Merry Oaks Neighborhood Association

Newsletter Sept 2003

Neighborhood Updates

Neighborhood yard sale Oct. 4.
You pay $5, MONA will then buy the permit and advertise the sale.
Set up in your own yard 8 AM until noon.
Call Carol at 704 563-0288 by September 25

Block Party, Oct. 4
5 to 7 PM
Arnold Drive between Merry Oaks and Farmington
Hamburgers and hot dogs provided
$2 donation requested
Last names A-F bring salad
Last names G-P bring dessert
Last names Q-Z bring fruit, veggies or side dish
Call Cate 704 535 3501 or cate1868@yahoo.com
Bring a chair or blanket to sit on
The street will be closed, so bikes, tricycles,
big wheels, skateboards and roller blades are encouraged!

Ideas for preventing canker worm damage


Tree Banding for Canker Worms
A planned Hands on Merry Oaks project to band our trees against the canker worm did not materialize due to lack of volunteers. But you can do it yourself. Canker worms have gotten quite bad in our neighborhood during the past few years and after three year of having their leaves gobbled, many deciduous trees such as Oaks and Elms will die.

It is quite expensive to buy a tree banding kit at Home Depot. One kit for a few trees is $45 and they tell you to do it twice per year. However you can create your own cankerworm barrier. Here are a few ideas:



· Watch the ground for the appearance of the small green segmented worms. They appear at different times each year depending on the weather, and some years they may not appear at all. October and March are typical months for them to appear. When you spy the first one on the ground or crawling up the trunks, wrap your trees right away.



· Wrap a 6-8 inch wide piece of fiberglass insulation tightly around your tree with the fuzzy stuff toward the bark using duct tape to fasten the ends. This creates a barrier they can’t crawl under.



Cover the insulation with a strip of black plastic again secured with duct tape. Smear a pest barrier (Tanglefoot, available at Home Depot for $3.23 per tub) on top of the plastic. We hear that axle grease also works.


Remove it when the worms are gone.


OR

Buy a roll or two of tree wrap ($3.23 at Home Depot for a 4 inch by 20 foot roll.)


Lay the banding on the ground and smear the pest barrier on it at a length 2-3 times the circumference of the tree with a putty knife or wooden paint stick.


Wrap it twice around the tree to create a width of eight inches. Be sure it is above the reach of children and pets with the pest barrier contacting the bark. (Yes, the directions say not to do that but our source says it doesn’t hurt.)


It should stick to the tree long enough for you to wrap more banding around holding the first layer in place. Tie a knot to hold the second layer in place.


Smear more pest barrier on top of the second layer.


When you notice no more worms, remove the tree wrap and discard safely. Don’t leave it on the tree longer than necessary.

Neighborhood updates

Connectivity project
Properties for the Merry Oaks-to-Plaza Midwood connectivity project have been purchased and removed by the City at 1832 and 1717 Logie Avenue. Design will be complete by October, the contract will be put out for bid by December and construction should begin by spring of 2004.
This project will create a 10-foot wide hard-surfaced, landscaped pedestrian/bicycle path at the end of Masonic Drive along the southeastern edge of the Charlotte Country Club. It will connect the future Briar Creek Greenway to Logie Avenue. Logie Avenue will then be connected to Roland Street in Plaza Midwood with a 12-foot wide stamped color asphalt “choker lane” with planting strips and sidewalks. A choker lane is a narrow, one-vehicle road that was chosen after public workshops where some Plaza-Midwood residents expressed fear of cut-through traffic on a traditional two-lane street.
With the completion of the Briar Creek Greenway section (hopefully next year) Merry Oaks and Plaza Midwood residents will have pedestrian and bicycle access between neighborhoods and to the greenway without using Central Avenue. Also, Logie Avenue will become part of Plaza Midwood and have safer vehicular access to Central Avenue by means of the Morningside signal light.
City Project Manager is Christy Wenzel, 704 336-7367, cwenzel@ci.charlotte.nc.us

Briar Creek Greenway project
Design for this several-acre County project is 50% complete and construction money is in place. The greenway entrance will be on Arnold Drive and include a few acres beside Briar Creek behind some Arnold Drive homes. There will be a pedestrian bridge crossing to another several acres and trail on the west side of Briar Creek.
You can view part of the greenway site from the 1900 block of Arnold Drive, from Harbinger Court (where the County has purchased two flood-prone houses) and all along Masonic Drive. Near the end of Masonic you will see a small tributary crossing the road, at which point the greenway will join the City’s connectivity project moving west toward Logie Avenue.
The County’s Greenway Planner is Bridget Hanifen, 704 336 8466,
hanifbe@co.mecklenburg.nc.us


