Northridge Parkway Homeowners Association Dues

The payment of the annual dues for Northridge Parkway Homeowners’ Association are due for the 2025 calendar year.

Dues were increased this year to $268.00 due to increased responsibilities and ongoing maintenance of our maturing greenspace and neglected cul-de-sacs.

The dues deadline is January 1, 2025. Beginning February 1st, 2025, a late fee of $15/month will be added.

Go to the Northridge Parkway dues page for more information – https://northridge-ames.us/dues/ for payment information.

Northridge Board Monthly Meeting

The board will meet Tuesday, December 17th, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Northridge Village, located at 3300 George Washington Carver Avenue across from the Bayberry entrance.

Water Valve Maintenance Summer 2024

The City of Ames has been working throughout the city for the last 5 years replacing bolts on water valves installed in the early 1990’s. There are many of those valves installed in the Northridge area. Some of which will be in yards or at the fire hydrants in the islands of the circles. The city began work last summer (2023) and has started again this summer. Each repair will require about a 5-to-6-foot hole down to the fire hydrant riser connecting point to the city main water service to replace old steel bolts with new stainless bolts. (some locations could be deeper).  The city will reseed the area once completed as stated on the City of Ames Notice flyer. The city will restore all areas (except trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses if within 5 feet of hydrants or in utility easements) where the work takes place. This project is projected to last approximately up to 2 years. (map of bolt replacement)

Winter 2024 Update

The City of Ames is pleased to report that we have successfully replaced the faulty bolts in the valves in the Northridge area. All street and sidewalk surfaces have been fully restored, and the final patches of grass will be addressed in the spring.

Overall, the project went smoothly, with minimal feedback from residents—only three negative comments. We would like to extend our gratitude to the residents for their patience and understanding throughout the work. Their cooperation greatly contributed to the efficiency of the project.

If you have any questions or if there are areas that may require additional attention next spring, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’ll ensure that everything is fully restored.

City of Ames Utility Maintenance – 515-239-5554 office – www.CityofAmes.org

Appreciation Note November 3, 2024

Northridge Families,

I want to thank all the volunteers who helped the HOA Board last Saturday, October 26, 2024, from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.  When we started, we had ten volunteers and at mid-way we were up to thirteen volunteers.  As a volunteer group we trimmed, edged, and cleaned up these five cul-de-sacs:  Redbud Circle, Cypress Circle, Park Vista Circle, Northridge Circle and Rosewood Circle.

We cut and collected three large trailer loads of brush and two pickup loads of leaves and other debris.  The three trailer loads were unloaded and piled up for removal by Emma Joe’s Tree Service.  The two pickup loads of leaves were hauled to Steenhoek Environmental.

I plan to coordinate another volunteer day soon, assuming weather is good, to address the final cul-de-sac. With another group of volunteers, I believe we could easily complete the remaining one yet this fall. 

We tried to get a picture of the volunteers in each cul-de-sac before moving on to the next one.  I especially enjoyed meeting some of the wonderful neighbors who contributed their time to help keep our HOA beautiful. 

I also do want to acknowledge our entire HOA Volunteer Board members who provide their time to support improvements to our development – one we can all be proud of.

Sincerely, Ron Frantzen, Volunteer Board President

Cul-de-Sac Maintenance

Our subdivision is now over 30 years old. Our previous volunteer boards have done a good job of maintaining our HOA. But a derecho has hit our city causing much damage to our trees, and the ash borer affected many of our trees. This resulted in the additional removal of trees and grinding of stumps along with the general maintenance that needs to continue. Over 30 years, the HOA had raised the dues minimally, but we were in need of much cleanup with the derecho and the ash borer, therefore, the dues were increased. Much to our delight, most of the development was in favor of this increase.

Three years ago, the cul-de-sac maintenance became a concern to the Board. For years, the cul-de-sac responsibility had been placed on the residents who lived on the circles to maintain them. The President of the Board questioned this and called the city of Ames to find out why the city was not maintaining them. The answer was that the cul-de-sacs were the responsibility of our HOA and not the city of Ames. That is when the 32-year-old signed document by the developer was given to the current Board. The Board was now aware of the maintenance obligation and as a team we needed to figure out how to manage and pay for these unexpected HOA expenses. We as a board have worked very hard since uncovering this information.

