Heavy rain beating down Cedar Hill Parks and Recreation department

by Loyd Brumfield of Cedar Hill TODAY

In an area often hit by drought-like conditions, a steady dose of rain is very appreciated.

But, believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much rain.

That's the problem faced by the Cedar Hill Parks and Recreation department, which has seen its maintenance schedule thrown into chaos as the water continues to rise and the rains keep coming.

“I cannot remember having rains like this,” said Shawn Ray, the department's parks operations supervisor. “In the past when early to mid-June arrived, we settled into dry warm weather with an occasional day of rain. The pattern we are in now, we mow grass that is higher than normal and that puts added stress on our equipment, so when the rain starts again we are making repairs to our equipment.”

The rain has also led to a growth spurt in trees, Ray said, and parks workers have had to trim tree limbs that are approaching roadways.

Mowing schedules have also taken a beating, Ray said.

“The overall impact has been devastating to our mowing schedules. Most parks and municipal buildings are mowed on a weekly basis as well as some of our high-visibility medians and right-of-ways,” Ray said. “Due to the frequent rains we have not been able to stick to this schedule.”

The city's goal is to mow all areas at least once before Monday, July 16, Ray said.

At that time, a city ordinance allows the department to begin mowing wildflower areas, something that many residents that live near them are anxious to get done, Ray said.

In the past, given the usual dryness of June and July, that schedule hasn't been a problem, Ray said.

The department has been able to mow some areas during the current wet spell, but only in limited amounts, Ray said.

“(But) the majority of our equipment will damage turf areas due to the weight if we do not allow the areas to dry,” he said.

The weather has also disrupted several youth and adult sports leagues.

“Youth baseball and adult softball have had numerous rainouts that have to be rescheduled,” Ray said. “Valley Ridge will be hosting an Adult Coed soccer league that was scheduled to start on June 30 but has postponed their season opening by one week at this time.”

Nevertheless, the rain has been much needed to the region overall, Ray said.

“The ponds are full and most of the landscaping and turf have recovered from drought damage,” he said. “I think we are at the point now that it is getting to be too much even though when it does stop raining, I'm sure we will want rain again in a month or so.”