For many years the Club has asked the City (which owns the land) to trim the hedges to a reasonable height and to keep them more attractively.

The City has refused to do so because the hedges have grown so high and deep that the cost of trimming them is too much.

The Club has asked permission to trim the hedges ourselves and the City has refused to allow us to do so.

The roots of the North side Juniper hedge have now grown several feet into the green and will, eventually, create problems in the blacktop of the perimeter bank, as well as the green.

Our judgement and that of the City arborist, is that this will also begin to occur on the West side.

The only alternative was to ask the City to remove the hedges and to beautify the result.  The City received several bids, from outside contractors, to do this work and the cost was considered too much (over $70,000), to do all that we wanted.

The City has now agreed to remove both hedges and to grass the berm on the North side and to plant some trees to make the result more attractive.

The Club still has the right to go to the City, in future years, for additional beautification, if members decide the result is not sufficiently attractive.

Paul Brinton