Over the next several months, we will be undergoing both road construction and irrigation system replacement work. The irrigation project is scheduled to begin August 8th and will impact the Milam median only from Saxton. More details and information will be posted on the website and included in the upcoming newsletter.
April 23, 2024 Update:
Once the irrigation is turned on and we can start evaluating the system then we can start getting a good plan together. As of now we will most likely proceed in this order.
1. First Evaluate irrigation – make all necessary adjustments. 2-5 days
2. Work on the existing turf areas and demo and prep any new area for new turf area install new fescue where needed top dress and seed all old areas. 2-5 days
3. Demo and prep all planting areas and provide a map of plant and shrub placement. Then start installing all plants. 2-4 days
4. Provide a design map for rock areas to receive boulders and plants. Start install of these areas. 2-3 days
5. Final Cleanup including removal of all old debris.
Landtech will need at least 1 if not 2 staging areas to keep our delivered material and equipment.
About the Landscape & Irrigation Project
According to State Law, one of the primary charges of the Metro District Board is to manage the landscaping of the community. Our Developers never developed a long-term “vision” of what the community should look like as it matures. When they turned over management of the community to our residents in 2018, there was no plan for continuing to invest in the community’s landscaping, environment or aesthetics. As a consequence, our landscaping has been in “maintenance mode” for several years. Therefore, in 2022 the Board undertook the project of surveying our residents to measure their expectations in terms of what they would like Cathedral Pines to look like as we move forward. Based upon the feedback of the majority of the residents who responded, a long-term plan would address our community’s aesthetics including ponds, trees, shrubs, roadways, pathways, parks, trails, picnic areas and green space. In other words, how did we want our community to look in 5-10-20 years?
In late 2021 the Metro Board hired a professional, national landscaping design firm (Kimley-Horn) to assist the Board in determining the best strategy to improve our irrigation system as well as to develop a long-term landscaping plan for the community. Kimley-Horn’s recommendations were then presented at our 2022 annual meeting and subsequently voted upon by our residents in last Spring’s survey. In that survey our residents overwhelmingly chose a hybrid approach to our landscaping, with focal points in our community planted with grass, new shrubs, and deciduous trees while other less visible areas will have a more xeric approach. Xeric landscaping includes the use of stones, boulders, and mulch in place of grass, thus reducing our water requirements.
The First Phase of the plan is to address the Milam Road median, specifically the condition of the turf and breakdowns in our irrigation system. As you may recall, our irrigation system has had so many problems that the section running down Saxton Hollow had to be completely shut off last year due to numerous leaks. The system is 20 years old and has so many flaws that it was judged to be irreparable, so in order to implement the hybrid approach on Milam it needs to be replaced.
The scope of the irrigation system replacement is significant—the existing irrigation system will be abandoned, turf all along the Milam median will be removed, new irrigation lines will be laid, and a completely new watering system will be installed by 101 Landscaping. The system will include new state-of-the-art sprinkler controls and heads, which are much more water-efficient and flexible. It can adjust for changes in precipitation, humidity, wind direction and speed, etc. when watering, and is centrally programmable for ease of maintenance. In short, it will be much more water-efficient and better suited for the plantings going forward. The Metro Board is anticipating this new system could save 30-40% of our community's overall water usage.
Kimley-Horn presented a more detailed landscaping plan at the April 10, 2023 Metro District Board meeting focusing specifically on Phase I—the Milam entrance. The presentation included detailed plans for the existing trees on Milam (which will be preserved); new plantings of native shrubs and annuals that are more suited to our climate, add more color and have lesser water requirements; and replacing the existing Kentucky bluegrass with fescue sod and seed, which is much better suited for our environment.
Because of the comprehensive scope of this project, $225,000 has been set aside in this year’s Metro budget to cover its cost. This includes all of the tear out and removal of existing grass and shrubs, design and installation of the new system, and various new plantings on Milam Road. If the community chooses to move forward on Phases II and III of the long-term landscaping project, additional funds will need to be set aside from the operating budget in future years.
If you would like to review last year’s survey results, they are available in the March 2022 Annual Meeting Power Point which is available online at the Cathedral Pines Metro Board website under 2022 Board Meeting Packets (https://cathedralpinesmd.colorado.gov) . Also, the current landscaping status is discussed at every CP Metro Board meeting and updated in the monthly community newsletter.
