Please find attached to this letter a copy of the “2011 Renaissance Category B Project Implementation Guide Phase 1” document which outlines our goals and needs from now through May 14th, 2011 as we gear up for this year’s Renaissance project. Please review the document, share it with friends and family, and feel free to call me (845)693-4513 with any questions, suggestions that you might have. We are looking for volunteers and donors, and hope we can count on your support in making this year’s Sullivan Renaissance Project a grand success that Mountaindale and our neighbors are very proud of.
As we move forward, you can stay abreast of the project, and keep up on news and events for our community by visiting http://mountaindalenews.blogspot.com/ or our Mountaindale Renaissance Blog at http://2011mountaindalerenaissanceproject.blogspot.com/. The attached document has been posted on our Renaissance Blog to make it easier for all stakeholders to share/read the materials.
I look forward to meeting many of the people in town I have yet to meet, and looking very forward to working WITH ALL OF YOU in making our 2011 Mountaindale Renaissance Project a great success, and wonderful addition to our “Rails to Trails” corridor.
Sincerely,
Sherwood Martinelli
Committee Chair-2011 Renaissance Project
2011 Renaissance Category B Project Implementation Guide Phase 1
Mountaindale Community Development Project has received a grant from the Sullivan Renaissance for the purpose of implementing improvements and beautification in the area known as the “Rails to Trails” corridor here in our local community. To facilitate the completion of our goals, the Renaissance Committee’s core group has put together this implementation guide where in we describe the tools, citizen involvement and tasks needing to be accomplish for successful conclusion of our multi-phase project in a timely fashion.
Citizen Involvement-Volunteers
First, we are pleased we our off to such a great start with our volunteer efforts this year. We have already had the help of our local Girl Scouts in doing trail head cleaning in the area of our 2011 project. April 30th is a Community Involvement Day with commitments from both local citizens and business to help in doing maintenance/cleanup/staging work related to past Renaissance Projects, as well as helping in further pre-project tasks for this year’s project. A special thanks to all those involved.
We are looking for some individuals or local businesses willing to step forward to chair two sub-committees for this year’s project, so if you are interested in chairing either of these sub-committees, please contact Committee Chair Sherwood Martinelli at (845)693-4513 or Barb Schmitt at (845)434-4747 for additional details and information.
Volunteer Recruitment and Coordination-The duties of this committee will include local/extended committee outreach to individuals, businesses and civic groups seeking volunteers, and then scheduling those man/woman hour commitments into the project calendar so that we provide our volunteers with a worthwhile and memorable experience as participants in our projects. As committee chair, you will have the freedom to put together, build your own team, drawing on those already involved, and/or bringing in new members to join the team.
Fund Raising Coordination-The duties of this committee will include local/extended committee outreach to individuals, businesses and civic groups seeking donations of cash, goods and/or in kind services. Additionally, working with the full Committee, this sub-committees duties and responsibility will include the creation, planning and implementation of various fund raising events here in the Mountaindale Community. As committee chair, you will have the freedom to put together, build your own team, drawing on those already involved, and/or bringing in new members to join the team. Our goal this year is too A) involve our community (both local and extended) in finding/having donated most of the building materials for our sculptural installation, as well as raising enough money to not only cover the cost of installation, but to have money banked for long term maintenance/repair/improvement of this project over an extended period of time. (IE-additional plantings, bulbs, replacement plants, fresh mulch)
Volunteer/Fund Raising Goals
Volunteers-Our goal is to simple…through community reach out, and creative thinking A) involve as many people as we can in our Renaissance Project, and B) include as participants as many civic and business groups as we can. Volunteers and the retention of them once found is key to the success of any civic project. We want volunteering in Mountaindale to be a fun memorable experience, the kind of experience that sees groups and individuals calling us to find out when they can come HELP AGAIN.
Of special need this year…there is going to be a lot of hard physical work involved in this year’s project, as well as some tasks that require some skilled tradesmen.
