HACKBERRY CREEK NEWSFLASH

February 18th, 2023

Dear Residents,

Hopefully the coldest weather is behind us! But as we all know, spring storms are just around the corner. With warmer weather also comes time for yard maintenance. As part of your lawncare plan, be sure to check out your sprinkler system for leaks. The City will be sponsoring a brief irrigation class for Hackberry residents in March. See details below!

This week's NewsFlash also contains information on...

• Holi Color Run - March 4th
• Women's Club Event! Next Week
• New Radar Cameras and New Signage Coming Soon
• Taste of Hackberry - Save The Date!
• Did You Know? - 2022 Hackberry Creek Visitor Stats
• Irrigation Class for Hackberry Residents
• New Hackberry Creek App for Residents
• New Hackberry Creek Cookbook Project - 25 More Recipes Needed!

Have a great week and as always, if you have any questions, please call the Hackberry Creek office at 972-401-4946.

You can also reach us through the Hackberry Creek HOA app, or email us at Jason Snider - jsnider@ccmcnet.com or Randy Smith - rasmith@ccmcnet.com

Save the Date - Taste of Hackberry - April 29th, Saturday - 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Back by popular demand, the Taste of Hackberry will be returning this spring. Great food, music, entertainment and a whole lot of fun. Make sure to mark your calendars now for an event not to be missed!  More details will be following so keep checking the newsflashes for updates.

The Women's Club of Hackberry Creek invites you to a night of Soul Line Dancing. (Nope! Not Cowboy Line Dancing) Soul Line Dancing is choreographed dance moves you do in a group to Soul, R&B and Contemporary music. It's so fun and great exercise too. Dress comfortably in casual slacks and/or even your workout or yoga pants. And don't forgot your dancing shoes. 

401 Line Dancers of Coppell will be providing the lessons. Whether you're an experienced dancer or not, this event is for all levels. 401's style is patient and positive and their goal is to ensure you can do the moves and enjoy the process. Join the Women of Hackberry Creek for this special event. It will make you smile. Can something this fun really count as exercise? Looking forward to seeing you on the February 21st at the Club.

Join us March 4th for the first Hackberry Color Run!!

Date: March 4, 2023

Time:  Sign in starts at 10:30am, run takes off at 11:00

Location: Sign in will be in the school parking lot on Southern Oak. Holi Celebration will be in Southern Oak Park

Race route: Run will begin near the school parking lot on Southern Oak, proceed east on Southern Oak to Sumac, will turn north on Sumac to Yaupon, then east on Yaupon. At the end of Yaupon, participanta will u-turn and follow the same route back. The run will end at Southern Oak Park. If you live along the race route, please refrain from parking on the street during the 10:00am-1:00pm timeframe.

What is it?

A Color Run is a unique event which celebrates healthiness, happiness, individuality, and is considered the largest running series in the world. The Color Run has been experienced by over 8 million runners worldwide in 50+ countries and we are bringing a "mini" Color Run to Hackberry Creek. The idea is to wear white and cover yourself in colored powder along the route so that by the end of the run/walk you are a rainbow of beautiful color. This is not a timed event, so all fitness levels and ages are welcome. In case the powder doesn't come out of your clothes, please wear clothes you don't mind staining.

All participants, runners and volunteers must sign a waiver. A link to the waiver is provided below. Bring your signed waiver to the HOA office between March 1-3 and you will receive a wristband for all members of your household participating in the event. Every adult participating in the event must complete a waiver for themselves and this will also cover any minors in their household. You must wear your wristband to participate in the event.

Some safety issues and recommendations to consider:

1) Do not wear contact lenses as the powder can cause eye irritation

2) Sunglasses or protective eye wear is strongly recommended

3) Persons with allergies to cornstarch are recommended not to participate

4) Cornstarch powder can be a lung irritant to those with asthma and precautions should be taken

5) Powder should not be thrown at faces

6) Please, NO PETS ALLOWED at this event

7) A bandana or mask may be worn to assist with limiting powder from unintentionally entering the nose and mouth.

