MCPAC Meeting Minutes Saturday May 29, 2010

Mill Creek Pond Action Committee

Meeting Minutes

Saturday May 29, 2010

Present: Steve Norr, Lela Fenn, Kathy Boysen, Ken Mears, Kimarie Overall, George Mierisch, Judy Mincher, Shelly Norr, Lela Johnsen, Larry Gardner, Lewis Galway, Terrell McPhee, Errol Remington

Pond Area Issues and Goals:

Larry Gardner brought maps of our neighborhood and the Mill Creek Pond area.

1. The city will support our efforts to secure and protect the Mill Creek Pond area.

2. We need a neighborhood or homeowners’ association.

A. Involve everyone who backs the water.

B. Must be official. Jerry McPhee has agreed to do the legal work.

C. Collect dues. An amount of $5.00 per month was suggested.

D. Craig Smith is the Redevelopment Agency’s attorney and may be able to assist.

3. The Redevelopment Agency might be willing to quit-claim land to the homeowners or the association.

4. Once the association’s paperwork is in place, we will need to bring this to the Mayor and city attorney. Errol and Steve have met with the Mayor and will meet with her again.

5. We will try to secure the whole pond.

Michele Johnsen said we need a storm water maintenance ordinance. She will get information from the University of Utah’s storm water maintenance ordinance for us.

Neighbor Granite High and Neighborhood Plan:

Steve brought maps of the Granite High area and some proposed uses. Our attendance at Tuesday’s Neighborhood Outreach Meeting is critical. The meeting will be June 1^st at 6:30 PM in the Granite High cafeteria.

1. South Salt Lake has first right of refusal to purchase the property but the County will likely be a partner to some degree.

2. The county is determined to improve access to the Mill Creek Pond.

3. On of the maps shows, hopefully as a worst case scenario, rezoning some residential properties to commercial.

We are pleased with our city’s new administration’s effort to involve the community in the decision-making process.

Next Meeting Date:

Steve will send an email after the next city council meeting to determine if there is an urgent need to meet or if we can wait until July.

Aerial View of the Mill Creek Pond area

Click on photo to enlarge

Trees and Snow in May Don't Mix

Is Errol building a fence or is this from the snow?

This is a photo of the Tree behind Errols house last week
notice the large section on the left.

This is the same tree today!
The left section is on the ground.
After talking to Errol I found out this is the result
of the snow we had this morning.

What a mess!
We will have something intresting to see
on our walk around the Pond at Saturday's
MCPAC Meeting.

We have a Turtle in our Pond

I caught this Turtle sunbathing on the island.

Muskrat

This Muskrat has developed a taste

for Shelly's Duck Food!

Quail

Nice shot George

We have several visiting Quail here this year,

thankfully this bird poised for George on his deck.

Great Blue Heron

George caught this Blue Heron here last year

Pelagic Cormorant

Shelly spotted this unusual bird and took these pic's today.

This bird can leap directly into flight from water

without running and flapping across the surface.

Click on Photo to enlarge

The Pelagic Cormorant is usually only found on the West Coast.

I wonder what he is doing here, he has been here for a couple of days

as far as we know, have you saw this type of bird here before?

Sharp-Shinned Hawk

We spotted this Hawk outside of our upstairs window today.

These birds are often attracted to concentrations of small birds.

MCPAC Minutes April 17, 2010

Mill Creek Pond Action Committee

Meeting Minutes

Saturday April 17, 2010

Present: Steve Norr, Ken Mears, Chris Meeker, Kimarie Overall, George Mierisch, Judy Mincher, Shelly Norr, Lewis Galway, Jerry McPhee, Terrell McPhee, Errol Remington

Granite High and Neighborhood Plan:

Judy, Jerry and Steve are on the Granite High Advisory Committee. Jerry gave an update on the Granite High meeting and the Columbus School presentation.

The community would like to see Granite High include the following:

1. Move city hall to Granite High

2. Recreation center, keeping the swimming pool and track

3. Keep the unofficial dog track

4. Ways to generate revenue; renting to non-profit organizations, etc

5. Our group suggested a community garden.

South Salt Lake needs an identity. We have a lot of immigrants in our community. We could become the community helping others to integrate.

Pond Area Issues and Goals:

The gate on the north side of the pond solves more problems than it creates. Chris is willing to accept a gate to block the access road installed at the back of her property. We will need to ask the city council and South Salt Lake to approve and install a gate.

Neighborhood Watch:

It was decided that the Neighborhood Watch officer will be invited to our next meeting. Chris will get information on the other Neighborhood Watch which meets every second Tuesday at the Pioneer Craft House. We could join that group, but feel it is important that we have a separate group specifically for those who live on the water.

Spring Clean-Up Project:

The debris in the water has not been as bad since our clean-up efforts last fall. It was decided that no additional efforts are needed, and that everyone will continue cleaning up the areas around their homes.

Other Items:

Most of the neighbors would like to own the land to the water. Errol said he would e-mail the mayor and then the commission to find out how this can be done.

1. Should MCPAC petition for this as a group?

2. We need consensus from everyone on the water.

3. What can we do with the apartments and the adjoining land?

Next Meeting Date:

The next meeting will be Saturday, May 22 at10:00 AM on Jerry and Terrell’s deck at 535 East 3195 South.

Stay away from our babies

Look closely to the right of this Goose and

you can see an upside-down Seagull.

Click on photo to enlarge it.

This Seagull wont be hunting our baby's ducks and geese

anytime soon, but he did eventually recover and fly away.

Terrell's Spring Pic's

The Geese have organized a day care co-op

Mama has all of her ducks in a row!

