Greengate

Between April 2023 and November 2024, the Community Enhancement Department facilitated a Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative in Greengate that included a neighborhood survey, meeting, workday, block party and improvement of the front entry at Edelweiss Dr. and Allen Heights Dr. Tab #1 is dedicated to that process.

** Note: Updates are posted from most recent to oldest. Go to the bottom of the page and scroll up to view the updates in chronological order.

Update: November 7, 2024

Thanks to the neighborhood-led Greengate Landscaping Team, the main entrance monument has a new look. In September, four of your faithful neighbors met together, did their research, raised the money, and enhanced landscaping with seasonal color. During this process, it was the discovered that the irrigation schedule needed to be adjusted, so Parks & Recreation adjusted the sprinklers accordingly. Check out the transformation pictures below. A special thanks to Kay, Linda, Kendall, and Taylor for making this happen!

If you live in Greengate and want more information on resident-led, neighborhood groups like this, email enhancement@cityofallen.org and we will get you connected.

Update: August 6, 2024

Construction for this project is complete. * Note: New bushes will be added on the southern side of the entry to fill in the existing gap in the Fall when the weather is conducive to planting. Also, seasonal landscaping maintenance will continue under Community Enhancement Department.

Update: June 18, 2024

The storms that went through the area in late May and early June caused delays, but the screening fence is underway to be followed by signage, landscape clean up, and minor sidewalk repair. It’s getting close to completion! See below for a progress picture.

Update: April 17, 2024

It is estimated that this project will be fully completed by the end of May 2024. A summary of the progress can be seen in the pictures below.

Update: March 6, 2024

Construction is scheduled to start on the entryway at Allen Heights and Edelweiss Dr. the week of March 11, 2024. No road closures are expected. The project will be completed in two phases:

Phase I: Brick repair on both entryway features located at 1301 and 1300 Edelweiss Dr., replace signage (timing contingent on materials), demo and replace the retaining wall along Allen Heights Dr. adjacent to 1301 and the alley, repair/replace the retaining wall features at 1300.

Phase II: Install Vinyl Fence and landscape rocks along the alley where the red-tipped photinias were previously planted. The timing of this phase is contingent on when the fencing materials are delivered, but once delivered, it’s expected to take less than a week to install. After the project is complete, the city will clean up landscaping around the entryway features to ensure the new signage is not blocked.

Fall Update - September 2023

Steering Committee Update: Residents on the steering committee met Wednesday, August 2, 2023 to give guidance and direction to city staff based as the project scope. Topics included (1) fence style, (2) easement update, (3) future maintenance, (4) signage and lettering, and (5) bid process and timeline.

Greengate Block Party - October 21, 2023

WOW! What an absolutely fun block party we had Saturday evening! So many new people and new neighbors to meet. A huge THANK YOU to the Block Party Committee made up of Greengate residents who planned this event and canvassed the entire neighborhood to invite you. Also, our APPRECIATION to all the city departments and personnel that came out — the Allen Police Department, Community Services Department, Parks & Recreation Department, and our Code Compliance Division — thank you for helping us make it happen!

Neighborhood Workday - July 8, 2023

One of the breakout stations at the April neighborhood meeting was for committee sign-ups. This included a workday committee needed to help organize the day, solicit nominations from the neighborhood, and recruit volunteers. Most of the feedback received revolved around helping fellow Greengate neighbors in need with minor home repairs and/or lawn maintenance. It was also suggested that the visibility triangle at the neighborhood entrance located at Main St. and S. Alder be trimmed and cleaned up. Residents liked the idea of helping in this way. We reached out the residents living there and received their permission to do the work. Greengate Neighborhood Workday is scheduled for Saturday, July 8, 2023 from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Forms Needed: Complete the Workday Volunteer Waiver below and email it to Community Enhancement.

Update: Workday Details

If you are volunteering for the workday, here's some important information you need to know:

• Meet at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints parking lot located at 1404 E Main St. They are allowing us the use of their parking lot space — the dumpster trailers and the tool trailer will be parked here.
• Arrive no later than 7:30 a.m. at the church parking lot for instructions before we dismiss to the project sites.
• Don’t Forget! Download and submit your Volunteer Waiver form. You can use the online version or “print, sign, & scan it” back to me. I have most of the volunteers’ forms, but we’re not completely 100%. We will have some hard copies on site in case there are any last-minute volunteers, but please send ahead of time if at all possible.
• Wear protective clothing that helps you remain cool and comfortable.
• No open-toed shoes
• If you have a pickup truck to help haul tree limbs from the project sites to the dumpsters located at the church, please bring it.
• We’ll have some water at the project sites, but bring your own if you feel you’ll need a lot of it. You can’t have too much H2O in this heat.

