Your Home Town Bulletin • June 2024
Does your lawn need some love?
ROA staff have been getting complaints from your neighbors about lawns that are mostly weeds and/or more than 6 inches high. Maybe some of the shrubs in your yard died in the last hard freeze. Shrubs that cover windows or obscure the front of the house must be trimmed to stay in compliance. Time to get your yard in shape before summer.
If you receive a violation notice from the ROA, you’ll have some time to get things turned around. Do you own property that is rented? Make sure your tenant has lawn equipment or a landscaping service. Property owners are ultimately responsible. Many of our residents move to Washington from other states and don’t realize that lawns and gardens need extra water in summer. Yes, it rains here, but not so much in the summer months. Lawns may be allowed to “go golden” in summer to conserve water but still need occasional watering to keep grass from dying.
Don’t forget plantings in alleyways and the trees and grass in the strip between the sidewalk and the street. Although the asphalt alleys are maintained by the ROA, the shrubs and trees that are planted along the edge of the alleys are located on owners’ properties. Keep them trimmed away from the pavement and remember to pull weeds.
Fence repairs – Center Drive in Edmond Village
Affected homeowners will receive information via email and U.S. mail about fence cleaning and repairs for the fence on Center Drive, adjacent to Edmond Village properties. Cleaning will begin the third week of June and our contractor will need access to backyards. Email if you live in the area and did not receive a notice.
Alley sealcoating – Yehle Village
Part of the Yehle Village neighborhood is scheduled to have alleys seal coated, July 16-19. A mailing with a map will be sent to affected properties. If you live in Yehle Village and didn’t receive the mailing, or misplaced it, you can read it on the ROA website. Please be sure to trim plants so they are at least a foot away from asphalt in the alley before June 12. Premier Landcare will be cleaning up alley plantings after that. Alley entrances will have signs posted 24 hours before sealcoating begins. Please don’t use the alleys while sealcoating is underway or for 24 hours after it is completed.
Greenspaces: pack it in, pack it out
If you use one of our greenspaces/pocket parks, please be sure you take all of your belongings, and trash, with you. We have found toys, clothing, and chairs left in greenspaces. There has been an ongoing problem with someone digging holes and even burying trash in greenspaces. The one pictured here was spotted recently on Burnside. If you bring it to the greenspace, take it with you when you leave. Most ROA-owned greenspaces have red metal benches like the one shown in this photo. City parks have blue benches.
Community Yard Sales 2024
Saturday, June 22, and Saturday, September 14, are the two dates yard sales may be held in Northwest Landing for 2024. Please note that yard sales are not sponsored by either the Northwest Landing ROA or the City of DuPont. Governing documents for Northwest Landing state that yard sales may be held two times a year and are announced by the ROA. We’re trying something new this year by offering to post addresses for people who are planning to hold a yard sale. Just addresses will be posted; no items for sale or contact information. To sign up, go to the Announcements page.
Board of Directors – 5:30 p.m. • Wednesday • July 24 – Association Office and via Zoom– reservations required by July 17. Call 253-964-1289.
Property Improvement Committee – meetings are generally held at 5:30 p.m. – 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month This committee must review all exterior modifications, including painting, roofing, adding central air conditioning, heat pump or solar panels, fences, sheds, patios, patio covers, decks, landscape renovations, adding or removing trees. Some projects may also require a city permit. PIC forms can be found in the member login area of the website. Go to Member Logins. After you login, click on Documents, then open the folder Property Improvement Committee Forms. Call 253-964-1289 if you need help finding PIC forms.
DuPont business in focus: New Chamber of Commerce
Many Northwest Landing members have expressed a need to support our DuPont businesses. This new feature will focus on a different DuPont business each month. This month we’re focusing on a new business endeavor: DuPont Chamber of Commerce.
Dayna Mueller moved to DuPont with her family in 2016. A professional hair stylist for nearly 30 years, Dayna was traveling to a Gig Harbor salon every day. Last year, she decided to open Studio D in DuPont. Getting started here, she described feeling very lonely in her business and wondered if other business owners felt the same way. She connected with some DuPont business owners and saw an opportunity to start a chamber of commerce in DuPont.
“When the DuPont ACE Hardware closed, many local business owners started freaking out,” Dayna related. “We have a unique community here in DuPont but many businesses need support from the community and from each other.”
Along with fellow DuPont business owners, Virginia Mince and Ben Strader, Dayna began exploring how a chamber of commerce could become a reality in DuPont. Why a chamber of commerce? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which formed more than a century ago, see the primary role of a chamber is to help businesses create jobs and grow the economy. But probably the greatest role a chamber has is to facilitate citizens, business leaders, and government officials working together for the greater good of the community.
Virginia Mince (pictured at left) and Dayna Mueller, board members for the new DuPont Chamber of Commerce >
A small board of directors has formed, bylaws written, and is formally a 501(c) (6) organization. Memberships will be offered beginning on June 1. The group is planning quarterly gatherings with guest speakers beginning in the fall. If you are interested in joining the new DuPont Chamber of Commerce or would like to be added to the new mailing list, write to
The Association does not receive compensation for this message; it is not paid advertising. Any business in Northwest Landing may ask to be featured in DuPont Business in Focus. Send your request to .
