Dean Highland Neighborhood Association

Author: Brandon Christensen

  • A Message from the McLennan Central Appraisal District (and a reminder about our upcoming quarterly meeting)

    Hey Dean Highland,

    Jim Halbert, the Chief Appraiser of the McLennan Central Appraisal District, recently asked us to pass this message along:

    My name is Jim Halbert, and I serve as the Chief Appraiser with the McLennan Central Appraisal District.  I wanted to share an opportunity for members of your neighborhood association to get involved in the local property tax process by serving on the McLennan County Appraisal Review Board (ARB).  The ARB is a panel of local citizens that hears property owner protests and helps ensure values are fair and equitable. It plays an important role in the property tax system by providing an independent review of appraisal district decisions.

    Basic qualifications to serve include:

    • Must be at least 18 years old.
    • Must have lived in the appraisal district for at least two years.
    • Cannot be an employee, officer, or board member of the appraisal district or a taxing unit.
    • Cannot be serving in an elected or appointed office for local government.  This includes election judge, alternate election judge, and election clerk.
    • Cannot have delinquent property taxes (over 60 days past due).
    • Cannot be closely related to someone involved in property tax appraisal or representation in the district.

    Service typically involves attending hearings during the protest season (generally May through July), along with completing required state training before participating.  Pay for ARB members is $175 per diem.  If you or someone in your association is interested in serving, you can apply here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/mcadarb

    I would appreciate your help in sharing this opportunity with your members.  Having engaged community representation helps ensure a fair and balanced review process for everyone.

    Please let me know if you have any questions.

    Also, don’t forget about our quarterly meeting, which is coming up this next Thursday (April 23rd). If you have a yard sign for our quarterly meetings, please put those in your yards. If you would like a yard sign to put in your yard, shoot us an email. Catch you next Thursday!

  • “Voices from Dean Highland” spotlight: Linda Hampton

    Hi Dean Highlanders,

    Allow me to introduce you to Linda Hampton, a longtime homeowner on Alexander Avenue for decades, but also somebody who has spent many of those decades in other countries doing missionary work.

    Linda was one of the first people to give me a call after I started taping flyers about the Voices from Dean Highland oral history project onto doors, and for that I owe her a sincere gratitude of debt for her efforts and trust. If you find a flyer about the Voices from Dean Highland oral history project taped to your door, it was me! You can just zap the QR code that’s on the flyer and it will take you here.

    Linda contributed to the “Voices from Dean Highland” project on March 29, 2026. Given that the neighborhood association’s stated goals are service, advocacy, and fellowship, please be sure to give Linda a hearty greeting if you see her out and about at one of our service projects, advocacy efforts, or quarterly meetings. If you would like to collaborate with Linda, or simply fellowship with her, shoot me (Brandon Christensen) an email and I’ll try to introduce you.

    If you, or somebody you know and love, wants to participate in this project, shoot me (Brandon Christensen) an email and we’ll get started.

    You can read more about our “Voices from Dean Highland” project here. You (yes, you!) and your story are way more interesting and important than you think, and this project is something that your kids and grandkids and other loved ones will appreciate long after your gone.

  • Baylor’s “Steppin’ Out Day of Service” and the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative: A Recap

    Hello Dean Highlanders,

    We had around 60-70 students from Baylor’s Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED) Honor Society show up yesterday (Saturday, April 11th) to help clean up our two pocket parks and a bunch of our alleyways. They did this as part of Baylor’s annual Steppin’ Out Day of Service event.

    We are truly grateful for their help and dedication to service. Because this event was so successful, we will definitely be partnering with them more often this year!

    Check out some photos, beginning with Dean Highland Neighborhood Association’s President, Scott Michael, bagging up some garbage and throwing it onto the back of his pickup truck. What service! What heart!

    Here are some more photos of the fun we had:

    Again we were able to hit both of our pocket parks and dozens of alleyways, which is exactly what the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative (DHCI) seeks to accomplish as we work toward a world-class park in our empty Hillcrest parking lot. Thanks again to Sara from Parrott Ave for the heads up on this project, and for getting us connected to the folks at Baylor who were able to make this happen on their end.

    Our next service project for the DHCI will be Saturday, April 25th. We hope to see you there, and if you’ve got an alleyway or empty lot that you’d like to nominate for some tender lovin’ care, click here to submit your nomination!

  • The Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative and Baylor’s Steppin’ Out day of action is happening tomorrow!

    The Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative and Baylor’s Steppin’ Out day of action is happening tomorrow!

    Hey Dean Highlanders,

    Your humble neighborhood association board has teamed up with Baylor to clean up some alleyways and green spaces as part of Baylor’s awesome Steppin’ Out program.

    It’s happening tomorrow, April 11th, at 8am, and we’re meeting in Highland Baptist Church’s “red lot,” which is where its new Wellness Center is located.

    Baylor is sending 60-80 students our way to help us with our conservancy initiative. Many, many thanks go to Sara on Parrott Ave for putting this whole thing together.