Moving ahead:

The volunteer board split up into small groups and evaluate each of the 22 cul-de-sacs in the Northridge Development. They used a grading sheet that was developed detailing overall conditions of each cul-de-sac. Grading went from “A” being the best condition to “F” failing. Many were graded “F’s” and “D’s”, so the Board put together a plan to begin addressing the worst condition ones and have continued to work on the list. We have completed refurbishing a total of three in 2023 for a total expenditure of over $18,000. In 2024, we plan on doing three additional ones with a plan on spending another $18,000. We have on our schedule to complete the third cul-de-sac at Valley View Circle, that was graded a “C”, for this fall.

The following four cul-de-sacs that were rated a “C” that will be scheduled to be addressed in 2025.

Cypress Circle
Redbud Circle
Park Vista Circle 
Northridge Circle 

The annual budgeting process will be prepared and submitted to the HOA board in December 2024. Final approval of our operating budget will be at the January 2025 board meeting. Assuming the budget is passed we will make plans to schedule these four cul-de-sacs to be staggered out monthly to help our cash flow. That will leave us the remainder 12 cul-de-sacs that were rated a “B” and “A” to complete over the next couple years. So, in just two years we will be almost half completed.

If resources were unlimited and we had an overabundance of cash in our HOA account, we wouldn’t have a problem spending money where needed, however, we need to maintain a cash budget to stay within our revenue income we have for expenses. We cannot overextend our revenue for this as we must keep a cash reserve for any kind of windstorms or ice winter cleanup of trees.

In closing, the Board has taken this very seriously and are working hard to stay ahead of the needs from the wants in the HOA. In the future, if you have questions about anything regarding the HOA, we encourage you to reach out with questions.

Pedestrian improvements at the intersection of GW Carver & Aspen Road

The city will be installing two new lighted crosswalks at both Northridge Parkway and Aspen Road. These will help provide a safe crossing of George Washington Carver over to Summerset and back. The first crosswalk to be installed will be at the intersection of Northridge Parkway (south entrance into Northridge) closest to the curve very soon. The second lighted crosswalk flashers are being ordered and pending delivery and weather will either be installed late this fall or in the spring.

The first phase of improvements will be modifying the center median on Aspen Road near the intersection w. GW Carver to provide a straight crossing for the path. This work will be performed by City of Ames crews and will involve pulling the nose of the median back to the west side of the crossing and installing new pavement where the median was. It is anticipated that this work will begin either the week of September 30, or the week of October 7. Distinctive Landscapes will relocate all these plantings and rock and will have them plant them in the new area at the end of the new island, so it looks the same just pulled back aways.  Everything that can be, will be reused in this space. The small trees will need to be removed and that is where the lilies will be planted. It will be decided later if new tress will be planted in this area.

Pet Owners Notice

For the safety of all of our residents, the HOA Board is requesting that all HOA residents follow the City of Ames Pet ordinance which applies in our HOA development. Your pet must be leashed at all times when not on your personal property. This includes letting your pet roam free while you are walking, running or biking.

Listed below is the link to the City of Ames animal shelter webpage covering the laws established by the City of Ames for the community at large.

https://www.cityofames.org/government/departments-divisions-a-h/ames-animal-shelter-animal-control/a-few-common-local-ames-animal-laws.

HOA E-mail Distribution List

The high cost of postal mail prohibits the HOA from using it as a communication method. The HOA is using e-mail to send out notices and information to the homeowners of our subdivision.
Please register your email address with this website to receive all communications from the Association.

Please send an email with your name, address, and email to – nrboard@northridge-ames.us

Nextdoor Neighborhood Social Network Site

If you want to post a social, lost and found, or something to sell message to the residents of the Northridge subdivision, we are suggesting the use of the Nextdoor social network. The Board is using this social network site to post announcements and notices also, but we will continue to use the Northridge website distribution list.