News and Changes

January 17 - Good News. The search for a new web master is over. Al Hussar has volunteered to take over the maintenance of this site from John Cessna. John designed, built, and maintained this site for almost three years. Our thanks to John and our best wishes for Al in his new effort.

September 2 - Don't forget. Trash pickup will be on Friday this week due to Labor Day.

June 2 - It's a little late to post this, but trash day will be on Friday this week due to Memorial Day. The same information about the garage sale still applies: make sure to clearly separate garage sale items from your trash pickup (we wouldn't want buyers to take your trash now, would we?). Also, make sure the trash trucks can get by your sale.

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May 6 - the "fall picnic" will be held in June in 2011. Please see flyer below:

April 29, 2011 - the annual garage sale will be held June 1 - June 4 this year. The picnic will be a spring event this year (2011), and will be on June 12. See specifics by clicking on the garage sale and the fall event (ha!) buttons.

March 31, 2011 - The Annual Meeting of Brookridge Estates was held on the evening of March 29th. The speakers included: Kansas Senator Tim Owens, Overland Park Mayor Gerlach,Councilmember Donna Owens, Councilmember David White, and Shawnee Mission School Board President Deb Zila.

The residents approved increasing the max. number of board members to 11 and to allow only members of the board to serve as officers of the board. The Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws will be changed to reflect the new approvals.

Officer Scott Shannon was our guest speaker, and he spoke about "Security in the Brookridge Estates Area".

A board meeting was held immediately after the annual meeting, and the new officers selected are: David Willig - President, Al Hussar - Vice President, Sue Cowan - Treasurer, Sarah Prez - Secretary.

At present there are 10 members on the board (See the Board of Directors page). There is room for one member more, if you are interested.

March 3, 2011 - Below is a copy of the letter sent to our residents within 200 foot of the proposed Brookridge School expansion.

There is an important meeting for residents to attend at Brookridge School this Monday at 7 PM to further explain the expansion.

February 2, 2011 - Here is a forward from Donna Owens concerning snow removal:

Residential streets 20 percent done, all should be done by 7:30 tonight

Overland Park, KS - The snow plow day shift is resuming activity in the residential areas this morning, where overnight crews were able to get about 20 percent of side streets plowed.
All trucks are moving into residential this morning and expect to have neighborhood streets, including cul-de-sacs, done by 7:30 tonight. The night crew, which returns at 7:30 tonight, will finish up thoroughfares and collectors overnight.
Operations in neighborhoods will be slow due to the amount of snow, cars parked on side of streets because they are stuck.
Monitor plowing operations by viewing the city's online Winter Storm Operations Map, or view the more than 100 traffic cameras to see live shots.

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Contact: Sean Reilly, 913-484-4245

February 2, 2011 - Due to the "Blizzard of 2011", which took place yesterday, Superior is telling us that trash will be picked up on Friday this week instead of the usual Thursday. Please inform other residents who do not have access to this website.

January 18, 2011 - If you have not paid your home association dues, they are deliquent.

Your board voted to hold the Brookridge Estates Homes Association annual meeting on March 29 at the Matt Ross Community Center starting at 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM. Please mark your calendar for this very important meeting. Food, soft drinks, and quiet music will be provided. Your board will be asking the residents to raise the maximum board limit to 11 from the current 7. You may not attend the annual meeting if you are not current on your dues. You may pay your dues at the door.

October 13, 2010 - Superior has said that they are allowing an additional 4 bags/bundles per week during fall season to allow them to take extra as leaves are falling.

Residents can spread leaf bags out over a few weeks to avoid additional cost. Contact their office to schedule a special pickup if you have more than the weekly limit.

There is an attachment to the Black and Decker leaf vac which allows leaves to be mulched as they are sent into a large trash bag. An entire front yard of leaves may fit into 2 - 4 bags. The Toro version is reportedly not as effective. The Black and Decker attachment can be purchased from the DeWalt store just north of 95th and Quivira. It is best to call them first as they seem to only keep a few in stock.

There usually is a major, not-to-be-missed display of carved pumpkins just up 95th Street. Go west to Knox, turn left (south) to Carter, turn left on Carter. You will see the cars parked several houses up the street. Go in the evening as the pumpkins are lighted then. The family has been displaying their carved pumpkins for over 25 years.

October 8,2010 - Here is some news from the city about when the bridge at 99th and Metcalf will reopen:

"We are looking at extending the road closure until Thursday October 21, 2010. This is mostly due to the following reasons.

Although the last two weeks have been excellent weather for this type of work, we did have some rain events during the month of September that prevented work from taking place.

There was a slight delay in getting the steel to the site from WCI's supplier.

