The NDHA hopes that you had an enjoyable summer and were able to enjoy our beautiful parks and pathways this season! Despite the record-breaking heatwave and lack of rain, we did manage to accomplish some significant landscaping upgrades within the community for all to enjoy.
The biggest news and welcome sight for residents was likely the re-start of our signature landscaping feature, “The Waterfall” in the roundabout. The NDHA was determined to have it operational by the July long weekend, and we managed to achieve that. It ran 24-hours a day for the entire summer; we hope you enjoyed having it greet you when you entered the community! We do have some minor items to fix that revealed themselves once we started the falls, but it was determined that they were not going to affect the function of the waterfall and could wait until September to be attended to. The waterfall will be periodically shut off for the remainder of the season to attend to this work.
In addition to the waterfall, and after almost two years of working with the City of Calgary Parks Department, we had 37 new large trees planted into Discovery Ridge in July. They filled many holes left by removed median trees and enhanced several green spaces within our park areas. More median trees are scheduled for planting next summer. Once these trees were installed, ULS was able to begin working on several new projects that were approved earlier this year by the NDHA board. These projects included Xeriscaping the median immediately below the traffic circle, construction of two new shrub beds (one in Discovery Ridge Gardens and one at the ravine lookout in Phase 2), and replacement of several plants that were winter-killed in Discovery Vista Point. Several dead trees were removed throughout the community as well. Last winter took an unusual toll on our trees, and many finally succumbed to damage from “Snowtember” 2014 as well. Lastly, the Phase 1 & 2 mulching project that began in 2016 was completed, and new mulch was also applied to the shrub beds on all “corners” of the roundabout. The summer was certainly a busy one!
We would like to extend a special thank you to ULS, our maintenance contractor, for their tireless work to keep our community looking pristine during the growing season. Mother Nature flipped everything upside down compared to last year (record rainfall), and the severe lack of precipitation and unprecedented heat this summer made it difficult to keep things looking healthy. These conditions gave us a bumper crop of thistle as well; hopefully next summer will not be so extreme.
We do continue to be in contact with those in charge of the Ring Road project as well as the developer of the property to the east of Phase 1 (The Pointe at Discovery Ridge). Both of those projects are fluid and there are landscaping impacts to Discovery Ridge for each. The NDHA will continue to work on behalf of all members to ensure these impacts are kept to a minimum.
The NDHA could use more help. We had two volunteers agree to join the Board at our June AGM (giving us only 5 members), but we have room for up to 5 more director positions. We are also happy to receive names for volunteering without committing to be on the Board. If you are interested, please contact us!