Fund Raising Goals
Fund raising is divided into two specific areas of need. First is an actual cash donation from private/public/civic donations. Our goal benchmark for this year is $5,000. This would allow us to successfully complete this year’s project, and have money set aside for future enhancements…as example, though not included in our Project Plan; we would like this fall to do some spring bulb naturalization in the project area, thus adding another bloom season. IT is estimated that securing these spring time bulbs will carry a cost of $750.00 The second area of fund raising is the actual donation of goods or services…in this area, it is possible for the two committees to dovetail one another as businesses step forward to donate their skills to the process as an in-kind donation of services. Below is a list of some (but not all) of the goods we are looking for this year.
Seeking Donation of Goods
Ornamental Flowering Trees-Trees of any size get very expensive very fast, but they also not only make a beautiful statement in a landscape, but they also help to anchor it. Our plans call for seven of these trees.
Planting Materials…bulbs, scrubs, bushes, perennials, annuals of ALL KINDS, though we do have a particular list of MOST NEEDED PLANTS.
Top Soil-It is estimated that this year’s project needs 12 yards of HIGH QUALITY top soil (not fill). We have secured two prices on this…we can get delivered, a total of 16 yards (four more than we will probably need) for $575. If we have a way of picking up the top soil ourselves, the price is $28 per yard…a very significant savings. A local business could donate the costs of the top soil; offer an in kind donation of pickup and delivery of the material, or both.
Lumber-we are in need of some lumber for building the skeletal bones of this project. These materials can be (preferred actually) weathered. If you are in construction and have old lumber you would like to donate to our project, please contact Sherwood at (845)693-4513. Treated lumber would be idea, but not mandatory. We have need of 2x4’s, 2x6’s, 2x12’s, 6x6 landscaping timbers, as well as several sheets of plywood.
As a subset of this…do you have 16 common nails, some number 8’s, and some 3-5 inch screws that maybe got rusted, cannot be used on a commercial/residential project, but would be perfect for a project like this out in nature? We would love to have them. Also, looking for a spool or two of wire that could be used to bind/twine elements together.
Old piping that could be used to turn the sculpture into a rain water collection and watering system for the garden.
30 and 55 gallon drums.
Birch branches, poles…these will be used as sculptural highlights.
Field Stone…self explanatory.
Large…I MEAN LARGE landscaping stones. WE are looking for some statement pieces.
Project Priorities-Staging This Year’s Project-This year’s project includes three main elements. Clean, rejuvenation and enhancement of the “Rails to Trails”, creation of a small landscaping element to showcase a historical relic from the old O&W Railway, as well as a major landscaping element (including the building of a significant sculptural element) in a historical location, and including therein a second historical element.
Pre-Project Clean Up and Staging
1. Using florescent construction tape (pink and orange) mark off the area of the project. Orange tape to define the area, pink tape marking trees/debris to be removed from the area.
2. Working with the town of Fallsburg, clean up the woods and trail area for the project. This will include thinning of woods to promote better tree growth, clean up of woodland and train floor. Some grading work also needs to be accomplished, either with the town of Fallsburg, or using our own equipment and labor here in the hamlet.
3. Find/Define materials staging area. Begin task of gathering, finding and/or purchasing necessary materials to build the train. Start pricing out plant materials needed for the project.
4. Using spray paint, layout the project footprints so that these areas can be further shaped, defined and sculpted.
5. Move/Transplant the large spruce to its new location.
*On-site meeting is scheduled for week of 2nd with Henry from the town of Fallsburg to find out what they will be able to assist us with.
**Additional leg work needs to be done to track down and get some kind of commitments on access to water…Ken is handling this.
*** Verify with Raymon his commitment to be available for welding work…furthermore, discuss with him best practices for turning the four barrels into a water collection/storage and disbursing system so that our sculptural element is also a rain garden.
Target Goal for completion of Phase one goals as outlined above is May 14th, 2011.
Please feel free to add your comments or suggestions to this plan by emailing Sherwood at marcwoodsocialimaging@gmail.com or calling me directly at (845) 693-4513
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