Neighborhood signs
The Merry Oaks signs are up at the ends of Arnold, Merry Oaks and Flynnwood, the traffic circle on Draper and Graybark at Draper. Thank you for professional services and materials donated by neighbors Tom Poston (graphic designer), Bruce Clodfelter, Nancy Pierce Shaver, Gigi Guyton and Paul Peters.
The signs were made and installed by Southwood Corporation with a $3350 grant from the City of Charlotte Neighborhood Matching Grant Program, $700 from Merry Oaks contributions, dues and newsletter advertising income, and $250 from realtor Lexie Longstreet.
There was about $100 unused from Lexie’s contribution and rather than accept a refund she wants it put toward a future project. If you have an idea for our next Neighborhood Matching Grant project, bring it to the general meeting, contact MONA Neighborhood Advocate and grant administrator Nancy Pierce Shaver nancypierce@carolina.rr.com or 704-535-7409, or contact any Board member.

Traffic Circle
City staff is working with the MONA Board to improve the traffic circle at the intersection of Draper and Merry Oaks Rd. The rubber rumble strips previously installed could not withstand the traffic driving over them and had to be removed. After the residual adhesive and thermoplastic striping are removed from the street surface, five-inch mountable concrete islands will be installed in place of the rumble strips.
School buses, emergency vehicles and large automobiles will be able to drive over the
islands to travel around the circle but will need to slow down as they would for a road hump. City staff is working with MONA Board to determine the coloring and texture of the islands. Clear space will be maintained within the islands to allow for pedestrian crosswalks and drainage. Please drive counterclockwise around the circle. Please turn right as you enter the circle and yield to pedestrians and traffic already traveling around the circle.
City Project Manager Todd Thorne 353-0993 wtthorne@ci.charlotte.nc.us

Landscaping
Street trees and other landscaping will be planted throughout Merry Oaks this fall. Groundcover, bushes and crepe myrtles will be planted at each of the four corners of the traffic mini-circle, and a red maple will be planted in the center island. Crepe myrtles and bushes will be planted to soften the chain link fence near the Aztec Apartments on Arnold Drive and vines will soften the chain link fence on Merry Oaks near Flynnwood. Street trees will be planted in the planting strips on Draper (trident maple), Flynnwood (autumn brilliance serviceberry), Graybark (Chinese pistache) and Logie (crepe myrtle). Landscape plans were developed through collaboration with MONA resident Bruce Clodfelter, a landscape architect, and city staff. All plantings will be located within City right-of-way or within previously determined easements. In some cases, trees will not be planted near the corners of intersections to maintain visibility for motorists. A one-year warranty will protect all new landscaping, and the contractor will replace anything that dies of natural causes.
City Project Manager Todd Thorne 353-0993 wtthorne@ci.charlotte.nc.us

Street Lighting
After several years of advocacy we are finally getting a street light upgrade. The current fixtures will be replaced with cobra-style flat lens fixtures that shine downward, reducing glare and outward spill while actually providing better illumination directly onto the street and sidewalk. Some darks area will get new lights and rotten poles will be replaced.
Duke Energy should have a Phase 1 plan for us by the September 18 general meeting. There will be a total of three phases. This work does require 75% of neighbors to sign so we will be asking for volunteers to get signatures. Please call Nancy at 704 535 7409 or nancypierce@carolina.rr.com if you can volunteer to get your neighbors’ signatures.

Street re-surfacing
The street resurfacing should be complete by October.

Central Avenue Streetscape
Central Ave Streetscape Phases I & II - Eastway Drive to Sharon Amity Road
Landscape plans are now being finalized and will be installed in the upcoming planting season which begins in October 2003 and ends in April 2004.

Central Ave Streetscape Phase III - Morningside Drive to Eastway Drive
Construction began in June 2003 and will continue through this fall. The contractor is nearing completion of work in the outbound lanes of Central Ave. Construction on the inbound lanes will begin immediately following completion of work on the outbound lane.
Duke Power estimates that they will complete their relocation work within the next two weeks. BellSouth has begun relocations. Time Warner Cable and CDOT fiber optic traffic control cable will follow. All utility relocations are scheduled to be completed by mid October.
When complete, the project will include bike lanes from Eastway Drive to Merry Oaks Road. Sidewalks will be 6' wide from Eastway Drive to Briar Creek Road and 8’ wide from Briar Creek Road to Morningside Road with 6' wide planting strips where possible. Concrete pedestrian refuge medians, approximately 30' long, will be located near Arnold Drive, Wembley Drive, and Longfellow Street.
Three very large trees on the inbound side between Eastway and Merry Oaks Road had to be removed. Two of them were diseased and the City Arborist decided to remove the third one as well to make room for new trees, which will be planted the length of the project. Staff is currently deciding which kind of trees to plant. If time allows, landscaping will be done this planting season. If not, it will be fall of 2004..
City Project Manager, Keith Carpenter, at (704) 336-3650.