Lastly, there was some unplanned utility conflicts encountered last week.

With all that said, we are moving forward. The extension of the top deck is planned to be poured sometime next week which will allow the roadway to be safely re-opened by October 21st. "

September 8, 2010 - you would be best served to stay completely away from the east end of 99th Street and to stay away from Metcalf from 91st to 103rd street. They are resurfacing Metcalf and have 95th and Metcalf closed. They also have 99th street closed due to tearing out the old bridge over the storm drain and building a new one. If you have to travel east, your best bet is to go either on 103rd or on 91st.

July 28, 2010 - You might be able to save some money by going to valuepak.com and checking out the coupons for 66212:

www.valuepak.com

May 21, 2010 - The Garden Club will be planting flowers at the entrance this Sunday at 2 pm. If you are interested, please join us there.

March 20, 2010 - The Brookridge Estates Annual Meeting will be held at the Matt Ross Community Center (Vista/Crown Rooms) this Tuesday evening, March 23, starting at 6:30 p.m.

Here is the agenda:

6:00 Start of room rental period (John)
HyVee food delivery (Anne & Sue)
Board members set out food & soft drinks

6:30 Food, Social, and Band

7:00 Start of Business:
John introduces David who in turn recognizes & thanks the Band.

7:05 Approval of the Minutes of the last annual meeting. Approval of the Treasurer’s Report.

7:10 Introduction of guests

Kansas Senator Tim Owens (if in attendance) – 10 minutes
Kansas Representative Dolores Furtado – 10 minutes (unable to attend)
Overland Park Councilman Donna Owens – 10 minutes
Overland Park Councilman Dave White – 10 minutes
SM South School Board, VP Deb Zila – 10 minutes

8:00 Trash Service Presentations

Jim Twigg, O.P. Environmental Programs Coordinator – 15 minutes
Q & A – 5 minutes

Glen Smith, Superior Disposal Service President– 15 minutes
Q & A – 5 minutes

8:40 General questions from residents to the BEHA board on any topic.

8:50 Election of board members

8:55 Reminder of coming events

9:00 Drawings for table decorations

9:10 Adjournment

9:15 Board Meeting

10:00 End of room rental period

January 15, 2010 - No, you haven't lost your dues bill somewhere. Dues notices have not been sent out yet. Your board is still trying to determine the best deal for your trash service. The contract with Deffenbaugh runs out March 8th, and a new contract will be signed soon.

There appears to be a major change in the way trash will be handled in 2011. It looks like Johnson County will be announcing some new directives related to trash. These will likely be in effect January 1, 2011. Recycling will likely be mandatory, and yard waste will no longer be part of anyone's trash service and will have to be placed in paper bags. There may also be a per bag charge placed on ordinary trash. The intent is to be more "green" with our environment through recycling and composting. More details will be presented to our residents at our annual meeting on March 23 at the Matt Ross Community Center, 6 - 10 pm.

December 10, 2009 - Your board is evaluating trash contractors at this time. Our contract with Deffenbaugh Industries runs out at the beginning of March. If you have any comments you wish to add to this evaluation, please contact John Cessna, 383-1166, prior to December 18.

The Overland Park certified contractors under board consideration are:

Deffenbaugh Industries, L&K Services, Superior Disposal Service and Town and Country Disposal.

Our current contractor, Deffenbaugh Industries, had a clause in our contract stating that they would automatically rollover our contract unless we notified them within a certain time frame.

Your board notified Deffenbaugh Industries by notorized/certified letter that we did not wish to engage in any such automatic rollover.

Deffenbaugh Industries is making their 65 gallon bins a must with their lowest quote. Your board has concerns that such bins would be left along side houses rather than being placed out of sight in the garage. This has already been observed to be the case in other communities.

November 1, 2009 - There is some news on the Community page: click here to see it.

October 20, 2009 - When the BEHA board contacted Brookridge Country Club to set up the Annual Meeting for March 23, 2010, they were told that the country club would be closing in November.

As a result, several board members went to Matt Ross Community Center to explore having the meeting there. They ended up reserving two rooms: the Crown Room and the Vista Room from 6 - 10 pm. These two rooms will make one large room when the partition is open, and will accomodate the 100 - 120 people who normally attend, seated at 15 - 20 tables.

The board is also looking into having HyVee cater the meeting in a buffet fashion.

As more information is available, it will be posted here.

October 12, 2009 - (Columbus Day) - today is a normal trash day.

August 24, 2009 -

Yesterday afternoon the Brookridge Estates Garden Club met for the first time at the home of John and Joyce Cessna's. Not all the residents of Brookridge Estates were notified of the meeting because of the overwhelming response of the few who had been told. All the residents will be told in the next newsletter and on this website. To learn more about the Garden Club and the first meeting, please click on the button labeled "Garden Club" on the left side.

