Baker Farm at Wythe Creek

7/18/07: Front Entrance Committee & Officers meeting

Water Sprinkler System

- meter has already been installed in Nate's yard; now we need to get water to the median and the other side, which is in Mr. Thomas's yard.
- to install a meter in Mr. Thomas's yard would require adding it to the main water supply. The city would have to do this and the cost would be $2100. This is well beyond our budget.

- the other alternative is to bore under the street and lay a pipe that would feed the sprinklers in Mr. Thomas's yard, and also be connected to the center median to feed its sprinklers, and tie into Nate's water system. It would be connected so that any water it receives goes through the new meter installed in Nate's yard. This would have the entire front entrance on a single meter. This would be simpler as well as less expensive to install.

- Nate has agreed to let us use his water supply as the source.
- We have to come up with a plan for reimbursing him for the water used.
- the system in Mr. Thomas's yard is a Rainbird and runs off 6-volt batteries, thus it will not need an electrical supply. Nate's is a Hunter and has a lot of features for programming it and doing various tasks.
- Nate also wants a shut-off valve installed so that his water supply to the front entrance sprinklers can be completely shut off if need be.
- Vernon will get estimates for boring under the road and all remaining tasks for getting the system working.
- We need to have the sprinkler system working before doing any planting. We agreed on a plan for it to be complete by Labor Day weekend.

Current Need

- right now, Vernon wants to borrow a compressor to blow the system up and check all the sprinkler heads. A 10-gallon tank compressor is required, and his is not that powerful.
-- Rob will ask about getting one for him to use.
-- Iris will ask her husband what is the rating of their compressor
-- We can send an email to the neighborhood asking for one
-- the city Parks and Rec department may have one we can borrow.

Grant Update & Installation Plans

- The grant was approved by the city of Hampton for the full amount requested of $5000, with the condition that we sign a maintenance agreement for the upkeep of the site, and that we provide $5000 in matching resources.
-- A confirmation package was sent out to Claudia. It contains a contract, written agreement and maintenance agreement, all of which need to be signed by the president of the group and returned to the city before beginning the project.
-- a match log sheet was also in the packet to track volunteer labor.
-- Joan signed the forms and Claudia will mail them back to the city.

- There is some confusion over how the grant funds will be distributed. We have received conflicting information from the city.
--We were told the vendors would have to give the city an invoice for their work, and the city would pay them in 30 days.
-- The written agreements says that once the signed forms are received, checks will be written within 2 weeks of that date.
-- Joan will call the Neighborhood Commission Chair, Will Moffitt, to get clarification of this.

Landscape Installation Plans

- We would like to do the installation in late September. The weekend of the 21st was tentatively proposed.
- Claudia will call Tony to find out his availability.
- We need to draw up a maintenance plan and decide how to ask people to commit to certain activities.
- There is some concern about future theft since the flowers on the right side of the entrance were stolen one night last week. That was a strange and unexplainable event; however, we won't let it prevent us from moving forward with our plans.

Next Meeting:
Wed., Aug 1 at 7pm at Joan's house.