Woodmere Condominiums
A new Board is in place and things are looking up for Woodmere. New signs are ready to be installed once the sidewalk is completed on Central. The landscaping crew will improve the natural area on Merry Oaks. Woodmere children on the grassy areas so please pick up after your dog if you walk through the property.

Merry Oaks Campus Park
The old school is due to be torn down in December by CMS. After that, CMS and Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department will begin the process of designing a park for neighborhood and school use. Workshops were held a few years ago before the project was delayed because of the new school, and this information will be included. However there will be opportunities for additional input given that the site has changed with the new school building. Design and construction money has already been allocated for this project by the County.





EVENTS
Thursday Sept. 11 6:30 PM Community Workshop on Evergreen Nature Preserve/Eastway
District Park, Mundy Building, Memorial United Methodist Church, 4012 Central Avenue.

Monday Sept. 15 6 PM City Council public hearing on proposed Eastway/Central rezonings. Call 704 336 2205 or www.rezoning.org (petition 2003-81A, 81B)

Thursday Sept. 18 7 PM MONA general meeting at the school.

Saturday Sept. 27 10 AM to 2 PM Fall Diversity Festival, Veterans Park

Sunday Sept. 28 4 PM Sunday at Cate's 2301 Arnold Drive. Bring a drink and a chair.

Saturday Oct. 4 8-12 AM, 5-7 PM MONA Day yard sale and block party. Call Carol (sale) 704 563
0288 or Cate (party) 704 535 3501

Saturday October 11 9 AM Fall Creek walk, Briar Creek Bridge. Call Jasper 704 537-9765

Wednesday October 15 6:30 PM Candidate Forum for District 1, District 5, At-large City Council and
At-large School Board. Windsor Park Elementary School, 3900 Sudbury Road.

Thursday October 16 Realtors Tour-- Showcase of Homes. Take in your roll-out cans!

Sunday October 26 4 PM Sunday at Cate's 2301 Arnold Drive. Bring a drink and a chair.

Tuesday November 4 All day Election Day. Help make Merry Oaks a “high turnout” precinct.

Thursday January 15 7-9 PM MONA General Meeting

Neighborhood Advocacy and Monitoring

Neighborhood Advocacy and Monitoring

· The Charlotte City Council is considering an amendment to the City Code which would prohibit parking vehicles in front yards except on driveways or parking pads. A public hearing was held July 28 but they have not voted yet, so contact City Council members if you have comments.

· A long time problem of junk cars at 2800 Eastway Drive has apparently been fixed (we hope permanently) due to the persistence of MONA Board member Jasper Parham who stayed on city officials about it.

· Woodmere residents understand that people like to walk through their property to avoid walking on Central Avenue but they ask that you PLEASE pick up after your dog. This is not only polite, it is the law.

· Please take care of your sidewalk and storm drain. Use a flat-edge shovel to clear debris from the storm drains. Keep the sidewalk clear of gravel, leaves and debris. If you don’t have an edger or weed wacker, ask a neighbor to edge it or use a flat shovel. Use an herbicide, hoe or your hands to remove weeds or grass growing in the cracks.

· There is a new phone number to report tall grass, inoperational cars and junky yards. Call 336-7600 if you wish to report problems. OR call MONA President Cate Martin who will compile a list of problem properties each month and make a report to the City. 704 535 3501 or cate1868@yahoo.com

· Efforts continue to permanently abandon Roseview Lane. In the meantime, attempts are being made to get the Department of Transportation to barricade it.






Showcase of Homes
A committee of advocates for East Charlotte has arranged a Charlotte East Showcase of Homes on October 16. Realtors will be given a bus tour of East Charlotte neighborhoods, including Merry Oaks. Each neighborhood is providing them with a fact sheet, and East Charlotte amenities such as the Charlotte Museum of History and Evergreen Nature preserve will be highlighted. The purpose is to encourage realtors to show homes in East Charlotte. Please make sure your homes and yards are at their best that day. If you live on Arnold Drive or Farmington, be sure to take in your roll-out can or ask a neighbor to do it if you are at work. The tour will probably pass by your home.

