Clean Up the Trail Day Report

A much belated thanks to everyone who came out and helped make our "Clean Up the Trail Day" a success! A special thanks to Tim Garvey of Garvey Homes for his grill skill, the Purple Cow for the burgers and buns, and to FoNHT board member Rachel Hobbs for putting in a lot of time and a great effort in coordinating the event and food preparation.

The Preston Hollow Advocate Magazine interviewed Dallas Parks Board member Lee Kleinman during the cleanup about the trail plans. You can watch the video here.

Clean Up the Trail Day - October 24th

The Friends of Northaven Trail will hold a “Clean Up the Trail Day” on October 24^th from 2 to 4 pm. If inclement weather occurs on the 24^th, the event will reschedule to November 7^th. The group will meet at the parking lot on Edgemere Road behind GB Dealey Montessori School, 6501 Royal Lane, for all activities.

The event is being organized as a clean up effort where volunteers will be assigned in groups to clean debris from segments of what will be the Northaven Hike and Bike Trail. This event will be the first of many future events for the Friends of Northaven Trail to work together in a volunteer effort to support the beautification, usability and maintenance of the trail. This effort will encompass Preston Road to Valley Dale. After the cleanup effort, burgers provided by Purple Cow and beverages will be served on the Oncor easement behind George Dealey Montessori School. La Terra Studio will display a map of the trail, as currently planned.

Many thanks to our sponsors for their generous support of the event!

  
Please RSVP to events@northaventrail.org.

Community Meeting Update

On Tuesday, August 31, the city held a public meeting at the Jewish Community Center on Northaven Road to provide information on the design and construction timeline of the Northaven Trail.  Approximately 50 citizens attended and heard from District 11 City Council Member Linda Koop, Parks and Recreation Board Member Lee Kleinman, and Kris Brown from la terra studio, the designers of the trail.

Kris Brown presented a design schematic of the trail and fielded questions related to all aspects of the trail's design and construction.  Specific topics included; how the city might handle major street crossings at Hillcrest and Preston (still in discussion), suggestions for amenities including emergency way finding markers like those found on Katy Trail, access points and parking.  Citizens asked several questions about the location of the trail within specific sections of the Oncor utility easement, access points to the trail, the design of major intersection crossings and the connections to the White Rock Creek Trail and Cottonwood Trail.

Representatives from Terra Design also passed out note cards with a link to a public online survey about the trail.  The survey can be accessed here.

July 2010 Update

June Board Meeting Update At the June Board Meeting on June 8^th, the Friend’s Board met with the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department project managers and la terra studio to review design work that included potential trail layouts and location possibilities for trail amenities like fountains, bench pads, park pads, pet water stations, and a trailhead to honor contributors.   Also discussed were safety issues like appropriate traffic markings across neighborhood streets; enhanced safety across busier through-fares like Preston, Hillcrest and St. Michaels; and location signage along the Trail that would alert safety officers as to a person’s exact location.

Thanks Il Cane Rosso!

On June 10th the Friends group hosted a fund raising event at Chocolate Angel Too sponsored by Il Cane Rosso.  Il Cane Rosso contributed 10% of gross from all pizza sales to the Friends.  Other donations were received marking our first formal fund raising event.  Proceeds will be used to fund the Group’s initial operating and marketing budget.  All funds raised will be tax deductible and will be allocated to marketing, funding future improvements and maintenance of improvements.  Rich Govlik and Michael Black, representing the City Parks & Recreation, and Kris Brown of la terra studio, the City’s lead design team, attended and shared renderings of the future trail that showed potential path placements.  Attendees were invited to share their ideas for the Trail and address any concerns they have of the Trail. The reception again was very positive from those attending.

4^th of July Parade

Board members Martha Parks, Lee Kleinman, Ben Johnston and Warren Parham manned a table at the 4^th of July Parade sponsored by Hillcrest Forest and Hillcrest East Neighborhood Associations at Kramer Elementary School.  This was the fifth event in the past few months attended in a continued effort to solicit potential volunteers for fundraising, future landscape projects and sustaining memberships. The reception was overall very positive as word spreads of the future trail.

