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COLLEGE PARK HAPPENING
An e-newsletter for the residents of Harper’s Landing and Grogan’s Forest
January 2006
NEXT CPVA MEETING IS MONDAY, JUNE 19TH AT 7:30 PM
MONTGOMERY COLLEGE, BUILDING A, ROOM 102
GUEST SPEAKER: LYNNE ALDRICH
TOPIC: THE MOSQUITO PROBLEM IN THE WOODLANDS
All College Park residents are invited to attend. The College Park Village Association meets every third Monday of the month.
CPVA FOURTH OF JULY FLOAT BUILDING PARTY
Come join us for this year’s Fourth of July float building party! The parade theme this year is Hats off to America. Area Representative Jason Stephens and his wife, Michelle, are heading up the decorations for the CPVA float. They are designing a giant “Uncle Sam” hat as the platform and dressing up children as significant American history characters such as George Washington, Statue of Liberty, the bald eagle, Uncle Sam etc. The float building party will be SUNDAY, JULY 2ND 6:00 PM AT THE HARMONY HOLLOW CUL-DE-SAC OFF OF GENESSEE RIDGE. There will be plenty of food and refreshments.
**If you would like to have your children on the float dressed up in 4th of July colors to help pass out candy and beads please contact Jason at jasonstephens@houston.rr.com . Participants in the parade should be in the staging area on the morning of the 4th off of Grogan’s Mill Road and Lake Woodlands Drive NO LATER than 8:30 AM.
SPRING FLING A SUCCESS
It was a hot, but enjoyable day at Spring Fling. Everyone enjoyed free admission to the pool to cool off from 12-4. Other activities included The Woodlands Fire Department Truck, a moon walk, Taylor’s Model Roller Coaster, and games for the kids. There were also plenty of hot dogs, drinks, and brownies. CPVA wishes to thank the following residents for all their help in making Spring Fling a success: Miguel Quintero and Lyndsey Palmer for hauling the grill and other items from storage to the HL pavilion, Tom Madden, Ray Penton, Shawn Muffat and Scott Singletary for grilling the hotdogs, Monica Price, Janet Reinmund, and Donna Lapid for serving cotton candy, Gail Carney and Lou Penton for serving cold drinks, Amber Mitchell, Skyler Gibbs, Codie Scott, Ashley Dahler and Celina Patel for running the kids games, Susan and Will Kooiman for making the delicious brownies and finally to Susan Kooiman, Cori Singletary, and Gail Carney for organizing the event.
LETTER FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT
Dear Residents of College Park,
Gail Carney has been out of town in Chicago for the month of June taking care of family affairs. She will be back in time for the 4th of July and we wish her safe travels.
I got a chance to visit with many of you on my campaign trail earlier this year, but I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. We have lived in Harper’s Landing since November 2000 and before that we lived in Grogan’s Mill for two years with my parents who have lived in The Woodlands for 20 years now. I am a 1980 graduate of Texas A & M University with BS degree in Electrical Engineering. I grew up in east Texas in the Port Arthur/Beaumont area. I worked and lived overseas in South America for many years and am bi-lingual in Spanish. I have been married to Cori since 1996 and have two “junior board members”: Iaian (7) and Celine (almost 5) that I am very proud of.
I have really enjoyed living in The Woodlands these past eight years and have a passion to see that residents of The Woodlands should have the right to be allowed to decide their own fate and be given as many options as possible. I think it is imperative that the residents be informed and have input into our community’s future (including any potential community infrastructure improvements and governance solutions). More on both of these issues in the near future as we continue to compile costs, facts, and comparisons. Since coming into office I have tried (and continue) to find new ways to encourage more community involvement and more tangible/visible recognition for those that have helped.