This Mandarin Duck is feeling good

Georges Pic.s

This Woodpecker is sitting on George's Deck

What a wounderful Spring photo

First Goslings of 2010

Terrell took this photo of the newest Goslings on their first outing.

Who Invited this Guy to the Easter Egg Hunt?

At about noon today we caught this Seagull

red handed with Duck egg in beak.

This is the hard part of living with so much wildlife.
But I suppose it is just a natural part of the food chain.

First Baby Ducks of 2010

We saw our first baby Ducks of 2010

the day before Easter!

American Wigeon Duck

Shelly spotted this American Wigeon Duck

a couple of weks ago.

Wildlife Photo's from around the Pond

I have been watching the Ducks and Geese

and they are staking out their nesting spots.

It wont be long before we see this years new

ducklings and goslings!

Shelly and I have collected photos of several

birds and other wildlife that we share our

backyard with, this is just a small sampling

of the wildlife that lives on the Pond. If you have

photos of other wildlife on the pond e-mail

them to me and I will add them to this Blog.

We love to watch the Canadian Geese
fly in and out, they are so graceful.


This Muscovy Duck is new to our Pond,
I can't believe how tame it is, he Wait's for Shelly
at feeding time and paws at the gate until she
opens it to feed him and he comes right in.


We love it when the Mandarin Ducks drop in.

This Pelican stopped in last year.

Shelly got these shots of a Great Blue Heron

last summer, we see this guy or someone who

looks like him almost every year. I couldn't

believe it the first time I saw a bird like this

in our backyard, we truly live in a special place.

We haven't seen the domestic Geese for

several years, but they were here when we

moved in and we still remember their Honk.

Shelly spotted this Beaver

.

Thankfully this Water Snake was as scared of me

as I was of him, this photo was taken along the

bank by Georges house the first year we moved in.

Boating on the Pond

Every 3rd of July is the annual Fireworks Party

and their are plenty of rafts on the water.

My Nieces & Nephews love to watch the Fireworks

from a raft because you see the Fireworks above

as well as the reflection on the water.

We think this is the best seat in town!

It's a common sight to see Lewis coming downstream in his canoe,

you see the Pond in a totally different way from a canoe or a raft,

I highly recommend it.

I enjoy cruising in my kayak or fishing from my raft.
Maybe one day we will even catch one of these huge carp.
I hear that there are also trout but I haven't seen any, have you?

Why Does the Water Level Change So Often?

We asked our Reasearch Representative George Mierisch to look into this and this is what he found out.

"IT SHOULD NOT CHANGE"

Subject: RE: Mill Creek pond level
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:38:46 -0600
From: KCollins@slco.org
To: georgemierisch@hotmail.com

Hi George-

My understanding is that the County Flood Control Maintenance Crew is responsible for maintenance of the pond. Changes to the configuration of the flashboard or water control gate are related to their maintenance activities.

The gate is closed when maintenance is required on the flume between the gate and debris rack near 500 E. That will raise the pond water levels.

The flashboards currently in place above the water control gate is the default level according to the agreement between Salt Lake County and South Salt Lake City. The flashboards are removed only to dry out the pond when it needs dredging like it did 2-3 years ago. Otherwise, they are not removed.

If you observe that the flashboards have been removed or the gate has been closed this winter, please give me a call and I will check it out for you.

The low water levels in the winter may simply be due to less water in Mill Creek at that time of year and there is less water going over the flashboards. Check it out this winter and let me know what happens.

Kathlyn Collins

Water Resources Planning and Restoration Program

Division of Flood Control and Water Quality

Salt Lake County

801-468-3742

kcollins@slco.org

2009 Fall Clean Up Project

Our Beautiful Pond collects a lot of debris. There's a natural dam that form's by Terrell's backyard. The County would eventually clean it up, but we decided to take on the responsibility for cleaning up our backyard Pond and to keep it cleaned up with regular maintenance.

Lewis thought he saw Water Nymph's in the Pond. No Lou it's better than that, it's Shelly and Terrell cleaning out the Pond!

WOW these ladies are Awesome!

When I returned from showing houses I was informed that I was going to carry the pile of debris to the street. Oooouch!

Thankfully they helped me get this stuff to the curb.

Shelly and Terrell have worked very hard on this clean up project!

Lewis is always there to help with the big stuff. George, Errol and Lela had impressive piles of debries on 500 East, and Derrell helped me with the Park Court Common Area.

I even saw Bob planting new sod in the common area!

Thanks to everyone who helped with the clean up project!

MCPAC Meeting, September 26,2009

We held our first MillCreek Pond Action Committee meeting today.

The following positions were appointed:
Chair: Steve Norr, Vice Chair: Lewis Galway, Secretary: Terrell McPhee, Research: George Mierisch, Treasuer: Chris Meeker.

Steve Norr requested that Jerold McPhee be responsible for reinstating a homeowners association.

Present: Judith Mincher, Chris Meeker, Terrell McPhee, Rex Green, Errol Remingtion, George Mierisch, Lela Fenn and friend, Alan and Pam Bennett, Steve and Shelly Norr, Lewis Galway, and Janet Mayo.

Mill Creek Trail Feasability Study:

Steve Norr will notify MCPAC when the study has been completed.

Mill Creek Pond Neighborhood Watch:

Neighborhood Watch signs were distributed. It was decided that our Community Policing Officer will be invited to our next neighborhood watch meeting. A date has not been set for this meeting. We are asking for permission to share our contact information with each other for neighborhood watch. Please let us know if we can include you in our Neighborhood Watch Group.

Mill Creek Pond Clean-Up Project:

Shelly Norr & Terrell McPhee Volunteered to clean up the debris that has collected around the beaver dam, the last I heard they were headed to Dick's to get Hip Waders.................