Upcoming Community Hearing

The City of Dallas will be scheduling a community hearing in late August at a location to be determined to formally announce the Trail, provide a status report as to design, planning and construction timelines, and give neighbors an opportunity to communicate directly to the City their respective concerns, suggestions, and expectations for and of the Trail.  Once the date and location are determined, the Friends will post the information on this website and the City will mail announcements to homes within the neighborhoods surrounding the Trail’s planning for Phase I and II, the initial route from Preston Road east to Park Central Drive.

May 2010 Update

Save the Date! Thursday, June 10th – Il Cane Rosso Fundraiser FoNHT will have our first restaurant fundraiser event at Il Cane Rosso (at Chocolate Angel Too).  Mark the date to come join us for great food, fun and a great way to meet others in the neighborhood!

Location: Il Cane Rosso (Chocolate Angel Too) 11909 Preston Rd, # 1444 Dallas, Texas 75230

FoNHT Inc Formation Update

In May, the Friends of Northaven Trail completed the legal formation process and established a bank account and post office box.  Donations or correspondence can now be sent to:

The Friends of Northaven Trail, Inc. P.O. Box 670325 Dallas, TX 75367 info@northaventrail.org

Trail Update

Progress on the trail continued during May with trail design and surveying getting underway.  The first steps for the Northaven Trail are the new sidewalks being installed on the west side of Preston Road between Royal and Forest. These will serve as a link to the NHT and will meet at the NHT access point at Preston Road.  The money for the sidewalk is coming from the 2006 City of Dallas Bond Program line item for sidewalk improvements.

2011 DALLAS BIKE PLAN OPEN HOUSE

The City of Dallas and North Central Texas Council of Governments invite you to participate in the 2011 Dallas Bike Plan.  The meeting is Thursday May 27, 5-8 pm at Dallas City Hall, 6th Floor Flag Room.

Sign up to get 2011 Dallas Bike Plan notices and additional information at http://www.dallasbikeplan.org.

Thanks!

FoNHT would like to thank the Jewish Community Center, Hillcrest East Homeowners Association and Preston/Royal Homeowners Association for allowing us participate in their events during May.

April 2010 Update

Tour Dallas Report On April 3rd, members of FoNHT held our first membership event as part of the finish line celebration at the annual “Tour Dallas” bike ride. “Tour Dallas” is an on-street, slow bike ride through downtown Dallas and out to White Rock Lake with over 3,000 riders. Through “Tour Dallas’” generous support, FoNHT set up an information table among the other exhibitors and vendors at City Hall Plaza and added over 35 new “friends” to the group; members of FoNHT also spread the word about the trail to dozens of other cyclists and DFW area citizens.  Participating volunteers from the FoNHT included Rachel Hobbs, Ben Johnston, Warren Parham, Lee Kleinman, Waco Moore, Len Auman, Betty and Jay Lorch, Allen and Valerie Hastings, and Bert Fischel.

Many thanks to our new friends at Tour Dallas and thanks to all who came by to say hello and learn about the trail plans.

For more information on Tour Dallas, visit www.tourdallas.org.

FoNHT Board Meets to Finalize Organization

On April 6th, FoNHT’s Board of Directors met in the Community Room at the Preston/Forest Whole Foods to review and finalize FoNHT’s articles of organization and discuss next steps in becoming a 501(C)3 organization.

During the meeting, the members also formed and agreed upon several working committees including Fund Raising, Marketing/Events, and Landscaping and Design.

On April 13, the group filed its articles of organization with the Texas Secretary of State’s office and proceeded with the final steps in completing the 501c3 application.

Santa Fe Trail Walk

On April 10th, several members of FoNHT including Warren Parham and Larry Jones met with members of the Friends of the Santa Fe Trail group to tour the Santa Fe Trail and exchange ideas.

The group was unable to walk the trail, so they drove the trail route from end to end while discussing the city's progress toward completion of the trail.  Members of FoNHT also learned the history of the FoSFT organization and heard about their ideas for further development of The Santa Fe Trail.  Other members of  FoNHT plan to walk the SFT on their own as well. Thanks to Santos Martinez from FoSFT for the tour.

