President’s Letter

By Jeff Janssen | Email
309-846-0250

The Good, The Bad, & The Stinky…

Generally I do not feel the need to title my President’s Letter, but it felt appropriate to make an exception for this letter.  Our Fox Point summer is off to a great start with one notable exception.  Yes, if you read Next Door or happen to live downwind from the Fox Point Southside retention pond you know to what I am referring.   We had an unfortunate microscopic algae bloom on the retention pond that later started producing a penetrating odor.  

Although this kind of algae bloom is common this time of year, the hot weather and the abundant nutrients in the pond allowed for the algae bloom to in essence take over our retention pond.  Our lake management  company Environmental Aquatic Management (EAM) has risen to the call and have been out on a daily basis to treat our lakes.  

EAM has to perform a delicate balancing act of actively treating the algae bloom while maintaining the oxygen and the health of our pond.  As you are aware, the retention pond is upstream from Lake Louise and thus a crucial part of the health of our waterways. 

We may have lost some of the initial battles, but we are confident that we will overcome the algae bloom attack.  The Fox Point Board has approved additional measures to improve the water quality including a phoslock treatment and a surface aerator for the retention pond.  The treatments and the rain appear have been successful in alleviating the odor.  As soon as the algae bloom is fully under control, we will complete sediment mapping and testing.

Fox Point will continue to partner with the Village of Barrington; Lake & Cook County; and other local organizations to address any water concerns.  As a part of this cooperation, the Fox Point Board also approved to join the Flint Creek Watershed Association.  

Fox Point can look forward to many great events this summer including the Fox Point Pool Party; Breakfast at Wimbledon; and Venetian Night.  These are just a few of the July events.  Please check the Fox Point calendar for more details.  I look forward to seeing you around the neighborhood; at the pool; or at our next Fox Point Board Meeting on July 17th at the Village Church.

Since I took a deep dive into our waterways in this President’s letter, I will trust that you will take a look at the Board reports for the rest of the story on all of the hard work that is being completed in other areas.  A big THANK YOU to all of our volunteers that contribute to Fox Point being an outstanding place to grow families; to build relationships; and to simply enjoy the blessings of life.

Lake

By Geoff Ommen | Email

Jeff did a pretty good job of giving you a synopsis of what happened in the retention pond these past few weeks.  I will “dive in” a little deeper for those that want to get more information.  Let me start by saying that we fight algae every year.  It is not something that we can eradicate anytime soon.

Algae blooms are common this time of year in lots of waterways around us.  Algae requires a few things to grow good:  stagnant water, sun, warmth and phosphorus.  Unluckily for us, these were all abundantly available in the early part of June.  Without a lot of rain and overall mild winds, lots of the Flint Creek waterway was trapped in various ponds and lakes.  Lake Louise, due to its size, tends to have its own circulation even when there is no outflow downstream.  The retention pond is trapped in a bowl and does not.

Our original countermeasure to fight algae blooms in the retention pond was 2 fold.  Bubblers to move the water and chemical treatments to kill the algae as it grows.  Unfortunately our bubblers failed and the growth rate of the algae was faster than we could treat it.  Those 2 issues caused the entire water column to be full of algae.  For those that visited the pond right after the “water cannon” was put in could see that all the water being circulated was green.  Those looking at Flint Creek along Valley could also see the outflow as bright green.  

Once we got to the bad smell state, we had a few levers to pull.  We added a “water cannon” to help with circulation.  This moves more water than the bubblers and helped breaking up the sludge on top.   We also chose to treat the pond daily with chemicals.  Just like medicine, there are directions for use.  Too many chemicals and we would kill all the fish in the pond (which would also smell bad).  We did lose some fish due to the algae kill off, but we treated it as aggressively as possible.

Once this bloom is fully under control, we will be working on a few fronts to help mitigate future outbreaks.  They are:

Aeration – We are adding a large fountain that will help with topical circulation.  The spray pattern will be 8’x26’ and will provide good water movement.  This fountain, along with the bubblers, will be installed and removed annually.

Nutrient reduction – We are going to try a new chemical, called Phosloc, to reduce the available phosphorus in the pond.  Given the nature of the pond and the pond bed, there is lots of phosphorus available there today.  This chemical binds to the phosphorus and makes in unavailable for use.  We will test our phosphorus levels before and after treatment to see how much we impact the food source.  If successful, we may look at this treatment as a potential option for Lake Louise.  The big question for us (which nobody can answer) is how long the treatment will last.  This will require ongoing monitoring in future years.

Sediment management – For a very nominal cost we are going to map the sediment in the retention pond.  This is needed for long term management.  The pond is desired to catch material before going into Flint Creek and beyond.  Once we understand what is trapped in there, we will be able to determine what additional actions are necessary.

