Landscape Construction to Begin at Coffey Park Hub
Coffey Strong is pleased to announce that work will begin this week on the installation of landscape designs on the west side of the intersection of Hopper Avenue and Coffey Lane. PJM Landscape is under contract with Coffey Strong to perform the work, which will include the site preparation, hardscape and irrigation during the next several weeks. This location has become a special hub for the community, serving as a place for gathering, displaying our strength, celebrating our progress, and sharing our resolve to return home. The vision for this landscape project is to create a beautiful and peaceful space for neighbors and visitors to enjoy and take respite, with a mix of growth, remembrance and hope.
Over the last ten months, Coffey Strong has worked to fund the installation of the design. A significant part of that effort comes from a $25,000 grant from United Way of the Wine Country’s Wildfire Recovery Grant Program, awarded in November 2018. Several months ago, the Christian Family Fellowship church on Hopper Avenue provided a generous donation to the project, too. Combining these resources with additional support raised through Coffey Strong t-shirt sales, bingo events and individual donations, Coffey Strong was able to enter into a contract to begin the first of two phases of the project. The last phase of the project, the planting of shrubs and plants, will not start until adequate funds have been raised.
A year ago, Coffey Stong board member Bill Northcroft worked with Firma Design Group of Santa Rosa on the original concept for the design, resulting in a donated plan for the landscape, which includes pedestrian walkways, concrete seat walls, flowering and shade trees and drought tolerant plantings. Central to the design are five flowering cherry trees, each one planted as a memorial for the individuals in Coffey Park who died in the fire. These trees were donated by individual neighbors last year, and placed in the ground in time for the one year remembrance gathering in October 2017. Also installed last fall, a newly reconstructed Coffey Park sign was made by Econoline Signs with funds from donations from the builder community. Now the members of the building community, including Northgate Ready Mix, have provided additional support to help defray the costs of the concrete needed to build the seat walls in the hardscape that PJM Landscape will install soon.
Coffey Strong is an all volunteer neighborhood non-profit organization, helping rebuild the community of Coffey Park with information sharing, mutual support and collaborative initiatives like this one. To help close the funding gap for the Entryway to Coffey Park landscaping project, make a donation to Coffey Strong on our website: www.coffeystrong.com/fundraising.