Not much of a runner or walker? No problem. We can use volunteers to help dust our runners and walkers with colored powder as they pass by. Please sign up to work a powder station to spread the color! A link to the Volunteer Sign-Up Genius is attached below.

Color Run Volunteers

When the race is over, join us at Southern Oak Park to celebrate Holi. We will have Indian-style dancing to help us shake off our colored powder and plenty of music to get us in the dancing mood!

The Association received all the equipment for the radar camera system earlier this week. Vendors are finishing up electrical work for power to camera locations. Once poles are set, a third party installation and calibration of radar cameras will take place. After testing and set-up, they will be activated - and initially only courtesy notices will be generated until the "amnesty" period for enforcement is over. Watch the community updates for more information as the project progresses.

We have another vendor beginning installation of new signage and poles (pictured above) on Southern Oak for new speed limit and pedestrian crossing signs. Part one is the installation of concrete footings/bases - then after concrete has curred they will return to erect the new poles and signs.

The new gate / office security camera system should see installation start next week. It will be a welcome upgrade to the existing system with more extensive and user-friendly features.

For all of 2022 (last year) we had a grand total of 119,422 visitors / guests / contractors enter the Village (as pulled from GateKey database).

• Of all of those visitors only 36,347 of them were pre-authorized by residents.

• We currently have 3,855 registered users of GateKey in Hackberry Creek.

• Last year, the gate attendants had to manually enter 83,075 of the visitor entries for residents.

• That means of all visitors, residents only pre-authored just under 31% of them.

By way of a current example, in January of this year (last month)

There were 8,332 visitor entries into the neighborhood that went to 1,101 different addresses in Hackberry Creek. So 1,101 residences had one or more visitors in January (88% of all the homes in Hackberry).

Some takeaways from these stats from January 2023:

• 88% of the homes in Hackberry had visitors over the course of the month.

• Of those homes that had visitors, only 9.3% of those residences pre-authorized all of their own visitors.

• 52.8% of homes which had visitors last month (3,588 total) pre-authorized 0% of their visitors and did not use GateKey at all.

• 37.9 % of homes which had visitors last month pre-authorized at least one visitor and also had gate attendants enter one or more visitors in GateKey. The breakdown for these homes was: 2,481 pre-authorized by resident - 1,969 entered by gate attendants.

• Of all 8,332 visitors to Hackberry last month, just 2,875 were pre-authorized in GateKey by residents. This equates to a 34.5% pre-authorization rate by residents. Gate attendants or office staff made the other 5,457 entries into GateKey for residents which averages out to 176 per day.

• 90.6% of homes that had visitors in January 2023 had the gate attendants or staff enter at least one visitor for them during the month.

• 43.7% of homes that had visitors in January 2023 had gate attendants or staff enter 4 or more visitors for them during the month.

• 13.3% of homes that had visitors in January 2023 had gate attendants or staff enter 10 or more visitors for them during the month.

Come join the City of Irving’s licensed irrigator for a crash course on irrigation system basics, controller programing, system trouble shooting, and minor repairs.

They will have soil moisture meters, knee pads, and hose valves available to residents who would like them!

You can let them know you will be attending (RSVP suggested but not required) by emailing Zach Tabor, Water Conservation Specialist at ztabor@cityofirving.org.

If you have any questions before the workshop, feel free to contact him!

The workshop will be held on March 25^th from 10am – 12pm, at the Valley Ranch Library - 401 Cimarron Trail, Irving, Texas.

We are happy to announce that Hackberry Creek now has its own resident's app for Apple and Android devices!

Click the icons below to download your app! 

We Want to Publish Your Favorite Recipes!

We need your help to create a community cookbook of favorite family recipes. To contribute is simple and can be done online in just a few minutes! Here's how you can contribute... Find the special recipe that your family loves to eat and you love to make. Click the button below to fill out a simple form to submit your recipe. It's that simple! 

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(If you'd like to help edit or assist with the project please contact the office!)

The Deadline has been extended in order to collect more recipes. Please help us to make this project a success and enter at least one recipe! 

Click The Button Below To Submit Your Recipes!