    We’ll catch you at 8am tomorrow morning, and don’t forget to bring your attitude of gratitude, baby!

  • “Voices from Dean Highland” spotlight: Mr. Reynaldo “Rey” Moralez, Jr.

    Hey Dean Highlanders,

    Our “Voices from Dean Highland” is starting to explode in popularity. I recently had the great pleasure of sitting down with none other than the founder-owner of the Quesadilla Factory food truck franchise!

    Rey was a good sport, and his story is an inspiring faith-based one.

    Rey just recently put his house up on the market, and contributed to the “Voices from Dean Highland” project on March 2, 2026. Given that the neighborhood association’s stated goals are service, advocacy, and fellowship, please be sure to give Rey a hearty “goodbye greeting” if you see him out and about at one of our service projects, advocacy efforts, or quarterly meetings. If you would like to collaborate with Rey, or simply say goodbye to him, shoot me (Brandon Christensen) an email and I’ll try to introduce you.

    If you, or somebody you know and love, wants to participate in this project, shoot me (Brandon Christensen) an email and we’ll get started. You (yes, you!) are way more interesting than you think.

    You can read more about our “Voices from Dean Highland” project here.

  • THANK YOU! Saturday’s cleanup (Mar. 28th) was a big hit

    A big shout-out to three “new” Dean Highlanders (including a little one!) for showing up and helping us get our conservancy initiative off the ground. We hit the empty-grass-field-portion of our future Hillcrest Park site hard, and we got some fellowshipping in, too:

    Our next cleanup will be April 11th. If you’ve got an alleyway you’d like to nominate for a guerilla-style cleanup, just click here and fill out the form!

  • This Saturday’s (the 28th) conservancy initiative project: Hillcrest Park

    Hello Dean Highlanders,

    We will be cleaning the empty lot at Hillcrest Park this Saturday. That’s right, we’re cleaning the empty lot that will hopefully someday be a world-class park. The fun starts at 10am, and will go until noon or so. Here is the empty lot on a map:

    Just look for the Dean Highland tent. The folks at Keep Waco Beautiful have loaned us the cleaning equipment for this project.

    As a reminder, the inaugural Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative (DHCI) project was a big hit: we hit an alleyway in between Ethel and Homan from 26th to 27th streets. It was a total blast, and I envision Saturday’s cleanup to be just as fun.

    For more on the DHCI in general, check this out.

    If you have any questions about this Saturday’s cleanup, shoot us an email!

  • “Voices from Dean Highland” spotlight: Mr. Henry Sewell

    I first met Henry at one of our infamously enjoyable quarterly meetings held at Dean Highland Elementary School. Henry has lived in Dean Highland for 30 years, and he’s witnessed a lot of changes.

    Henry contributed to the “Voices from Dean Highland” project on September 14, 2024. Given that the neighborhood association’s stated goals are service, advocacy, and fellowship, please be sure to give Henry a hearty greeting if you see him out and about at one of our service projects, advocacy efforts, or quarterly meetings. If you would like to collaborate with Henry, or simply fellowship with him, shoot me (Brandon Christensen) an email and I’ll try to introduce you.

    If you, or somebody you know and love, wants to participate in this project, shoot me (Brandon Christensen) an email and we’ll get started.

    You can read more about our “Voices from Dean Highland” project here.

  • The Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative has officially been launched!

    Hi Dean Highlanders,

    On Saturday, March 14th, several members of the Dean Highland Neighborhood Association board (and some of their family members) gathered on 27th Street in between Ethel and Homan (here again are some “before” photos) to officially launch the Dean Highland Conservancy Initiative (DHCI) with a guerilla-style alleyway cleaning:

    Now check out the alleyways from 26th to 27th and from 27th to 28th:

    Not too shabby, eh? Just imagine if everybody from the Dean Highland Neighborhood Association showed up to the next conservancy initiative event (happening Saturday, March 28th). This benefits you and your families the most. My children, for example, now have their “volunteer organizations and work” box checked off on their college applications.

    If you have an alleyway you’d like to nominate for a cleaning, please fill out the form below:

    ← Back

    Thank you for your response. ✨

    Now, fellow Dean Highlanders, our alleyways were specifically targeted in our conservancy initiative because alleys in Waco act as the arteries of our neighborhood: if they’re not clean and taken care of, everything gets clogged up.

    The DHCI is not just about doing good things for our neighbors; it’s about gaining organizational capacity for the negotiations that will inevitably arise when the time comes to fill in the empty Hillcrest lot.

    A big thanks to Scott Michael, the neighborhood association board’s current president, and Austin Wright, the neighborhood association board’s current secretary, for showing up with their own equipment and donating their time, energy, and yard tools to Dean Highland. If you have any questions or comments about the conservancy initiative, shoot us an email.

  • We’re on 27th, between Homan & Ethel

    Join us for fun, fellowship, and service!