Candidates Forum
MONA is co-sponsoring a candidates forum for City Council District 1, District 5, At-large City Council and at-large School Board members. Come and educate yourself, then vote! Traditionally Merry Oaks precinct has had lower-than-average voter turnout. If we can increase that, elected officials will pay more attention to us. Attend the forum at 6:30 PM Wednesday October 15 at Windsor Park Elementary School, 3900 Sudbury Road

Evergreen Nature Preserve/Eastway District Park
Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation will conduct a community workshop
at 6:30 p.m. Thursday September 11 to discuss the Evergreen Nature Preserve/Eastway District Park planned for a 91-acre area off Central Avenue. Thursday's meeting will be in the Mundy building at Memorial United Methodist Church, 4012 Central Avenue. The park, which has not been developed, will be between Winterfield Elementary and Eastway Middle Schools.


Fall Diversity Festival
The Commonwealth Morningside Neighborhood Association is hosting a Fall Diversity Festival to celebrate the diverse cultures and interests in the community. It will be Saturday, September 27 at Veterans Park from 10 until 2. Included among the performances will be: Carribean dance, poetry, disc jockey, African American Youth Step Group, Sudanese dance and song. There will also be food, information tables, activities and games for kids and a fire department smokehouse for learning safe exit from a fire.

Rezonings
There are several rezoning proposed for single family home sites on Central Avenue and Eastway. These properties are currently zoned R-22 MF which means that someone could assemble several parcels and redevelop them as high density apartments. If successful, the rezoning would place them at R-8, allowing only single-family residential development up to 8 houses per acre. (R-8 is the zoning in place on Covington Court, the cul-de-sac off Merry Oaks Road.)
The locations are: 37.7 acres on both sides of Central near Rosehaven, Progress Lane, Lansdale, and Medford, and 17.88 acres on both sides of Eastway near Arnold, Townsend and Sandhurst.
These rezonings are being proposed by the Planning Commission as part of the Eastside Strategies Plan adopted by City Council in October 2002. The rezonings are in response to the area’s current saturation with multi-family development.
There is a City Council public hearing on these rezonings on Monday, September 15, at 6 PM. Call the City Clerk at 336-2247 to speak. For additional case information call the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Commission at 704-336-2205 or go to www.rezoning.org

Hands on Merry Oaks
Two wildly successful Hands on Merry Oaks projects were completed this summer.
On July 12 a large crew edged, cleaned, raked and shoveled on Merry Oaks Road, making the street and sidewalk more accessible, safe and attractive. Neighbors put out coolers with drinks for the workers: Cate Martin, Marcus Williams, Jasper Parham, Paul and Donna Howard Peters with kids Savannah, Grace and John, Lavetta and Tony Edwards, Trish Rupert, Raed and Beth Brown AlRawi, Nancy Krewson, Andria Krewson with daughter Sarah Acuff, Patty Perkins, Dean Coley and Tom Jameson
The August 16 Storm Drain project was rained out but neighbors have been doing it as they have time. Labels are glued to storm drains reminding people to not dump anything down the drains and pollute the creeks. Thanks to: Patty & Dean Coley, Cate Martin, Jasper Parham, Nancy Krewson, Patsy Kinsey, Nancy Pierce Shaver, Ben Shaver, Carol Harrington, Laura Paynter. Other volunteers are still working to complete their streets.
If you want to propose a future Hands on Merry Oaks projects bring your idea to the Sept. 18 meeting or contact Cate at 704 535 3501 or cate1868@yahoo.com


Use the MONA web site. You can do it! It’s easy……
Our MONA website, http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/charlotte/merryoaks , allows any MONA member to post upcoming events, contribute to discussions, create a web page or link to your existing personal web page. You will need to sign in at the left hand corner of the site where it says “sign in”. Registering is simple and does not require a lot of personal information. How-to instructions are on the left at “Find Answers in Our Faqs.”

· Community Calendar: From the home page, click on Community Calendar, then on “Add or Edit an Event”. You might want to post a notice of your upcoming garage sale here. You’ll find the complete MONA calendar here.

· Talk About It: Open a discussion of neighborhood concerns or post pets, plants, or whatever to give away. Perhaps you have babysitting or lawn-mowing services to offer. To reply to a message that is there, open the message and click on “Reply to This Message.” We have 2 expert gardeners who are willing to answer gardening questions.

