BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING Monday, February 14, 2022, 6:00 PM
In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to enable more options for public participation, the meeting will be held in person at Walter Esch Hall, 199 Barton Shore Drive, and via video/ conference call. Zoom information:
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The meeting will include a public hearing for wall/solar permit review for the proposed project at 465 Hillspur Road. Public comment on the project may be submitted in writing to Barton Hills Village prior to the meeting, or in person during the meeting. If you plan to attend, in person, masks are highly encouraged. The agenda for the meeting, and past meeting minutes, are posted on the BHV website (bartonhillsvillage.org).
ANNUAL MEETINGS COMING UP BHV and BHMC will hold their Annual Meetings on Monday March 14, 2022, beginning at 6:00 PM at Barton Hills Country Club and online. Watch for more information from both groups later this month.
WINTER WONDERLAND FUN Residents are invited to join their neighbors for some Family FUN on Sunday March 13, 2022, 12-3 PM, for an afternoon outing on the grounds of North Star Reach, a 105-acre camp located in Pinckney. Festivities will begin at noon with a chili cook off, followed by an outdoor nature scavenger hunt and s’mores. For more information contact the Clerk’s Office.
SPRING FUN—RAIN GARDENS Every time it rains, water runs off impermeable surfaces, such as roofs or driveways, collecting pollutants such as particles of dirt, fertilizer, chemicals, oil, garbage and bacteria along the way. The pollutant-laden water enters storm drains untreated and flows directly to nearby streams and ponds. The US EPA estimates that pollutants carried by rainwater runoff account for 70% of all water pollution. A rain garden is a garden of native shrubs, perennials, and flowers planted in a small depression, which is generally formed on a natural slope. It is designed to temporarily hold and soak in rainwater and up to 80% of sediments from the rainwater runoff. Compared to a conventional lawn, rain gardens allow for 30% more water to soak into the ground.
A rain garden is not a water garden. Nor is it a pond or a wetland. Conversely, a rain garden is dry most of the time. It typically holds water only during and following a rainfall event. Because rain gardens will drain within 12-48 hours, they prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.
Rain gardens collect rainwater runoff, allowing the water to be filtered by vegetation and percolate into the soil recharging groundwater aquifers. These processes filter out pollutants.
If you’d like to learn more about rain gardens or purchase plants, please check out www.washtenaw.org/647/Rain-Gardens for a plethora of information. Additionally, Tam Perry, a Barton Hills resident and Climate Resilience Committee Member, will be hosting a Raingarden Zoom meeting on Tuesday, April 26 at 6:30 p.m. More information will be coming in the near future.
AND THERE’S MORE!!
This winter, design your own home rain garden with support from southeast Michigan’s top rain garden design educators! Apply now for the Winter 2022 Master Rain Gardener Training Program, taking place Thursday mornings, 10 am-noon, March 3- April 7 (five weeks).
This weekly virtual course includes presentations on how to create a rain garden, lists of native plants that will help you select suitable matches for the conditions of your lawn, one-on-one feedback from expert instructors, small group breakout Q&A sessions, as well as inspiring in-person rain garden tours across southeast Michigan.
Partners from southeast Michigan have come together to offer the largest ever Master Rain Gardener Training Course, with capacity for over one hundred students from the southeast Michigan region. Students will be paired with expert instructors from their region, enjoying both one-on-one support and the friendly support of a small peer group of ten or fewer fellow students. Cost: $145 (scholarships available) Register at TheRouge.org/mrg