The pond, Flint Creek, and Lake Louise are all assets that require ongoing management.  The challenge is that even though they are man made, they are living things.  There are no real “manuals” to refer to.  There are best practices, but with each body of water, they react differently.  There is a component of trial and error involved. 

Myself, along with several people in the lake committee, are actively working on longer term planning solutions.  Over the next few months you will start to see more information in regards to short term and long term initiatives to help protect the watershed assets.  If you would like to be involved in helping us (a few people raised their hands this month for some reason) feel free to reach out.

Pool

By Horace Seely-Brown | Email

Summer is in full swing and the pool has been hopping! We are tracking attendance and preliminary numbers suggest the pool has been very active thus far. Please remember to check the Fox Point website or NextDoor calendar to keep tabs on pool hours. In an effort to maximize usage we do have increased hours this year so please make sure to get out and use one of the greatest assets in the neighborhood.

Guests attending the pool always seem to be a topic of much discussion. Please find the official guest policy on the Fox Point Website or in the directory, however in short, the standard fee is $5 for any guest swimmer over the age of 4 years old. (with a handful of exceptions). We are matching guests logged in at the front desk to the fees we actually collect. Please be respectful of your neighbors and should you or your children have guests at the facility, please make sure they “pay their fair share!” 

As I mentioned above, we are tracking attendance at the pool in an effort to maximize hours and staffing needs. We are tallying which families are using the pool and which hours of the day are being utilized. The first month has seen roughly 200 residents use the pool per day. (and why wouldn’t they!)

One of the biggest complaints we have heard thus far is the large garbage cans on the pool property that sit full all week long until garbage day. To alleviate the odor, we have purchased smaller cans with garbage bags that will be emptied throughout the day. Additionally, the condition of the locker rooms seems to follow right in line on the complaint side and we are working with a cleaning service in a trial run along with the life guards to see if we can improve upon the condition. Hopefully you will notice a change in the near future. 

If you have any additional questions/comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Common Grounds

By Mike Moran | Email | 847-344-9365 

As you may have noticed, we have purchased two green picnic tables for the tennis court, pool, & playground area.  We discarded the two old units that were located at the boat docks and will be transfer two of the older units from the pool area back to the boat docks.  Please remember that we have these tables are both locations (pool & Boat docks) and enjoy them. 

We also recently finished the paint project for the playground equipment and the new paint makes the unit look incredible!!   We also replaced much of the mulch in that area with special mulch designed for playground areas so let the kids go nuts!!   The new coating on the equipment will insure that our playground asset continues to last well into the future. 

The northeast wall at the entrance to Fox Point at Valley was damaged a number of weeks ago as a tree fell backwards on to the wall damaging the fence and the brick wall.  The repair company will be out in the next couple of weeks to repair the wall and install the fence back onto the top of the wall.  This summer/fall, we will also be taking a closer look at the entire brick wall at both the North and South entrances as they appear to have some challenges.  As with any asset, we want to make sure that we are doing the necessary updates to insure that the asset continues to maintain strength and last into the future.  Our hope is to have some type of game plan for the next year or two as it relates to the updating and maintenance of that wall and fence. 

The landscapers continue to do a good job with their weekly program and the mosquito contractor continues to fight the battle each week as they spray each Thursday at the pool/tennis court complex.   We also continue to watch the gas lamps throughout the neighborhood to insure that the flames continue to burn brightly.  These lamps are actually owned and managed by the Village so we simply let them know when we see something that is not working.  They also do a pretty good job of driving past them each week or two to see if anything needs repair.

Please let me know if you see anything that needs to be addressed.

Tennis

By Christine Mickey | Email

The Fox Point Tennis Courts are open for the summer!  We look forward to seeing many of you on the courts!  

The Fox Point Tennis and Tini’s Party was a huge success!  Over 30 Fox Pointers came out to the tennis courts on Saturday, June 24th to play in a tennis round robin or watch the tennis festivities and socialize with their Fox Point neighbors.  Congratulations to the winners of each flight: Amanda and Erik Vandenbergh, Kristin and Jake Cox and James Colon and Eileen Gaete.  Each winning team won a new tennis visor designed by Fox Pointer Stacy Boyum.  A special thanks to the Tennis and Tini’s planning committee, Nicole Jankowski, Melissa Mickey, Tiffany Seely-Brown and Christine Mickey for hosting a wonderful evening of tennis and merriment!

First Serve Management Company is once again running the tennis program at Fox Point this summer.  The Tennis Committee and First Serve have scheduled several new and returning tennis events for Summer 2017. This summer there are 2 tennis sessions of Junior and Adult Classes, Ladies League and Cardio tennis.  Session 1 runs from June 5 – July 6 and Session 2 runs from July 10 – August 3.  