August 12, 2009 -

Last night four members of the Brookridge Estates Homes Association board attended a gathering called by the City of Overland Park to review the recent accidents along 99th Terrace and 99th Street.

As you probably know, a 70 year old lady was hit and killed in her yard, in the 9800 block of 99th Terrace. Also, in another accident, a mother and child ran into the back of a mower trailer in the front of David Willig's house at 7702 W. 99th Street.

The attendees at the meeting were highly upset that the meeting was only to have citizens go from table to table and become "informed" about what could be done. Most attendees immediately realized that having them attend such a session was a waste of their time.

Most of the television networks had cameras rolling, so instead of being "informed" the attendees found their forum in front of the all-to-anxious cameras.

Generally, the consensus was that something has to be done quickly to reduce the speed along 99th Terrace and 99th Street.

Dave White had mentioned to the attendees that one idea being considered by the City was to widen the street (the attendees were not sure how that would reduce the speed).

Some attendees suggested that being consistent in the speed signs might help. Others felt that drivers are speeding far beyond the speed limit posted and that signs alone will not fix the problem. Drivers are not obeying the law!

Options which seem to prevail included installing speed bumps and rotataries. This might also include putting traffic lights along the street, especially at 99th and Lowell, where school children cross.

One reason sighted by attendees for the high speed traffic along the street is that drivers are using 99th to bypass the stop lights along 95th street. Taking 99th can also bypass having to stop at 95th and Metcalf.

Giving the City credit, they were probably trying to listen to attendees to get feedback as to what to do. They got their feedback okay, but through television.

The question your BEHA board has: is it going to take someone else being killed before the City takes action?

August 1, 2009 -

Please click on the Garden Club button to see the activity proceeding there.

July 27, 2009 -

"I just wanted to let my friends and neighbors know that I had a trash can stolen over night. Just in the same way that David Willig’s wife witnessed one on 99th St. It is a good thing that I shred all documents.

The only good thing was that they made off with about 5 lbs of frozen watermelon rinds. Boy, will they be surprised.

If anyone knows of any stores with trash cans on sale, that would be appreciated.

Have a great day!"

Bill Williams

July 11, 2009 - The president is forming a committee to study the trash pickup situation for the coming year. The City of Overland Park has opened up our choice to five trash vendors rather than just one. If you would like to serve on this committee, please contact John Cessna, 383-1166.

July 10, 2009- The board has selected the "Yard of the Month" winners for July. Click on the following to see who won:"

July "Yard of the Month" Winners

July 2, 2009 - Home Depot has reduced the price of a double bag of Kingford charcoal for the 4th of July. Usually the double bag costs $15.97, but for the next several days they are charging $9.97. They did this for Memorial Day too. If you need charcoal, this might be the time and place to pick some up cheaply. They will probably repeat this "loss leader" for Labor Day, but that is just a guess.

June 18, 2009 - The Yard of the Month for June has been awarded to Jim and Barb Novak, 7210 W. 100th Place. Please click the "YD OF THE MONTH" button for more details.

June 18, 2009 - John and Joyce Cessna had a Street Captains party last night to honor the work of our Street Captains. It was well attended and appreciated. The BEHA board was also in attendance, as was Tim Owens, our State Senator, and Donna Owens, our City Councilwoman. The couple with the longest residence in Brookridge Estates was 41 years living in our community.

LaRetta Scown also asked for help with the Fall Event (it is being decided whether to continue the picnic or to change to a street party). If you wish to volunteer to smoke brisket, please call LaRetta at 642-2302.

May 30, 2009 - Our treasurer has asked to be replaced due to a heavy business workload. Sue Cowan has volunteered to be the new treasurer.

May 29, 2009 - The BEHA board has approved having Sally Baker, CPA, audit the BEHA treasury books. This has nothing to do with confidence in our treasurer, but simply constitutes a "good practice" whenever there has been a major change. We have had such a change recently with the change of presidents from Jim Waldock to John Cessna.

May 25, 2009 - Stonegate Pool opened yesterday to a huge attendance! Wow! Overland Park has done a really fantastic job! If you haven't dropped by to see it, you are missing a real treat! Dedication is next Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

May 18, 2009 - Photos of the new Stonegate Pool have been posted on the "Community" page.

April 27, 2009 - The United States has declared a public health emergency regarding the swine flu. Please click on the "emergencies" page to get more information about this potentially deadly pandemic.

LaRetta Scown's son, Jon, was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday, March 27th. Please click on the following to see a tribute to him:

http://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/85555750