Richardson neighborhood gives yard of the month award to city park

by Andrew Laska of Richardson Echo

Most neighborhood and homeowners associations have a Yard of the Month award given to a property that beautifies their respective neighborhoods. Most people pay little attention to these choices. Cottonwood Heights Neighborhood Association selection for August turned heads on Belt Line Road.

Cottonwood Heights chose to give this month’s award to the largest “yard” in the neighborhood: Cottonwood Park.

Their selection was designed to recognize ongoing effort by the City of Richardson to improve and maintain the park as a valuable feature in the neighborhood.

Cottonwood Heights President Barry Hand stated in an e-mail to the City of Richardson, “While this is not a normal summer pick for us, we like to acknowledge a landscape environment every now and then where an ongoing effort has truly added value to our neighborhood.”

“We really appreciate this recognition by Cottonwood Heights,” City Manager Bill Keffler stated, “…We will want to highlight this recognition...”

At Monday’s City Council worksession, Cottonwood Heights Dave Knepper agreed with the recognition. He specifically pointed out the vast improvements that had been made in the park over the years. He referred to the water and lake feature as previously being “nothing more than a drainage ditch” but said that the work over the years has made the park a valuable attraction.

Council person John Murphy, whose district covers Cottonwood Heights jokingly said that when he saw the Yard of the Month sign in the park he thought "it might be a teenage prank." He was later delighted to hear that it was not a joke.

"Cottonwood Heights recently transitioned from a 921 home HOA to a Neighborhood Association that is now looking at the more broad context in our area," Hand said.