.209.5322 (desk)
979.436.2843 (cell)
979.209.5388 (fax)
Proposed Gabbard Road name change
Gabbard Road. Possibly, soon to be known as 'North Traditions Drive,' or, nostalgically, 'the road formerly known as Gabbard.'
We received this today from the City of Bryan (I made some parts red for emphasis):
From: “Zimmermann, Martin” <mzimmermann@bryantx.gov>
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:54:06 -0500
Subject: proposed Gabbard Road street name changeIn order to establish a more consistent and continuous street naming system and to simplify street identification by delivery services, emergency services as well as visitors and the general public, City staff is proposing to change the name of Gabbard Road to North Traditions Drive. Please also refer to the map attached to this email.
The Bryan City Council will consider this street name change proposal during its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. in City Council chambers on the first floor of the Bryan Municipal Office Building, 300 South Texas Avenue. At this public hearing, the public has an opportunity to express their views on this matter.
The purpose of this email is to inform you and your neighborhood association of the nature of this proposal and the public hearing date. I urge you to share this information with your association’s members. The City of Bryan has already notified four property owners that currently have an address on Gabbard Road by postcard notification. If the street name change is approved by the City Council, then City staff will notify all property owners in the Westwood Estates Subdivision.
If anyone in your association has any questions, comments or concerns regarding this street name change proposal, please have them contact me at (979) 209-5030.
Sincerely,
Martin Zimmermann, AICP
Planning Administrator
City of Bryan, Texas
979.209.5030 (phone)
979.209.5035 (fax)
www.bryantx.gov
If you have thoughts on this, or are planning to attend the meeting on the 27, please leave a comment here.
Spring 2010 newsletter available
The April 2010 Newsletter of the Westwood Estates Community Improvement Association is available on the Newsletters page. Thanks to Clyde Garland for putting these newsletters together.
One difference in this publication is that the Board voted to suspend automatic mass distribution of the printed newsletter, choosing instead to create this web site and offer them online here. However, if you know of anyone in the neighborhood unable to get to the web site, or for whom it’s inconvenient to do so, please encourage them to contact their block captain or a Board member and one of us will be sure to print one off and bring it to them.
One of the new items in this newsletter is the introduction of a new email address that will forward to each of the Board members: westwoodestates.bryan.tx@gmail.com. A link to this address will stay in the “Links” section of this website.
Easter Party!
Friday, April 2, 2010, 5:50pm
Westwood Estates Park
Kids, bring a basket for the Easter egg hunt!
Hotdogs, etc. will be served at 5:30pm and the hunt will begin at 6pm. There will be 150 plastic eggs with prizes to find. The hunt will be divided into three groups – Toddlers, Elementary and Middle. There will be two eggs in each group that will have a gift certificate — $5 for McDonald’s and $10 for Wal-Mart.
Laura Stafford (822-0559) is organizing the Party and providing everything. She will bring the food, including the charcoal and meat and will cook it. She will bring the plastic eggs, stuff them with prizes and oversee hiding them.
Last year’s Party had 50 adults and 30 kids.
Snow
Snow person on Westwood Main 2-23-10. Still snowing at 7:30.
The snow a few weeks ago was special, considering it was the third time this year, and the second year in a row we had snow. This time had the largest snowflakes I’ve ever seen, as far as I can remember.
Here are some nice links I saw of snow around our area:
- Snow on Kyle Field. Covering the field and all the stands. A wonderful large image.
- A great collection of snow pictures on MyBCS.com.
Coyotes, Bobcats, and more
Coyote picture from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website
On Christmas Day, a resident on the west side of Westwood Main had a pet chicken killed. No one saw it happen, but feathers were observed on and outside of the outer fence. It appears that the chicken had been taken outside the fence.
These chickens are ordinarily kept in a separate, fenced enclosure within a fenced backyard, but were allowed to walk around in a fenced back yard in the daytime. Some days later, this resident saw a coyote standing outside the fence, and it was not scared off when she approached it on her side of the fence.
On Tuesday, February 2, 2010, another Westwood Main resident two doors down from the previous one had her small dog killed by an animal that had left teeth marks on both sides of its body (suggesting a large-mouthed predator) and broken its neck, possibly by shaking it abruptly. This dog was presumably inside its fenced back yard, since it had just gone outside and was barking at something. But it was found just outside the fence after its owner heard it yelp and immediately stop barking.
Numerous residents have reported hearing coyotes howling nearby recently. Bobcats have also been seen. And as recently as 2005, when Traditions was still under construction, a cougar was observed very clearly just off Villa Maria Road east of the Traditions entrance.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife website has some excellent information regarding dealing with urban animals whose habitats are being encroached upon. The cougar was reported to them, and the coyotes will be also. If anyone has any additional information or reports, please share them in the comments section.
Please be aware that there is at least one large predator roaming the outskirts of our neighborhood and protect your pets accordingly.
2010 Annual Meeting Report
The Westwood Estates 2010 Annual Meeting was held Thursday, Jan. 14. Though the technical requirements of a two-week minimum notice (see the Bylaws) were satisfied by an announcement in the Fall Newsletter, a scheduling mix up caused another reminder notice to not get out in time. 5 members attended with 8 votes, with one other attending briefly, who left his proxy. A total of 54 proxies (thanks to Clyde Garland for collecting these) added up to a total of 62 votes.
Elections for board members took place. Mark Coppock was re-elected to serve from 2010-2012, and long-time Westwood South Block Captain and Park Coordinator Nancy Coppock was elected as well to fill the other open spot from 2010-2012. See the Westwood Estates Board Members page for the full list.
However, the board will be losing its President, James Haliburton, who is moving out of the neighborhood. He has agreed to stay on the board until the first 2010 board meeting on Feb. 10, 8pm at Walter Kamphoefner’s home at 3209 Deer Trail. At that meeting, the board will decide who holds what office. The board has one volunteer so far to fill the position that will be opening up. See the Bylaws for information on the Board of Directors.
This website was introduced. Its purpose is to serve as a convenient resource for Westwood Estates residents, and whatever else we choose to make it. While one of the reasons the board originally thought to start this site was to reduce the cost of printing the newsletter twice a year, we were correctly reminded at the meeting that a website should never replace face-to-face communication between neighbors.
One suggestion made was that, in the future, each block captain might be responsible for determining who on their block prefers a paper copy of the newsletter be delivered to them and who would prefer simply reading their copy from the website and/or printing it themselves if they choose. The board will consider all residents’ suggestions in this matter. You may leave a comment on this post and/or attend any meeting to voice your opinion. Special ongoing thanks goes to Clyde Garland who assembles the newsletters for the association.
See the Meeting Minutes page, or download the minutes of this meeting directly.
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