Membership Report

The FoNHT Membership roster is now over 165 and growing weekly.  Thanks to everyone who has joined the group and expressed interest in helping make the trail a reality.  Please be sure to spread the word about the trail and the group to friends, neighbors and enthusiasts – the more the merrier!

First Donation!

The Friends of Northaven Trail recently received its first donation of $5,000 from Jim Hoyt, owner of Richardson Bike Mart. Many thanks to Jim for kicking off what we know will be a successful and fruitful endeavor!

City and County Partnership

On April 7, Larry Jones and Lee Kleinman attended a meeting between staff from Dallas Parks and Recreation Department and Dallas County.  This meeting was to coordinate funding, design and construction partnership between the City of Dallas and Dallas County for the NHT.  The County has committed to match City funds for the trail and will initiate the study of the connection between the NHT and the White Rock Creek Trail.  Thanks to Council Member Linda Koop and County Commissioner Maurine Dickey for initiating this collaboration.

March 2010 Update

March 8, 2010 Update Volunteers willing to serve as the Friends of the Northaven Trail’s Board of Directors met on March 2nd as an initial organizing meeting to discuss the organization’s (FoNHT) legal formation, meet the Project’s lead architecture firm, discuss the structure under which the Board will work, and identify the scope of the Board’s role in connection with the development of a active volunteer effort to oversee the development and maintenance of the Northaven Trail into a community asset.

To date, prospective Board members are Warren Parham, Lee Kleinman, Larry Jones, Ben Johnston, Krisann Peters, Gwen Holmes, David Clark, Len Auman, Jeff Genecov, Martha Parks, and Terry O’Connor. The Board is in need of person(s) willing to serve on the Fund Raising Committee as an Event Coordinator.

Lee Kleinman, serving on the Board as an Advisor and a District 11 Dallas Parks Board member, summarized the history of the project, which dates back many years, sources of funding for the Trail’s initial construction, and the partnership between the City of Dallas, Dallas County, Oncor, la terra studios and FoNHT.

Kris Brown, la terra studio, was introduced to Board Members.  la terra studio will be the principal project architect on contract with the Dallas Park & Recreation Department to create the Trail’s Master Plan and perform preliminary engineering work in connection with planning the Trail’s construction.

The City has allocated approximately $2.6 million from the 2006 Bond Program to finance Phase I, which will be a 12-foot concrete pathway from Preston Road to St. Michaels.  Funding to connect from St. Michael’s to the White Rock Creek Trail will be included in Phase II and we anticipate that Dallas County will participate in the funding of this section.   Future expansion of the Trail is planned to connect the Trail from Preston Road west to Denton Drive, then on to the Irving’s Campion Trail. The Trail will run east-west from Central Expressway to Denton Drive through the Oncor Electric utility easement. The City’s master plan is to build an interconnected trail system that will encircle the City of Dallas and provide bike trails of over 250 miles in length.

FoNHT is being organized to oversee and manage the Northaven Trail’s development from the neighborhood’s perspective. FoNHT’s principal objective is to create a community asset that will benefit walkers, riders, pets, and children and create a closer sense of community amongst those who live in the neighborhoods along the Trail.  FoNHT’s role in the development of the Trail will be to serve as a community advisor to la terra and the City; raise funding to finance improvements (landscaping, benches, water fountains, etc) ancillary to the Trail itself, manage the installation and continued maintenance of Trail landscaping, and oversee the Trail’s use by the Community as a safe and beautiful enhancement to neighboring communities.

Members at the Board Meeting decided to formally organize as a 501(c) (3) organization by the beginning of April.  Members will be on hand to create awareness and solicit volunteers for FoNHT at Tour Dallas on April 3rd.  The Board will meet on April 6th to formally adopt the FoNHT’s organizational documents and discuss the formation of Board committees for the following initiatives: fund raising, landscape design, landscape maintenance, marketing and communications, safety, volunteers and community awareness.

Ben Johnston, Director of Communications and Marketing, has agreed to spearhead development of FoNHT’s logo, further develop FoNHT’s website, and create a community blog that will enable volunteers to remain engaged with the Board during the early phase of the planning process.

The next Board meeting is scheduled for April 6th, 2010.