The Hot Springs Village POA Trails Committee met on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Chair, Buzz Carpenter, recognized the following guests:

Lori Hartshorn (former Trails Committee member), Norman Meredith, Parks and Grounds Supervisor, Melinda Alvord, John O’Brien, and Lewis Delavan (Voice).

The Trails Committee is developing a web page, which will be accessible on the trails by QR Codes; Janet Rowe shares favorable information from the ad hoc committee; Multipurpose Trail is slated to begin repair after July 4.

Kathy Swanson Accepts Vice-Chair Position

At the May meeting, Janet Rowe nominated Kathy Swanson to be the Vice-chair of the Trails Committee and she was subsequently elected to fill the spot. Swanson was not present at that meeting but has since agreed to accept the role. Both the Chair and Swanson will be absent in July and another committee member will need to step up and run the meeting.

Website and QR Codes

Committee member, Adam Birkner, a designer/web programmer, is developing a website for the trails that can be accessed on the trail systems by scanning posted QR codes. Adam said, “A lot of the hard stuff is done,” and he is ready for content. He wants the committee to discuss what content for each trail they would like to see on the website. “A map makes very good sense,” stated Adam. Adam also thought that information about the various plants on the trail would be good to include.

Paul Barnard said he could help with the plant information and that this information could be rotated depending on the time of year (seasonal changes). Paul and Adam will be working together on this project, starting with the Balboa Trail.

Janet Rowe Updates Trails Committee on Ad Hoc Cooper Land Evaluation Committee Progress

  • CCI is deeding to the POA all of the parcels with infrastructure, except for Danville Gate where they are slicing off the portion we need.
  • Janet said, “The Magellan Beaver Dam Trail is safe because it is a conglomerate of stuff down there. We’ve got the road that leads down into the storage area and the animal welfare league.” CCI is dedicating the road and deeding over the rest of that parcel to the POA because there is a water treatment plant and a lot of utility lines running through the property.
  • Balboa – Janet explained, “There is not an issue with Balboa.” The property is for sale from the bottom of the dam levy, but there is infrastructure on it. There is a black pipe that comes up out of the lake and goes over the trail and down to the pump house. This is the irrigation system for Magellan and Isabella Golf Courses.
  • Golf cart trailer parking at Coronado Golf Course – CCI will let us have the whole parcel for $5,000. There is no place to move the Coronado golf cart trailer parking. The parcel of land that CCI has offered us for sale is big enough for the expansion of parking, which is needed.
  • Cedar Creek Trail – CCI is asking $1 MM for the property where Cedar Creek Trail is located and they will not divide the parcel. There is a FEMA flood plain on this property. CCI feels that a “future buyer/developer would use the trail as a selling point.”
    • Janet said a Villager contacted her, wanting to start a grassroots campaign to raise money to buy the Cedar Creek property. Janet told him it would be difficult to raise $1 MM.
  • CCI is giving the POA the Street Maintenance area located behind the Beehive. The POA has already encroached on this area.
  • There is an area around Lake Lago that did not have the regular buffer zone of 200 or 300 feet (Janet was unsure which). CCI is giving us this complete parcel.
  • CCI is giving the POA the parcel where the Multipurpose Trail is located. There is no way to reroute this trail.
  • Waypoint is privately owned behind Los Lagos. The trail area behind El Jimador is owned by CCI and they are not giving us this property.

Repair of Multipurpose Trail

The Chair asked Norman Meredith (Grounds Maintenance) what the plans were for the repair of the Multipurpose Trail. Meredith said that where the asphalt is eroded on the trail, his team will lay about two inches of fine gravel and then roll it. “Asphalt is astronomical [in cost],” explained Meredith. The plan is to repair eight miles of trails.

Photo Contest Award Party

The winners of the photo contest have been chosen and the committee would like to have an award party at Waypoint. The tentative date and time for the party are Tuesday, July 12 at 12:00 noon.

Next Meeting

The Trails Committee will meet again on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, at 1:30 PM at the Coronado Community Center.

HSV Gazette Publisher Cheryl Dowden