Update: Workday Success

A huge THANK YOU to all those who volunteered. We had about 15+ Greengate residents working at the project site, and a couple of ladies canvas the neighborhood picking up litter. You made it a success, and Greengate is the better for it! What a great start to this initiative. Hopefully, there will be more opportunities like this in the future.

Neighborhood Meeting - April 27, 2023

Community Enhancement hosted a public meeting at Story Elementary for residents living in Greengate neighborhood. This neighborhood meeting was organized by the Community Enhancement Staff to inform residents about the stabilization project happening in their neighborhood and facilitate feedback. The neighborhood project focuses on repairing/enhancing entryway features at Edelweiss Dr. and replacing the screening along S. Allen Heights where diseased photinias have been removed.

Meeting Summary

Thirty-seven residents attended the meeting. After the presentation, residents were invited to give their input in three different areas — visual preference for signage options, committee sign up and workday ideas, and future needs within the neighborhood. Each resident was given three dots (tokens) to reflect their visual preference for new screening that will diseased photinias used to be. Below are the results of the Visual Preference boards and a summary of the results.

Visual Preference

Update: At the April 27th Public Meeting three fence styles came to the top based on votes: (1) Ashland Privacy Fence - Walnut Brown, (2) Black Privacy - Picket, and (3) Simulated Stone - Brown Granite. However, it was discovered that many attendees voted for the simulated stone under the impression it would be “real stone.” Upon realizing it was vinyl fencing like the other options, they did not prefer that style. Of the two remaining choices, it was determined that the Black Privacy Fence has a glossy finish that makes it prone to reflect light, which is not ideal along a roadway. This leaves us with the Ashland Privacy Fence in Walnut Brown, which was one of the top choices by residents and the fence that City Staff can support. Resident steering committee had no objections.

Committee Volunteers

• Steering (12)
• Workday (13)
• Block Party (4)

Future Needs

• Sidewalk southeast of Allen Heights & Edelweiss telephone pole to do edge-around
• Is there a process to have a commercial property condemned & demolished (i.e., S.E. corner of Allen Heights & Main)?
• Street Pavement Study
• Repair Malone Rd. Story to Main St.
• 302 South Malone
• Sidewalk repair - Gardenia is real bad
• Sidewalk repair
• Bathrooms at Story Park
• Repave Malone, Sidewalks across from school
• Maybe Allen can give the owner of old gas station at Allen Heights some incentive to lease cheap or sell to city for Library hub or community center for kids
• Fence maintenance in the alley way, Some folks' fences are crumbling
• More streetlamps in the neighborhood please
• Exit on Edelweiss - Is it three lanes or only two lanes? Either case it needs street lane stripes. (Watch the school bus try to make the turn when the cars use it as three lanes.)
• Sidewalks need fixing all along Edelweiss. It would be a "walkable" neighborhood I wasn't worried about tripping while walking the dog.
• Dog area for off-lease run at Story Park
• More dog poop stations at dog park, Community garden/picnic area
• Paint left-turn & right-turn lanes at Edelweiss & Allen Heights (exiting neighborhood)
• Pothole & Manhole at intersection of Gardenia & Flameleaf
• Sidewalk connecting to neighbohrood, add connector to park trail (Story Park) at Gardenia & Azalea
• Main & Alder - limited view/needs fencing
• It seems the alleys in this neighborhood are quite small and original to when built in the 80's and the garbage trucks are a lot bigger these days. I wonder if widening the corners/intersectiona of alleys would help the drivers. We live on a corner of the alley, and have to fill in the area with dirt between the concrete of the alley and our fence due to people driving on it. It's not really a big deal to us but it seems to be a big deal to some neighbors who have gone as far to put large rocks on the corner to deter the garbage truck from driving on their grass. Just wanted to mention it in case it's an option.

Neighborhood Survey (Pre-Public Meeting)

In April 2023, City staff launched a month-long, online survey including two open ended questions:

1. What is your neighborhood’s greatest asset?
2. What could be done to make your neighborhood a better place to live?

40 residents took the survey. A summary of the results including a detailed list of all the comments received can be downloaded and view below.

The primary physical improvement for Greengate neighborhood were enhancing the main entryway signage at Edelweiss Dr. and replacing the screening along S. Allen Heights where diseased photinias have been removed.