Ridgewood Shade Tree Comission Meeting Minutes 20180508

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission

Meeting Minutes

May 8, 2018

Opening
The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM on May 8, 2018 by Andrew Lowry.

Present
Andrew Lowry, Dan Cramblitt, Melody Corcoran, Ian Keller, Carolyn Jacoby, Bron Sutherland, George Wolfson

Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes for April 17, 2018 was made by Carolyn Jacoby, seconded by Bron Sutherland, and approved by all present.

Budget Update

Approximately $65,500 capital money is marked for trees; $3450 - $3500 for the consulting fee concerning tree wells in CBD is requested. Gator bags may possibly be provided by the tree planting contractors so that they would not need to be purchased.

Adopt-a-Tree

Dan Cramblitt suggested that the adopt-a-trees should be planted in the fall when street scape trees are planted after re-paving. All of the AaT species will be available and the AaT trees would be planted first. If done this way, the trees will be cheaper because they would be part of the street scape bid; the cost for all trees then would be approximately $45,000 rather than $65,000.

Dan Cramblitt, Carolyn Jacoby, Ian Keller, Nancy Bigos and Candice Fitzpatrick will meet next week to work on setting up AaT guidelines, FAQs, how to care for trees, water bag instructions, etc. to be given to AaT buyers.

Declan Madden checked the trees planted in 2016, pruned as necessary, and placed a door hanger on residents’ doors to advise them that their new tree had been checked.

CBD Tree Wells

The quote from Andrew Hillman of $3500 for consulting on the CBD tree wells is still good. Ian Keller and Andrew Lowry will work on sending Mr. Hillman the specifics of what the STC thinks needs to be done to improve the tree wells along with a map of the tree wells in the CBD. Because the quote is over $3000, three bids would be needed for the project. If the job were broken into smaller jobs spread out over time and costing less than $1000 each, bids would not be needed.

Ridgewood Agricultural and Environmental Club

RAEC from Ridgewood High School is looking for projects. If it is not already bid out to contactors, a possible project for them would be cleaning the CBD tree wells of weeds, ivy and trash and loosening the mulch. Also suggested is helping to move the nursery trees, using I-Canopy to count the trees in the village, and possibly watering downtown plantings. Carolyn Jacoby is working with RAEC.

Earth Day 2018

Earth day on April 22 was very successful and well attended. The STC needs to be better prepared for next year. If possible, we should plan on giving away tree whips to residents.

Tree Protection Ordinance

George Wolfson will talk individually to village council members about the tree protection ordinance. It has been simplified; the basic aims of the ordinance are to prevent clear-cutting, provide for replacement of trees that are cut down, and give the town arborist the final decision on the care or fate of village trees. It is imperative that the tree protection ordinance be passed soon.

Shade Tree URL www.ridgewoodshadetree.org should be working by the end of the week. Any email sent to the STC will be directed to Parks and Recreation and forwarded to the STC if relevant.

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 9:10PM by: Andrew Lowry.

Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran

Volunteer Hours: 9 hours