Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes 20171010

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission

Meeting Minutes

October 10, 2017

Opening
The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM on October 10, 2017 by Andrew Lowry.

Present
Commission members -  Andrew Lowry, Michael Sedon, George Wolfson, Monica Buesser, Tim Cronin, Dan Cramblitt, Manish Shrimali, Melody Corcoran, Ian Keller
Residents - Siobhan Winograd and Denise Lima

 Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes for September 11, 2017 was made by Dan Cramblitt, seconded by Monica Buesser, and approved by all present.

 Budget Update
STC trust fund - $11,306
Parks and Recreation - $850 for training
Horticultural - $8200 for tree replacement
$15,000 for CBD and areas C and D tree planting (from $55,000 in capital budget)

New Fall Plantings
Street scape contractor JA Alexander will plant approximately 120 trees – 100 trees plus up to 20% more and will include gator bags.
Adopt-a-trees will be planted this fall. Bids are out for 27 trees. Residents have requested updates on the status of their adopt-a-trees. Carolyn will follow-up with monthly emails to all residents requesting trees. All new adopt-a-trees will be followed-up to ensure proper planting, gator bags, etc.
Four tree wells in the CBD have been selected to be improved with soil amendments, root guards, watering rings or tubes, etc. Village Landscaping has submitted a bid of $2475 per well; with possible extras the cost could increase to $2800 per well. Two other vendors have not yet submitted their bids. Dan will confirm which species of trees will be planted in these wells.

 Adopt-a-Tree in the CBD
Siobhan Winograd of the League of Women Voters presented a plan to promote the planting of trees in the CBD as part of its revitalization. She has designed a logo to be used in promoting this plan to tree-loving groups and individuals in the village. She already has 8 people interested; there are currently 12 empty tree wells.Social media needs to be used to promote the CBD adopt-a-tree plan. Siobhan, Carolyn Jacoby and Jiffy Vermylen (Green Team) will work on this.Planting of these trees will not occur until after the results of the four improved test tree wells is complete. Other tree wells will be improved in the future as sidewalks in the CBD are replaced.

 Nursery Update
Weeds have been removed, fencing needs to be installed.

 Tree Protection Ordinance
The permit procedure for tree removals must be explained and made clear. A request for a building permit will trigger checking on trees on the property. If a tree is removed, provision must be made for its replacement. Council members buy-in of the ordinance must be secured and then explanatory sessions with residents need to be held. To secure public acceptance of the tree protection ordinance, focus groups to hear resident concerns may a good idea.

 November Speaker
Andrew Hillman for Davey Tree will speak on tree wells at the Ridgewood Library on November 8 at 7PM.

 Pruning Plan
The idea to have STC members meet in the CBD to prune trees is not an option. The village tree crew is unionized; we cannot have our own pruning crew. There are also insurance, training and safety concerns. Perhaps instead, “branch managers” could report on pruning needs as the observe them. A pruning seminar could be held at the recycle center for the STC and interested residents.

 Budget for 2018-2019
Budget total of $60,000 will be requested, $5000 may be marked for a tree well consultant. The first budget hearing is 10/18/17. The budget goes to the council in January 2018.Monica will work on a tree inventory budget. Perhaps the tree inventory could be funded through engineering since our trees are an important asset.

 Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:10PM by: Andrew Lowry.
Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran