Watters Crossing Holiday Lights Winners

We congratulate the 2024 winners below (in no particular order). All are worth a walk or drive by to view. Each will receive a $25 Lowes gift card.

Thanks to Holiday Social 2024 Volunteers and Sponsors

The Watters Crossing annual Holiday Social was very well attended this year. Back were the the s’mores station, The Hot Potato, the hayride, and more. A professional photographer provided finished photos for those seeing Santa.

We want to thank all the volunteers for helping to make Watters Crossing a fun place to live. These people, your neighbors, are what makes our neighborhood such a great place. Without them, we would have no events.

Owl Box Added to Watters Crossing Trail

During their recent Founder’s Day and Halloween event at the clubhouse, the Girl Scouts of Service Unit 108 (SU108) constructed a screech owl box. The founder of Girl Scouts USA, Juliette Gordon Low, was born on Halloween, and started the service-oriented program and focused on art, basketball, the outdoors, and carpentry, among other things.

The owl box was installed northeast of the Phase 1 pond. SU108, one of the two Allen area Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas (GSNETX) units, worked with the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center (BPRC) to get everything right; the BPRC also staffed an educational booth at the event. Male owls will be scouting out homes from now through January. In Feb-April, the families pair up, and the ladies get the nest. Dad delivers food to them, but doesn't nest there. Hatchlings will appear a month later and will leave the box by June. Keep your eyes peeled for any new residents, but be sure to give them their space. A nesting family will remove 1000 rodents a year.

FROM, Texas Neighborhood Coalition

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving break and a good beginning to the Christmas season.

Our TX Neighborhood Coalition promised to keep you up to date on state-wide issues impacting our neighborhoods, and sorry to report some troubling news. Just like in 2023, the 2025 TX Legislature is again looking to wreck single-family neighborhoods throughout the state. We will need your help to combat this.

On November 13, 2024, Representative Vasut, from a rural district some miles from Houston, filed HB 878. This bill wrecks single-family neighborhoods in two separate ways. In most large cities in Texas, it would allow developers to carve up single-family lots into mini-lots and build multiple homes on each lot. It would also allow second homes to be built on any single-family lot in the state, regardless of city size. This bill prevents cities from regulating and protecting their existing residential neighborhoods.

What can you do if you don't want mini-lots and multi-family dwellings next to your single-family home? Contact your state Senators, Representatives, and city officials as soon as possible and demand that they oppose this terrible bill and do so publicly. It is imperative that this atrocious bill be stopped NOW before it can gain any traction. Note that we expect other such bills to be filed, and we will keep you updated. Read more HERE.

Thank you for helping protect our neighborhoods.
Andrew Muras
Co-founder, TX Neighborhood Coalition

A Few Reminders

HOUSE NUMBERS: All homes within Watters Crossing have carved stone house numbers on the front elevation. It is recommended to trim and maintain adjacent landscaping such that these numbers are visible from the street. Also, there are a significant number of homes within Watters Crossing which have had the house numbers removed that were originally above the garage doors. These are extremely important to emergency vehicles in locating the correct property if they have to access the home via the alleys. If you have a sliding driveway gate, your numbers on your garage may not be visible to the alley. House numbers then should be mounted on your driveway gate. Rear house numbers are required by the City of Allen.

TRASH AND RECYCLE POLYCARTS: Carts must be stored in areas not visible to any street. This includes visibility between houses and through alley entries. If you can see your polycart from any street, it is a violation of City of Allen code and your WCHOA Covenants. Guidelines are HERE.

DOG STATIONS: Dog Waste Stations are located throughout Watters Crossing. It is both in your Covenants and in the City of Allen codes to pick up after your dog.

Season For Trimming Trees

Updated Park Re-opens

Bring the kids to the updated Phase III Playscape. Located at Bel Air Drive and Placer Drive, amenities at the renovated park now include:

• New benches and picnic tables
• Charcoal grilling station
• Six adult exercise stations
• Cornhole (bring your own beanbags)
• Checkers, Backgammon, and Chess boards (bring your own game pieces)
• Gaga Ball Pit
• Original play equipment, swings
• Free Little Library

Trees and the Contractors who “Trim”

We would alert homeowners to use caution when selecting anyone to trim your trees. There are many groups driving the neighborhood offering the service of “tree trimming”. Please ensure you research who you are using. Yes, you can get a lower price, but results can be a problem. Some flags to look for:

• The contractor leaves all the limbs and debris from the trimming. The City of Allen requires that all contractors trimming trees remove from the property all trimming and debris.
• The “trimming” results in stumps
  • Limbs should be trimmed to natural joints. When stumps are left, typically the stub will rot back to the tree. This is usually after it has sent out multiple suckers. The canopy of the tree is destroyed.
  • The overall limb structure is weakened, making the tree susceptible to ice and storm damage

2025 CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR RESIDENTS OF WATTERS CROSSING
All dates subject to change or cancellation.

• WCHOA Board Meets 7:00 PM 3rd Monday of every month.
• ACC meets 7:00PM last Tuesday of every odd numbered month.