Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes 20181209

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission

Meeting Minutes

January 9, 2018

Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:40PM on January 9, 2018 by Andrew Lowry.

Present
Commission members -  Andrew Lowry, Melody Corcoran, Carolyn Jacoby, Michael Sedon, Ian Keller, Dan Cramblitt, Bron Sutherland

Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes for November 14, 2017 and December 12, 2017 was made by Ian Keller, seconded by Carolyn Jacoby, and approved by all present.

Graydon Sycamore
The sycamore on the island in Graydon Pool is a hazard. Wayne Cahilly, arborist NY Botanical Gardens, examined the tree, made an extensive report and recommended cutting down the tree and replacing it with a grove of 5-7 black locust trees.

STC Member Tree Pruning
Because of union conflicts, STC members cannot do any pruning of street trees. Issues of minor trimming such as a small broken branch or low hanging branch need to be discussed with the village attorney. Need a resolution to clarify this issue.

CBD Trees
A meeting needs to be scheduled with Ramon Hache, the village council, the Chamber of Commerce, the CBD Advisory Committee and any other business groups to discuss the CBD street trees.

Budget
The $9000 in the village budget for STC use cannot be used for anything else and will stay available until it is spent. There is no urgency to use it.
The 2018 budget should have a request for 200 gator bags. They would be used on newly planted trees for one year then stored and saved for the next year.

Spring Plan for CBD Tree Wells
Perhaps the above mentioned monies could be used for structural soil test tree wells in the CBD this spring. Ian Keller made a motion to hire Andrew Hillman to write specs for structural soil tree wells and to also suggest the type of trees to be planted. Carolyn Jacoby seconded the motion. If the fee for these specs is under $1000 no quote is needed, if over $1000 it needs to go out for bids.

Improving Adopt-a-Tree
Carolyn Jacoby will meet with Dan Cramblitt to work on a package of FAQs to be distributed to AaT customers in February and March. Applications for AaTs need to be received by June 30.

CBD Watering
Project Pride is paid to water in the CBD. Perhaps someone else, such as students on summer break could be hired, if the current watering plan is not working out.

Marketing
A subcommittee needs to be formed for marketing. Anyone interested should contact Andrew Lowry.

Grants
A grant is needed to fund the tree survey. Mike Sedon has contacted the village grant writer, Millenium Strategies, with a copy of last year’s grant application to Sustainable Jersey. Grants are also available through CSIP.

Nursery
The stakes and fencing are up. Furrows to plant the trees in will be dug in the spring.

Speakers
Speakers need to be funded. It was suggested that Wayne Cahilly be asked to speak. His talk could address the Graydon sycamore and the techniques he used to evaluate the tree. Pruning was suggested as a topic for another speaker.
Talks should be scheduled on Thursdays so that there is no conflict with village council meetings.

Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:05PM by: Andrew Lowry.
Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran