Starts Jun. 13, 2024: Northern Part of Foxboro Road to Close Approximately 2 Weeks

City of Johnston officials have announced a temporary closure of a northern section of Foxboro Road to through-traffic for approximately 2 weeks.

Starting Jun. 13, 2024, the section of Foxboro Road from Nottingham Road to Chambery Boulevard will be closed to through-traffic. However, as local traffic, residents of Foxboro Road, Briargate Court, Huntingwood Court, and Heather Bow will continue to have one-lane access.

Officials say the estimated 2-week duration of the closure is dependent on weather.

In addition, a small section of Foxboro Road located just north of Huntingwood Court will be closed to ALL traffic Jun. 13-14, 2024.

The closures are required to allow workers to install new stormwater intakes and piping, part of a city effort to mitigate flooding in the area.

City workers have deployed illuminated message-signs to the area, warning of the pending closures.

For a City of Johnston map of the affected area, visit: https://www.cityofjohnston.com/DocumentCenter/View/12990/FoxboroRoadClosureMap6_5_2024

For a City of Johnston PDF map of the overall traffic-control measures involved in this project: https://www.cityofjohnston.com/DocumentCenter/View/12989/Foxboro-Reconstruction--Green-Meadows

For more information, contact the City of Johnston Community Development office at: 515.727.7778.

Starting June 7! Our Association’s 5th Annual Sweet Summer Concert Series!

The Green Meadows West Homeowners' Association is pleased to announce June, July, and August 2024 dates for its 5th Annual Sweet Summer Concert Series!

Held at the neighborhood’s Dover Park gazebo, each month's concert will feature a different musical act, each offering a mix of classic rock, pop, country, and other family-friendly songs.

Dover Park, one of the association's publicly accessible private green spaces, is located at the intersection of Crescent Chase and Wellington Boulevard.

In 2020, the FREE 3-concert series replaced the neighborhood's annual September "Picnic-in-the-Park" event.

The concert series now helps the Green Meadows West neighborhood celebrate summer, while also calling attention to the association's many amenities, which include natural prairie areas, tree-lined green spaces, and privately managed parks.

In keeping with the series' "sweet summer" theme, treats will be provided to Green Meadows West Homeowners' Association members.

Concert times are 6:30 to 8 p.m:

• Fri., Jun. 7, 2024: Music by Boomerang! Treats by Culver's Confections, Johnston!
• Fri, Jul. 12, 2024: Music by Mike Aceto! Treats by Over the Top, Pleasant Hill!
• Fri., Aug. 23, 2024: Music by Gladys Lite! Treats by Crumbl Cookie!

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own folding chairs and beverage coolers.

Please also note: There are no restroom facilities on site.

Also happening in Dover Park this summer: FREE 7 p.m. Wednesday-evening yoga sessions!

To share your suggestions about future Green Meadows West Homeowners Association offerings, contact the Outreach committee via Association Manager Ben McMenamin, 515.222.5206; benm@knappLC.com

Wednesday Evenings, Summer 2024: FREE Yoga-in-the-Park!

On Wednesday evenings in June, July, and August, join your Green Meadows West neighbors in community-building and wellness exercise at FREE “Yoga for Everybody” sessions provided by instructors from the Johnston-based Power Life Yoga Studio, and sponsored by the Green Meadows West Homeowners' Association.

Instructors and neighbors will meet at weekly at 7 p.m. Wednesdays in Dover Park, the association's publicly accessible private park. The common area features the association's signature gazebo, and is located at the intersection of Crescent Chase and Wellington Boulevard.

There will be no session on July 3, due to the Independence Day weekend.

Association Outreach Committee member Sara Lockner says the committee hopes the increase to weekly frequency and the move to Wednesday evenings will allow even more neighbors to participate. Previously, the informal group had gathered on Saturday mornings, and only twice monthly.

No previous yoga experience is required, Lockner says. All ages and abilities are welcome.

Participants should bring their own mats or beach towels, and can choose to use either grass or paved surface. Instructors often use the gazebo's elevated floor as a stage, and will use a small public address loudspeaker for amplification.

Potential benefits of yoga can include stress reduction, increased blood circulation, detoxification, and improved sleep, according to Power Life materials.

"Power Life is about making your healthy lifestyle what you want it to be. We are a place to meet friends, a place to meet goals and a place to meet yourself. Power Life is a community of individuals, where there is a spot for everyone and style of exercise that challenges everybody."

For more information on Green Meadows West Homeowners' Association offerings this summer, check out our events page here at this link.

To share your ideas about future Green Meadows West Homeowners Association offerings, contact the Outreach committee via Association Manager Ben McMenamin, 515.222.5206; benm@knappLC.com.

Or follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/GreenMeadowsWest/

2024 Green Meadows West Neighborhood Garage Sales are May 17-18

Ready to jump into some spring cleaning? The Green Meadows West Homeowners Association will conduct its annual “neighborhood garage sales” Friday and Saturday, May 17-18, 2024!

On and around these dates, neighbors are encouraged to conduct and advertise their individual sales. The association will advertise the neighborhood-wide event via social media, as well yard signs posted at entrances.

Starting Mon., May 13, individual signage in association common areas will be allowed temporarily, including at neighborhood entrances. Common areas include Green Meadows West Homeowners’ Association-owned entrances, parks, and green spaces.

All signs should be placed away from curbs, to avoid hindering drivers’ views of cross-traffic and pedestrians.

Also, please note that municipal personnel have been known to remove signs in violation of city ordinances regarding placing signs on major streets. On the following streets, please place signs approximately 18 feet away from curbs:

• N.W. 86th Street

• N.W. 54th Avenue

• N.W. 62nd Avenue
  

Please remove your signs by Mon., May 20, 2024.

City Presents Timeline, Cost-Estimate for Green Meadows West Sidewalks

City of Johnston spray-paint indicating tripping hazard

At city hall, more than 50 Green Meadows West and other Johnston residents packed into two informational meetings conducted by the Johnston Public Works Department Tues., Mar. 26, 2024 regarding an 8-year program to ensure neighborhood sidewalks are safe, and accessible to all.

Green Meadows West is only the second Johnston neighborhood to be addressed in Johnston's first-ever city-wide Sidewalk Repair Program. The project's execution began in 2023 in the original Green Meadows neighborhood, which is located between Beaver Creak and Merle Hay Road, and south of N.W. 62nd Avenue. Sidewalk repairs there will be completed in 2024.

In Fall 2023, city inspectors moved on to the Green Meadows West neighborhood, marking with white spray-paint hazards such as:

• Gaps larger than 1 half-inch between sidewalk panels
• Tripping hazards, including heaved, raised, or lowered sidewalk panels
• Deteriorated, crumbling, cracked, or unevenly surfaced panels 

Other neighborhoods will be addressed annually, bringing the city's sidewalks to full compliance after 8 years. "We've had 26 years of nothing happening regarding sidewalk maintenance," said City of Johnston council member and Green Meadows West resident Tom Cope from the audience. "If, after this program, the city can get into a cycle of looking at sidewalks every 8- to 10-years, we can achieve a walkable community." City of Johnston Mayor and Green Meadows West resident Paul Dierenfeld also attended the informational meetings.

City of Johnston Public Works Director Matt Greiner, along with contracted engineer Justin Ernst of Bolton & Menk, Inc. of Des Moines, reminded attendees Tuesday night that installation and maintenance of sidewalks—as part of the "right-of-way" or "parking" from sidewalk to curb—is a homeowner responsibility under Iowa state law.

All Green Meadows West sidewalks have now been marked with white paint. The marks indicate conditions that should be corrected. In April 2024, Green Meadows West homeowners will be mailed letters detailing what corrections are required.

Included with that mailing will be a questionnaire, which can be completed by mail or on-line. The questionnaire will present the following options:

• DIY repair within 90 days. (City permit required, but right-of-way permit fees will be waived.)

• Privately contracted repairs within 90 days. (City permit required, but right-of-way permit fees will be waived.)

• Have city contractors repair the sidewalk at a flat, per-panel rate. (Neighborhood-wide project likely to occur Spring 2025.)

Repairs not made privately by Green Meadows West homeowners by August 2024 will be included in a blanket city contract. Bids on that contract will be solicited in Fall 2024. Repairs under that contract will be made in 2025.

Homeowners opting to repair sidewalks under city contract will be given an option to pay directly, or through special assessment over a period of 5 or 10 years. Homeowners will be invoiced after the city contract is completed, sometime in mid- to late-2025.

Here is the city's 2024-2025 project timeline for Green Meadows West neighborhood sidewalks, as presented at the Tuesday meeting:

• Public meeting: Mar. 26, 2024

• Notifications & questionnaires mailed to homeowners: Not later than Apr. 1, 2024

• Homeowners/Property-owner decisions returned: Not later than May 3, 2024

• DIY and privately contracted repairs: Not later than Aug. 2, 2024

• Solicitations of city contract: Fall 2024

• Repairs made under city contract: Spring-Summer 2025

• Homeowners/Property-owners invoiced: Fall 2025?

Based on the 2023 Green Meadows original neighborhood bid, presenters Tuesday estimated that participation in the Green Meadows West contract might be a flat-fee of approximately $300 per 4-by-4-foot concrete panel. The city contractors will only replace whole panels; lesser repairs, such as jacking, filling, leveling, or caulking, would need to be completed by homeowners or privately hired contractors before August 2024.

Greiner emphasized that city inspectors are available to meet personally with homeowners on-site—even before hiring contractors—to discuss identified deficiencies and potential repair solutions.

Presenters highlighted a number of how-to sidewalk repair techniques, which are also documented on-line at: bit.ly/JohnstonSidewalk

In 2025, city contractors will also ensure that corner "pedestrian ramps" (also called "ped-ramps" and "curb cuts") in the Green Meadows West neighborhood meet requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) Homeowners will not be charged for this ADA-related work.

Public works officials reiterated that the Sidewalk Repair Program should not interfere or interact with the city's concurrent efforts to cut down untreated Ash trees in rights-of-way. "Our goal is to not to take any trees with our sidewalk program," Greiner said, echoing the Fall 2023 meetings. "Our contractors will typically only cut the root [of any tree causing a sidewalk to heave or shift]. That doesn't mean, however, that the problem won't grow back in 5 or 10 years."

For more information on the City of Johnston sidewalk repair program, visit: bit.ly/JohnstonSidewalk

Review the September 2023 public meeting information packet here:

www.cityofjohnston.com/DocumentCenter/View/12007/Johnston-Sidewalk-Repair-Presentation_Public-Meeting-92723

Or contact:

Matt Greiner, public works director

mgreiner@cityofjohnston.com

phone: 515.278.0822

Association Plans Prairie-Renewing Burn Event in Spring 2024

2021 GMWHOA prescribed burn event

The Green Meadows West Homeowners’ Association board has retained environmental consultants Impact7g, 8951 Windsor Parkway, Johnston to manage and conduct the next prescribed burn of the neighborhood's signature prairie areas. Also called a controlled burn, the event is tentatively scheduled for spring 2024. However, weather and other factors could delay the burn until fall. (For example, as of Mar. 18, 2024 there is a current burn-ban due to dry conditions in Polk and other Iowa counties.)

Starting in 2012, the association has regularly contracted expert services to conduct prescribed burns every 2 to 4 years. Prior to that, burns were conducted using a mix of expert consultants and volunteer labor. Volunteers are no longer used, due to training requirements and liability concerns. 

Prairie Committee volunteers say that burning helps control invasive species, promotes the growth of desired prairie plants, and avoids chemical overspray that can damage nearby lawns. 

Burns are conducted only when weather, wind, air quality, and other safety conditions are met. In the weeks and days leading up to the burn, the Green Meadows West Homeowners’ Association will publish notices via on-line platforms, social media, and mailed postcards. You can also request notification by e-mail via Association Manager Ben McMenamin at: benm AT knappLC DOT com; 515.222.5206.

All required notices will be issued prior to the 2024 burn event. City of Johnston Fire Department personnel will also be notified.

In addition to serving as a neighborhood showcase, the Green Meadows West prairies serve as visual buffer areas among homes, as wildlife habitat, and even as occasional learning laboratories for area schools and colleges. At the 2024 association meeting, current Green Meadows West prairie committee chairman Jason Hamata said the neighborhood's prairie was one of the best in the state.

“Prescribed fire is a common prairie management tool,” former Green Meadows West prairie committee chairman Greg Knoploh noted during a previous burn event. “Prairie species benefit from fire, which was common when most of Iowa was covered by prairie. The fire turns the dried plant material into ashes, which fertilizes. Increased light and heat reach the surface. Invasive plants that do not tolerate fire are reduced.” 

The neighborhood areas scheduled to be addressed in the 2024 prescribed burn include:

• The main prairie east of Windsor Park and west of Foxboro Road
• The trail area located east of association member First Baptist Church of Greater Des Moines, 8250 N.W. 62nd Ave, Johnston
• Small areas southwest and northwest of the intersection of Foxboro Road and Chambery Boulevard
• The swale area south of Weybridge Court and east of Kings Row

The association-owned natural areas under the high-voltage power lines that run west-east between King's Row (in Plat 9) and Foxboro Road (in Plat 12), however, will not be burned. Power company easements do not allow for prescribed burns, as fire might damage towers and overhead wires. When necessary, the grasses in that easement corridor are mechanically mown and trees pruned.

For more information, or to request burn event-notification by e-mail, homeowner-members should contact Association Manager Ben McMenamin at: benm AT knappLC DOT com; 515.222.5206

City of Johnston Sidewalk Repair Program Meeting is Mar. 26, 2024

 

City of Johnston inspectors marked non-compliant sidewalks in the Green Meadows West neighborhood in November 2023. In two public meetings scheduled for Mar. 26, 2024, city officials will brief residents on the next steps toward repairing sidewalks, including cost-estimates.

*****

The City of Johnston will conduct two public meetings Mar. 26, 2024 regarding information regarding its inspections all sidewalks in Green Meadows West and other neighborhoods, and to repair/replace at homeowners’ expenses in 2024 those that are out of compliance. Homeowners will have an option to repair or contract repairs themselves.

The Tues., Mar. 26, 2024 public meetings will be held at Johnston City Hall, 6221 Merle Hay Road, from 5:30-6 p.m., and again from 6:15 to 6:45 p.m.

For more information on the program, visit: bit.ly/JohnstonSidewalk

This will be the third year of an 8-year, city-wide Sidewalk Repair Program. The project's execution began in 2023 in the original Green Meadows neighborhood, which is located between Beaver Creak and Merle Hay Road, and south of N.W. 62nd Avenue.

The program will help address:

• Gaps between sidewalk panels
• Tripping hazards, including heaved, raised, or lowered sidewalk panels
• Deteriorated, crumbling, cracked, or unevenly surfaced panels 

While this work is being done, city contractors will also ensure that corner "pedestrian ramps" (also called "ped-ramps" and "curb cuts") meet current requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) Homeowners will not be charged for this ADA-related work.

According to information first presented at two public information meetings held Wed. Sept. 27, 2023 at the Johnston City Hall, Green Meadows West homeowner-members would see city inspectors marking neighborhood sidewalks not later than November 2023.

As of March 2024, all Green Meadows West sidewalks have now been inspected and marked.

A presentation the city's repair program, as well as common types of sidewalk deficiencies, is now available on-line here: www.cityofjohnston.com/DocumentCenter/View/12007/Johnston-Sidewalk-Repair-Presentation_Public-Meeting-92723

According to the September 2023 meetings, all homeowners will be presented with official, written inspection results by March 2024. Recommended repairs will be detailed and documented for each homeowner address.

However, homeowners need not wait for these reports or notices. City inspectors are available to meet with individual homeowners at any time, officials said.

Pubic works officials said that the Sidewalk Repair Program should not interfere or interact with the city's concurrent efforts to cut down untreated Ash trees in rights-of-way. "Our goal is to not to take any trees with our sidewalk program," said Johnston Public Works Director Matt Greiner. "Our contractors will typically only cut the root [of any tree causing a sidewalk to heave or shift]. That doesn't mean, however, that the problem won't grow back in 5 or 10 years."

In last fall's public meetings, city officials said that homeowners will be presented with three options:

• DIY repair within 90 days. (City permit required, but right-of-way permit fees will be waived.)
• Privately contract repairs within 90 days. (City permit required, but right-of-way permit fees will be waived.)
• Have city contractors repair the sidewalk at a flat, per-panel rate. (Neighborhood-wide project likely to occur Fall 2024 or Spring 2025.)

City officials and experts said 4-foot-square sidewalk panels will be determined in each neighborhood's contract. They expect more clarity on Green Meadows West rates in Spring 2024, after work is complete in the original Green Meadows neighborhood. Variables include contractor bids and materials costs. At the September 2023 meetings, however, they estimated the city's flat-rate charge to homeowners would likely be set between $350 to $550 per sidewalk panel.

Homeowners opting to repair sidewalks under city contract will be given an option to pay directly, or through special assessment over a period of 5 or 10 years. Further details on available payment plans will be presented in the Mar. 26, 2024 public meeting, city officials said.

For more information on the city's sidewalk repair plans, visit:

https://www.cityofjohnston.com/1228/Sidewalk-Repair-Program

Review the September 2023 public meeting information packet here:

www.cityofjohnston.com/DocumentCenter/View/12007/Johnston-Sidewalk-Repair-Presentation_Public-Meeting-92723

Or contact:

Matt Greiner, public works director

mgreiner AT cityofjohnston DOT com

phone: 515 - 278 - 0822

Be Sure to Vote in This Year's HOA Board Elections!

The following are biographies of those Green Meadows West homeowner-members who are running for election to the association’s board of directors in 2024.

The election will take place at the Annual Meeting scheduled for 6:00 p.m., Tues., Jan. 30, 2024, at the Johnston Public Library, 6700 Merle Hay Rd., Johnston.

All association members in good standing (all dues paid) may vote in-person, by assigning their proxy to another homeowner-member, or by returning their proxy to the board.

Two candidates will be elected, toward a minimum number of nine board members.

Directors serve terms of three years. Directors are unpaid volunteers.

If you have not received your ballot and meeting-attendance proxy, please contact Association Manager Ben McMenamin at Knapp Property: 515.222.5206; benm AT knappLC DOT com

Ballots and proxies must be received by 12 noon Mon., Jan. 29, 2024 in order to be counted.

Those who attend the meeting, as well as those who have returned proxies, will be eligible for door prizes.

The following biographies are presented in alphabetical order by last name. Candidates who are currently serving on the board are labelled as incumbents.

*****

Carin Birt (Incumbent) joined the Green Meadows West board in 2021, and is the current chairperson of the Outreach and Communication Committee. She has been a Johnston resident since 2009, and moved to Green Meadows West with her family in 2018. Her and her husband Brian have two sons, Reagan (18) and Eli (12). She has been a full-time Realtor® since 1999. You might see her running in the neighborhood with her brown labradoodle Brynn. She also enjoys biking, reading, playing euchre, cheering for Iowa State, and being social.

*****

Jack Sullivan (Incumbent) has served on the Green Meadows West board of directors three separate times over the course of his residency in Green Meadows West. His most recent participation with the Board began in 2019. He currently serves as the 2023 board president, and on the Grounds and Property Committee. Since building their home in Green Meadows West in 1998, Jack and his wife Linda have raised two daughters here. He takes the fiscal management responsibility of our association seriously, and appreciates working with neighbors to make the value of our homes grow, in ways that benefit each homeowner and the City of Johnston. He believes that Green Meadows West continues to be known as one of the most desirable suburban neighborhoods in the Des Moines metro area.

2024 Association Meeting is Jan. 30 at Johnston Public Library

The next annual meeting of Green Meadows West Homeowners’ Association (GMWHOA) members is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., Tues., Jan. 30, 2024, at the Johnston Public Library, 6700 Merle Hay Rd., Johnston.

Please note this is a change of time and venue. The municipal Crown Point Community Center is not available this year, due to renovation.

The association’s officers will present reports, including a 2024 operations budget. An election of board members will be conducted. Meeting materials, including the official meeting notice, ballots, proxies, and candidate biographies, will be distributed via postal mail in early January 2024. 

Proxies may be assigned to the board for purposes of achieving quorum, or may be assigned to a neighbor who plans to attend. To encourage meeting attendance or proxy-returns, there will be drawings for two cash awards of $100 and one of $50!

For more information about the meeting, please contact: Association Manager Ben McMenamin, Knapp Properties LC, 515.222.5206; benm AT knappLC DOT com