· Add-A-Page: Click on the Add-A-Page heading to create your own web page or to link to a web page you already have on the Internet. You can also use “Meet Your Neighbors” to let others know about you and any skills you are willing to share such as photography or woodworking.

· Other useful features: Link to weather forecasts, Char-Meck government, past MONA newsletters, and other neighborhood associations such as Plaza-Midwood. Want to know who to call for abandoned shopping carts? Click on “Who To Call.” Not sure which voting district you are in? Click on “Voting.” Want comments about which service company your neighbors have found satisfactory? Click on “Home Improvement.” If you have items you would like added to existing pages, or any questions at all: email nkrewson@earthlink.net or call 704-567-0709 or call any Board member. Let us hear from you!
Nancy Krewson, webmaster


Congratulations to Merry Oaks School
Our last general meeting began with a tour of the new Merry Oaks Elementary School. It is arguably the most beautiful new school in the system with a large inner courtyard, special amenities such as a pottery kiln and unique origami birds that fly from the entry corridor, and a gorgeous media center.
Last spring the United States Undersecretary of Education Dr. Hickok visited Merry Oaks to investigate how a school with 88% free or reduced lunch could have such high academic growth on standard achievement tests. Later, Merry Oaks Principal Stan Frazier was one of 5 educators from across the United States to be invited into the Oval Office for an audience with president Bush, who said that he would like to visit Merry Oaks School.
Merry Oaks Elementary School was recently notified that it has received a grant of yet-undisclosed amount from Senator Elizabeth Dole for an “Initiatives for Reading” program to train teachers in the use of phonics.
Closer to home, last month Merry Oaks Elementary School was recognized as one of only six Equity Plus II elementary schools in Charlotte who met the Federal “No Child Left Behind” standards for academic achievement. This means that all subgroups of children there met Adequate Yearly Progress goals. Subgroups include: economic level, ethnicity, English proficiency and physical disability. Schools that did not meet the standards had one or more subgroups of children who did not perform to expected standards on the tests. Thirty-two Charlotte Mecklenburg Elementary Schools including Merry Oaks are classified as Equity Plus II schools (based on free or reduced lunch percentage) Equity Plus II Schools have significantly smaller class sizes than other schools, extra resources and incentives for teacher retention and professional development.
Neighbors are encouraged to visit the school at any time. Please call ahead. 980 343 6422. And remember, they can always use people to read with, tutor and be lunch buddies to students.

Showcase of Homes
A committee of advocates for East Charlotte has arranged a Charlotte East Showcase of Homes on October 16. Realtors will be given a bus tour of East Charlotte neighborhoods, including Merry Oaks. Each neighborhood is providing them with a fact sheet, and East Charlotte amenities such as the Charlotte Museum of History and Evergreen Nature preserve will be highlighted. The purpose is to encourage realtors to show homes in East Charlotte. Please make sure your homes and yards are at their best that day.

Real Estate Update

Real Estate Update from Lexie Longstreeet, Helen Adams Realty
This year has been a crazy real estate market in Charlotte. In the Realtor circles most would call it a buyers’ market. There is a surplus of homes on the market and, despite the low interest rates, there are not enough buyers. Because there are so many homes on the market, buyers are being more selective and they won’t consider homes that need much, if any, work. For that reason homes that are in excellent condition, clean and shiny and not in need of any major improvements (roof, new AC, etc.) are selling well, and homes that need some TLC are sitting there only to be eventually snatched up by “investors”.
The Merry Oaks community has fared pretty well on the whole. The Charlotte MLS reports that since January there have been 15 houses that closed in Merry Oaks. Of those four were foreclosure properties or properties that had just been foreclosed on and were being flipped ( Those four sold for lower than normal prices.
The other homes sold in a pretty big range from the high $80’s for a small home on Draper to the upper $140’s for a large renovated home on a side street off Arnold Drive. Some of the houses were totally renovated and some needed updating, but they all sold quickly relative to the Charlotte market. The average home in Charlotte was more than 100 days on the market. The average days on the market for Merry Oaks homes (excluding the foreclosures) was 38 days. Some of these homes sold in under a week. That is a strong testament to the strength of the neighborhood and the overall demand for cute homes near uptown.
It is safe to say that as Merry Oaks continues to attract young professional buyers who are working on their homes and yards, the neighborhood continues to appreciate at a strong rate. So keep up the home improvement projects! They are paying off all over Merry Oaks.