It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here, and we’ve received questions about dates and progress on the signs, so I figured I’d post a quick update.

I personally have not been involved with these projects since they were moved onto the 2022 calendar, therefore a lack of posting here.

As we can all see, the three islands originally slated to be completed last year, look like they are finally done. These are located at Quebec/Hwy 287, Jersey/Hwy 287 and S. Pratt Pkwy/Ken Pratt Blvd. The debris has been cleared from the Kanemoto Park parking lot – which is great since school is starting lol! So, it looks like the initial Neighborhood Improvement Project has come to a close.

We do still have an outlying Sustainable Neighborhood Solutions project. Last I heard, they were waiting on the contractor and it was going to start on August 10th. However, I have not seen any activity as of yet. If you would like to participate in this project, please let us know by clicking HERE. The volunteer sign up sheet information has been forwarded along to the project leaders – not sure if dates have been updated or not, but I will pass along contact information if you are wanting to join in the fun 🙂

During the summer, I already noticed some weeds poking through. They were removed after a bit, not sure if it was an individual, the contractor or the City that did the work – if anyone knows, I’d be curious to know. However, this got me to thinking about how to keep the completed islands looking fresh. I was wondering if there would be any interest in an “Adopt an Island” type of program. I envision this as something where residents could sign up for a week or so out of the year to inspect an island for trash, vandalism, weeds, etc. The volunteer would then be responsible for removing any unwanted items and letting the community know if there is anything to be repaired, etc. We could then work together on solutions for getting that work done. I know I would sign up for a couple weeks out of the year, but not sure if other people have any interest in this sort of thing. Could we get 52 weeks covered?

Let us know by giving feedback!

Good idea? Bad idea? Why do you feel that way?

Give your opinion by CLICKING HERE!

Thanks for reading and for taking an interest in our great community!

Taralyn Towers

Here are a few more pics that were sent from this past Sunday.

Most of the stumps that were over at Kanemoto were able to be charred this weekend. A BIG THANK YOU!!! to all the volunteers that helped to get this messy task done – Ed, Mike, Christine, Ruth and Maura! You all ROCK!

There are a few left, and we are hoping to get another pile delivered this week, meaning we will need to have more volunteers to get this job completed. Ed feels that if we have a group of six people all at once, it would run very smoothly. Two to char, two to spray down with water, and two to scrape and polish them up. This is a “dirty” job, so please take care to wear old work clothes when you volunteer.

If you are interested in this Japanese technique of wood preservation, look up Shou Sugi Ban…very interesting! We don’t have the time or resources to do it the “real” Japanese way, and there are a few different ways to go about this, but we are doing our best with what we have.

Here are some pics from this weekend. These stumps look really nice when all finished off, and I think they will look very smart on our islands 🙂

It would be terrific if we could get about six to eight people really committed to helping out next weekend. I know it’s close to Christmas…horrible time to be doing this, but this project NEEDS to be completed by December 31st. If the weather is good, we need to capitalize on that.

SIGN UP HERE or call/text Tara at 303-641-1932 to get more details.

Two of the three Torii Gates were placed last weekend. The contractor has been working this week on the island at Jersey and Main, having most of the dirt cuffed down. We need to wait to work on the island on S. Pratt Pkwy until there is an xcel energy supervisor assigned.

We’d like to get started on charring the stumps this weekend. We, hopefully, have two torches to get started with tomorrow. There are approximately 50 stumps to be charred, so it will take some man hours to complete this task. With the weather turning cooler, we are thinking of starting around noon on Saturday, when the temperature should be up around 40 degrees.

If you have a torch that we could use, it would really help us to get this job done quicker. If you have a torch or would like to assist with the charring, please contact us HERE or use the virtual Volunteer Sign Up HERE.

Here are some progress pictures for those of you that have not had a chance to drive past the work sites.

Two of three Torii Gates were placed yesterday.

A big THANK YOU! to all the volunteers that helped make this happen – Ed, Abe, Nadeen, Marta, Maura, Blake, Jeremiah, Tom – without your hands, it would have been impossible to complete this step all in one day.

You may have seen them while driving around, but here are some pics of the work in progress.

We are still in need of volunteers. The contractor will be starting to remove dirt on Monday. Minimally, we need safety assistants to help with traffic flow around the equipment in the street. A clean up crew would save a lot of time as he could then move on while someone is sweeping up the street.

Sign up to volunteer here!

Large boulders have all been removed from the islands.

Tomorrow, Saturday the 4th, we will be placing the Torii Gates. We could use some extra working hands for this task.

If you’d like to help out with some digging and moving the Torii Gates into position, please sign up to volunteer by CLICKING HERE.

Here are some photos to show some of the progress. I have not gotten any photos of the S. Pratt Pkwy island, but I did drive by and it is also cleared.

Today all the large boulders were removed from the island at Quebec and Main. The work then continued at the Jersey and Main location. There are many more rocks at this location, and hopefully these can all be moved tomorrow.

The next step in the process will be to regrade both of these islands and put fresh barrier down. Once the excess dirt is out of the way, the boulders can be replaced, stumps and torii gates set, etc. Dirt will be backfilled around these and fresh gravel will be added.

The island at S. Pratt Pkwy will need to have everything done in one day, due to the fact that there is a large gas line nearby and xcel energy will need to have a representative present as we do work there. So for the present, the work is being focused on these two islands.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

We could still use more volunteers!

Sign up Here!

Work has begun and nearly all the existing rock from Quebec and Main have been relocated to the staging area. A security concern has come up, as they will temporarily be at risk in this highly accessible location.

So…we are wondering if anyone in the community would be willing to let us borrow a trail camera during this transitory stage.

Just let us know by using the contact form on this website, or you can reach Tara directly at 303-641-1932.

Thanks!

Permits are in hand, and Loco Construction will begin work tomorrow morning!

Now is the time to sign up to volunteer!!!

If you have questions regarding the tasks on the sign up sheet, please feel free to reach out Clicking Here. Or you can call/text Tara at 303-641-1932.

Click Here to see the virtual Volunteer Sign Up Sheet

This grant was applied for quite a while ago, and with all the supply chain and economic issues we’ve faced since then, it was difficult to come up with a plan for these within our price range that would look nice and last without a lot of maintenance.

Cedar Supply in Fort Collins offered us a great discount on materials (cedar, bags of cement, and tubing) allowing us to build these with quality materials and come under budget. They are an amazing company to work with! If in the market for cedar, please consider supporting their business. High quality wood and friendly, competent employees 🙂

Ed shared these pictures of the completed Torii Gates last week and I thought I’d put them up here for people to see. They are beautiful!

A big thank you to Ed Towers and Abe Melendez for getting this portion of the job done before the holiday weekend!!! One less thing to worry about 🙂