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Application for FireWise Grant

PHCA has entered a grant application for $500 to help us cover the costs of Dumpster Day and other Fire Mitigation work. Please help us win by voting. The more votes the greater our changes of winning. We applied last year also but did not receive many votes. Please help us win this year.

Please go to this link and vote:

http://review.wizehive.com/voting/search/nfpapublic2017/?q=Ponderosa+Hills+&p=1

Complete Grant Application

Wildfire Community Preparedness Day Project Grant Application

Ponderosa Hills subdivision

Parker, Colorado

Ponderosa Hills Civic Association

Cathy Lichty, President

 

Ponderosa Hills is an estate residential subdivision just outside of Parker, Colorado. The subdivision is at the north end of the Black Forest.

 

large grant mapClick for Large Image

 

This graphic shows the Ponderosa Hills area and the incidence of wildfires over the period from 2009 to 2013. From the graphic you can also see that the subdivision does have a significant amount of Ponderosa Pine growth.

Each year the Ponderosa Hills Civic Association works with its members to provide a Dumpster Day. On this day each summer we encourage our members to bring trash, slash, recycling and donation items. We fill on average 4 large dumpsters, fill 2 dump trucks with slash that has been chipped and recycle at least two trailers of metal items.

In 2013 we started a project with the South Metro Fire Rescue Authority to bring their Life Safety Educator to our annual meeting and to have him review properties in the community for fire preparedness and provide suggestions on improving the survivability of the properties. These activities have resulted in many of the properties limbing up their trees, cutting or mowing the scrub oak and grass meadow areas, and removing combustibles like wood piles and junipers bushes from proximity to the structures.

We continued our activities with the South Metro Fire Rescue Authority in 2014 with a pancake breakfast where several members of the SMFRA spoke with residents and passed out Ready Set Go materials. We discussed plans for a subdivision-wide fire drill which we are hoping to implement in the fall of 2015 and will include procedures for evacuating residents and their animals. Ponderosa Hills have many residents with horses and domesticated livestock.

This year, 2015, we have almost 20 properties in the community that have been volunteered to be made available to the SMFRA in their Wild Land Refresher Training over a 2 week period in April.

This valuable training provides our firefighters with knowledge and experience needed to face a “worst-case” scenario in our community. This year SMFRA is partnering with the Ponderosa Hills Civic Association to conduct this training in Ponderosa Hills. Your neighborhood is ideal for this training because of its risk factors: it’s a wildland urban interface zone where homes are surrounded by native and landscaped vegetation, low housing density, large lots, some livestock, well water and proximity to open space.

                Excerpt from a Jan 20, 2015 letter from SMFRA to Ponderosa Hills Residents

The NFPA grant if awarded to the Ponderosa Hills Civic Association would be used to sponsor a community mitigation day on May 2nd where all in the community would be encouraged to bring their slash. A chipper company would be hired to chip and haul away the slash. We have done this in the past and the grant amount would allow us to offer the chipper services for over two hours. In past efforts of this type we had a tremendous turn-out with neighbors lining up a half hour ahead of time and plenty of volunteers to unload and move the line through quickly. Emails and posters would inform the neighborhood of the upcoming Mitigation Day and encourage their participation in the associated mitigation activities.

Any remaining funds would be used to sponsor a community meeting which would cover the agenda below:

  • Review the April Wild Land Training- lessons learned
  • Refresher on the steps that can be taken to reduce wild fire risk in our community, such as limbing trees
  • Appointment slots offered for a property evaluation by the Life Safety Educator
  • Education on animal evacuation
  • Review of plans for a subdivision-wide fire drill in coordination with SMFR and the county Sheriff’s office to be conducted fall of 2015
  • Dissemination of Ready Set Go and Animal Evacuation materials
  • The offer of assistance from the Civic Association for individual property owners in applying for a Douglas County Fuels Mitigation Grant

We thank you for considering us as possible recipients of this grant.

 

Ponderosa Hills Civic Association

 

Latest Eblasts

 

June 3rd, 2015 Meeting with Carl Nelson on Inspiration Colorado Development

In attendance: Carl Nelson with Inspiration Colorado development NASH Inspiration, Marsha Osborn with City of Aurora Neighborhood Liason, Jerry Banks PHCA Roads Chairman, Steve Weinrich PH resident, John De Leon PH resident, Sandra Fish PHCA Secretary, Cathy Lichty PHCA President

The Inspiration Colorado development area (north of Inspiration between Antelope Trail and Summit Ridge Road) is to be divided into 55 and over areas and traditional single family homes. All units in the area are planned to be single family homes on individual lots. There will be no apartment, condo units, or patio homes in this development. Toll Brothers will be a builder for the 55+ development and will offer upscale ranch style homes with and without basements. The 55+ Community Clubhouse will not have a restaurant. It may have a snack bar but will not be open or available to the general public.

The traditional development area will include a pool and clubhouse. There is also a plot designated to Douglas County Schools for a K-8 schools site. The development of the school will be up to the Douglas County School Board. Until this school is in place the children in this development will be attending the Pine Lane Schools, Sierra Middle School and Chaparral High School. Also planned for this development will be a bike path and possibly a dog park and Mountain bike course.

The new Inspiration Lane will connect to Inspiration Drive via a round-about across from Antelope Trail. The round-about and new road already exist and will be paved within the next few weeks. The connection from Inspiration Dr to Gartrell via the new Inspiration Lane is planned when there are 300 permits issued.  There are currently at 250 therefore, paving will begin soon and is projected to be completed by end of summer.  The connection of Gartrell to Inspiration Dr near Summit Ridge Rd. will not be constructed until there are 750 permits issued.  That is expected to take about 3 years.  The total project will take about 5 years to complete. Construction impact along Inspiration Drive is expected to last no more than two weeks. The road will remain open during construction but alternate routes are advised. Over time, as drivers get used to the new connection to Gartrell, traffic east of Antelope Trail along Inspiration Drive is expected to decrease substantially.

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