First Serve is looking for anyone that wants to create their own tennis class on Wednesdays from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM or Wednesdays from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM. 

If you are interested in signing up for classes or creating your own class, please contact Dana at 847-404-3174 or email dsj2@comcast.net

See Tennis Class Schedules and Sign Up Form HERE    

Upcoming Fox Point Tennis Events:

Breakfast at Wimbledon – Sunday, July 16, 2017  – 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Fox Point Tennis Courts, $10 per person.

Wear your Wimbledon white and come out to enjoy breakfast and play in a round-robin tennis tournament.

RSVP via sign up genius link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c48a8a92fa4fa7-breakfast

Fox Point vs. Biltmore Tennis Tournament – Sunday, August 27, 2017 at the Biltmore Country Club Tennis Courts

Let’s keep the trophy in Fox Point!  Look for the sign up information in the August Fox Point Newsletter.

Please remember and remind your children that the tennis courts are only for tennis related activities.  There is NO BIKING, ROLLERBLADING, SKATEBOARDING, etc. allowed on the tennis courts.   

If you would like to volunteer to be on the Fox Point Tennis Committee, please contact Christine Mickey.

Social

By Stephanie Paine | Email

The Summer Social Season is in full swing in Fox Point! Thanks to everyone who came out for the last few events. Below is a recap of past and upcoming events.
 

PAST EVENTS:

June 3 – Fishing Derby

37 kids participated in our annual Fishing Derby! The Appleby family cleaned house yet again and almost swept all the prizes! Thanks to veteran Brian Meier for running the show with the help of Brian Paine. Winners were as follows:

• Most Fish (age 8 and under): William Appleby
• Biggest Fish (age 8 and under): Grace Appleby
• Most Fish (age 9 and up): Brady Meier
• Biggest Fish (age 9 and up): Ben Appleby

June 9 – Martin’s Taco Stand

Over 225 of your neighbors and friends joined us to kick off Food Truck Fridays with Martin’s Taco Truck. The food was delicious, which almost made the lengthy line worth the wait. Martin is returning on July 14 and he hopes to shorten the wait times. See info about the July 14 event below.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

July 22 – Fox-aritaville (Adult Pool Party)

Join your friends and neighbors for Fox-aritaville – let’s flamingle and party like a pineapple because it’s 5 o’clock somewhere! The party kicks off at 7:00 pm at the Fox Point Pool. The cost is $40 per person and includes dinner and drinks. Please RSVP ASAP to help event coordinators secure vendors. RSVP here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c48a8a92fa4fa7-foxaritaville

July 14 – Martin’s Taco Truck (4:30 – 8:30 PM)

Martin will be back again on the lawn near the pool from 4:30 – 8:30PM! This time he will be accepting payment himself, so no need to RSVP in advance. Just show up if you want some tacos! Prices for all you can eat tacos are $10 for adults/teens and $5 for kids under 10 (no quesadillas this time to help the line move quicker).

July 28 – Food Truck Friday…Hubby’s Hot Dog Cart

Hubby’s Hot Dog Cart will serve up Chicago Style hot dogs, chicken sausages and nachos from 5 – 7 PM. Cost is $9 per person. RSVP here. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c48a8a92fa4fa7-food1  

August 11 – Food Truck Friday…The Slide Ride

The Slide Ride food truck will be onsite with a variety of sliders – including good ol’ cheeseburgers, jalapeno jack, greek chicken, BBQ pork and Mediterranean sliders. Cost is $18 for adults and $9 for kids.   Price includes sliders, chips and soft drinks. RSVP here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c48a8a92fa4fa7-food2

August 19 – Annual Campout (4:00 PM)

Grab your camping gear and join your neighbors for a campout on Lake Louise! We will hang near the Boat Docks while tents will be set up in Lot C. The cost is $50 per family of 4 ($10 a head over that) and this includes dinner, s’mores, coffee, donuts and water. Please bring an appetizer or dessert to share. Questions? Contact Mike Fleming at mjfleming@gmail.com, Greg Paris or Mike Dimucci. RSVP here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c48a8a92fa4fa7-foxpoint1

Safety and Welfare

By Bob Ben

Now that summer is officially here, there are many drivers, walkers and runners around Fox Point. Please remember to drive slower!  As a reminder the speed limit in Fox Point is 25mph.

A couple of other reminders. When turning into North Valley entrance and attempting to make left turns into the North and South sides, the cars should pass one another and make turns behind each other. 

Also, those making a right turn out of the neighborhood have the right of way to those turning left going in the same direction. 

Lastly, please remember that not everyone is properly stopping for pedestrians in the cross walk by the Cold Spring road entrance. Please be careful!

Have a safe summer!