Saturday, February 7, 2009

Shady Run Will Have Low Wide Wall

The results of the Shady Run survey are in! We appreciate your time and careful consideration of the options, which was apparent in your comments.

Of the 58 homes that responded, 54 were in favor of the low, wide wall; 4 voted for the low, wing wall. With 93% of the votes, low wide is our choice.

Before we can begin construction, however, we'll need to tackle the easement issue along Shady Run. Here's a brief explanation:

Originally the large open area at Shady Run was platted as two home sites, facing Shady Run. The plat included a utility easement 10 feet wide, running parallel to the street. Friendswood changed this plat, ceding the land to Kings Forest Community Association and creating the drainage ditch.

Apparently the plats were never updated for the City of Houston records, so the City does not show this land has been ceded to KFCA. We currently have the City's easement, measuring 15 feet from the middle of the street, then this 10-ft utility easement. The location where we plan to site the entrance sign is on the utility easement. We can't move it closer to the corner, or we're on the City easement. We can't move it back, or it's on the crepe myrtles. Moving to either side looks imbalanced.

Dale Clarke, our designer, says that the utility easement can now be considered "abandoned," and if we obtain the City's approval, we can locate our entrance sign in the optimal spot. So, the board's plan is to pursue this with the City and it will report back to you periodically on progress.