I also have a passion for the youth in our area and would love to see a Youth Area Council developed in our community. I have been shocked to see teenage drug abuse and delinquent acts on the rise in The Woodlands. For all the talk of The Woodlands being a family friendly community, we are sorely lacking with our mega-high school concept in finding constructive pro-active outlets and social events for our teenagers. I have been soliciting ideas from our CPVA teenagers on ways to help our area youth get plugged in, find inexpensive “youth friendly” locations to socialize, and to learn what it means to be part of a community. Some of the ideas I have already passed on to The Woodlands Parks Dept. and TWA. It is now time to bring these ideas and others to fruition. Please share this Youth Area Council concept with your teenagers, let us know their ideas and if they would like to be involved.
I look forward to these next two years I will be serving the College Park Village. Please let me know if you would like to help in any of these endeavors.
If at any time, I may be of service to you please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Yours truly,
Scott Singletary
CPVA Vice President
UPDATE FROM CPVA ANNEXATION COMMITTEE
The CPVA Annexation Committee meets the second Monday of each month at 7:30 PM. If you are interested in attending, have questions or concerns please contact the committee Chair, Scott Singletary at cacasio@surfbest.net or 936-321-9190. The committee has already had three meetings. A multi-faceted graphical strategy plan has been presented and being developed into a formal action plan with most of the work needing to be completed by mid-November. Some of the work from the strategy plan in progress or planned over the next month to be presented to the CPVA board for final approval includes:
1) Review Conroe City Council candidate’s positions on annexation contact and assist those favorable to our position in the election. Many thanks to those that helped during the last run-off election including but not limited to: Lindsey Palmer, Cori Singletary, Stanley Fowler, Steve Williams, Ted Stanley, Miguel Quintero, and Scott Singletary. At least two of our team campaigned out in the pouring rain last Saturday.: Ongoing
2) Solicit, compile and prioritize a list of community improvement projects to be presented to MUD39 for possible inclusion in MUD’s budget over the next two years. Local community involvement in our specific needs is one of the benefits of our existing governance situation that would be eliminated if we are annexed. Although this level of community involvement is typical for MUDs outside of The Woodlands only Sterling Ridge and recently Alden Bridge through their village “Civic and Residential Committee” (see June issue of The Woodlands Community Magazine) have to our knowledge done so. Due to the possible impending nature of our annexation, we have to decide in a much shorter timeframe than they have had to.
a. Solicitation of brainstorming ideas from residents and Compile/Sort into a spreadsheet: Ends this week. (To submit an idea please send it to cacasio@surfbest.net )
b. List constraints, rewards and costs and compare with MUD39 to determine what is feasible within cash and/or minimal bond funds (Note: not to result in any increase in taxes):: Ongoing.
c. Pair list down and present to residents to vote on using MUD39 bill mailing as the vehicle (some, all or none): Future
3) Provide an informational packet on the pros and cons (service and financial analysis) of being annexed by the City of Conroe to be mass mailed to everyone. The GSC had PSA (third party consulting firm) create a Financial Model and Service Matrix comparing “As Is”, “Annexed” and “Incorporated” scenarios using some of our assessment $ to pay for the study. We have requested that they adjust the Financial Model and Service Matrix to our specific situation with Conroe instead of its existing generic and Houston slanted formats.
a. Financial analysis using 2005 data: Completed and sent to TWA/GSC/Joint Powers to review and adjust to 2009 annexation timeline using 2009 tax/assessment projections
b. Financial analysis using 2009 data: Pending
c. Review and chase down truths about service providers: Ongoing
d. Service Matrix specific to our situation with Conroe: Requested from TWA/GSC/Joint Powers.
4) Petition to state legislature to allow MUD39 residents the right to vote on manner of local governance and request to Conroe City Council and other parties for a moratorium agreement in line with rest of The Woodlands: Complete and Signatures from registered voters being collected (58 during last 2 hours of Spring Fling).
5) Find ways to permanently preserve our “Jusisdictional Wetlands Mitigation Zone” and locked Emergency (only) Access gate at end of Ginger Springs Place: Passed on to TWA for legal review
6) Get copy of Conroe City Council Ordinances concerning MUD39: Ongoing
Scott Singletary
Annexation Committee Chairman.