Dear ROA,
It was really upsetting to see several beautiful flowering cherry tree cut down in a pocket park on Bobs Hollow Lane. Why is the ROA cutting trees down? Are other trees being cut down elsewhere? Also, when is the ROA going to take care of the trees on my street?
– Missing the trees in my neighborhood
Dear Missing Trees,
A lot of us love cherry blossoms and, in hindsight, we should have alerted more neighbors around that green space. We emailed homeowners that have property adjacent to the green space but we realized that we didn’t alert folks who live in the condos on the other side of the green space. The problem with cherry trees is they have very invasive root systems. At the Bobs Hollow green space, the roots from these trees had already damaged homeowners’ property. Although we are not aware of any specific project that the city might be planning, but we are aware that the City of DuPont has also been faced with damage to sidewalks where cherry and other types of trees that have caused damage were planted as street trees by developers of Northwest Landing. Many of the green spaces in Northwest Landing have landscapes that were planted 25-30 years ago. And many of the plants were installed because they grow quickly and fill in the areas nicely. However, once they all mature, they can grow too large for the space they are in and can cause damage.
ROA staff received many calls from homeowners asking whether tree removal is planned for the green space near them. We currently do not have any other plans for tree removal. However, when we do, unless a project is urgent and must be completed without notice, we will be posting information about planned changes to green spaces in the monthly bulletin. One big project that you might see in the coming year are in the “cottage” properties located in Palisade Village near Willson St. playground. Two different arborists have told us that more than 60 trees will need to be removed and more suitable trees planted in their places. Why? Irrigation systems, driveways, sidewalks and downspout drains have been damaged. We are also concerned about foundations, roofs and underground utilities in and around area homes.
We also received calls from homeowners asking about trees on their own properties, and trees in the strips between the street and sidewalk. We suggest contacting a tree service to evaluate any trees on your property, and please contact the City of DuPont for concerns about trees in those strips. Those trees are the homeowner’s responsibility to maintain (watering and trimming), however they are on city property. If you are planning to remove a tree, you must put in a Property Improvement Request with the ROA office, and we also suggest that you contact the City of DuPont to find out if they require a permit to remove your tree.
Take time to smell (and plant) the roses
Two gardening workshops were held at one of the Palisade Village pocket parks in May. One presented how to grow hydrangeas and dahlias. Participants received two dahlia bulbs to plant right away. Master Gardener Karlina Packard walked the group through planting, fertilizing, and pruning tips for these beautiful flowering plants. General care for hydrangeas and American Dahlia Society are two references that were given at the workshop.
Master Gardener and Rosarian Ava Blake recommends visiting the Rose Garden at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma to see roses that grow best here in Washington state. Also recommended is Raft Island Roses in Gig Harbor. Participants in the workshop are getting gift certificates for the garden center. To learn more about growing roses here, visit Tacoma Rose Society. The organization is holding its annual rose show at University of Puget Sound in Tacoma on Saturday, June 22, 1-5 p.m.
There’s still time to sign up for the last of the gardening workshops – Lawns & Gardens – which will be held at a Hoffman Hill pocket park on Saturday, June 8, 10-11 a.m.
WSU’s suggested spring timeline for fertilizing lawns in western Washington is November 15–December 7, April 15, June 15, and September 1.
Gardening resources for Washington State – flower beds, fruits, lawns, pest management, and more.
If you have suggestions about plants and plant care for the bulletin, email
City of DuPont Events
Fairy Trails • Saturday • June 1 • 10 a.m.-noon • Sequalitchew Trailhead at DuPont City Hall • 1700 Civic Drive • $10 • ages 2-8 recommended • registration required.
SequaliShoot 24-Hour Photo Challenge • June 1-2 • ANY trail or park in DuPont • prizes for youth (up to age 17) and adult (18 and older) categories • The SequaliShoot Photo Challenge asks photographers to take their best shot of any of DuPont’s trails – in 24 hours – and submit up to three images for judging.
Gentle Yoga Classes • Saturdays • 7:30-8:30 a.m. • June 1-August 3 • DuPont Community Center • $150
Senior Lunch & Movie • Tuesday • June 4 • 11 a.m. • Cost is $10 plus tax, choice of several movies at Regal Martin Village Theaters in Lacey.
Senior Lunch at the Landing • Tuesday • June 11 • Patriot’s Landing • Cost is $12, registration required.
DuPont Farmers Market • Thursdays • 3-7 p.m. • June 27, July 11, 18, 25, August 1, 8, 15, 29, September 5 • Clocktower Park
4th of July Hometown Celebration – Start with the DuPont Historical Museum’s pancake breakfast (8-11 a.m.), then watch the Hometown Parade at 10 a.m., music, and fun at Clocktower Park until 2 p.m. Fireworks at Patriots Landing begins at dusk. Your Northwest Landing Residential Owners Association is funding the parade, activities for kids and the fireworks show.
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