RIdgewood Shade Tree Comssion Meeting Minutes 20170912

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission

Meeting Minutes

Sept 12, 2017

Minutes: Andrew Lowry

Attendees: Andrew, Monica, Bron, Mike, George, Tim, Carolyn, Ian, Melody, Dan

This provides a brief summary of the decisions reached and the issues discussed at the above meeting

Governance

A quorum was present.

Minutes from July 11, 2017 were approved.

The elections of STC positions for the coming year were held. Andrew Lowry was elected chairman and Ian Keller, Vice-Chairman, Melody Corcoran, Recording Secretary. Monica agreed to stay involved and help out as much as possible. Monica was thanked for her service for the past year.

Terms begin in January but it was agreed that the new team would informally assume their positions in as of Sept. 13, 2017.

Village Street Planting and Adopt-a-Tree – 2017

Dan reported that 146 trees will be planted, 114 by the Village and 27 from Adopt-a-Tree. A total of 225 sites were visited but some locations were rejected as not viable. The sites were selected from a list of trees cut down beginning in 2014. All locations were covered in areas C&D as well as 14 in area A. George raised a concern regarding the accuracy of the 2014 list and will check to be sure we are working from the right set of data.

Chris will also be planting 100 trees on the streets which are being re-paved this year. The vendor selected for paving is JA Alexander. This company will sub-contract the tree planting. At this point we do not know the name of the landscaping company which will handle the planting.

CBD 2017 Planting

It was agreed that4 tree wells would be planted this fall. At the time of the meeting Trident Maple (2) and 2 underwire trees were to be selected. Tim, Dan and Ian subsequently identified 4 wells.

At the next STC meeting we will have a presentation from Shivre Winnegrad (SP?). she is from the League of Women Voters and is getting involved in getting business owners interested in tree planting. Mike to forward contact information to Andrew so we can understand her interest more clearly.

Core Training

This year Dan, Carolyn and Melody agreed to get some core training. They will coordinate among themselves regarding travel and days.

“It’s Greek to Me” tree planting issue

As background, the restaurant appeared to have killed the tree in front of it by wrapping the tree with Christmas lights. In July or August the restaurant had the treed cut down and was in the process of planting a replacement. This was stopped because Parks and Rec. had not signed off on the plan. The restaurant was subsequently allowed by a Village official to plant the tree.

It was agreed that the STC needed to communicate with the Village Manager and suggest that this is not the best way of handling CBD tree replacement. Parks and Rec. and the STC should always be involved in comparable situations.

Speaker for November 8, 2017 Conference

Bron has managed to confirm Andrew Hillman, Senior Urban Forestry Consultant at Davey Trees as the speaker. He will speak on the issues unique to urban, i.e. city scape, trees and helping them thrive. The presentation is at 7PM in the library. STC members can meet before for discussion and Pizza. Bron to provide specific times and places.

Tree Ordinance Status

The ordinance was not approved as written. Mike reported that there were concerns that it may have been too broad.

George Wolfson will edit the recently proposed “Tree Protection” ordinance and remove all non-tree protection components from the document.  The eliminated items can be submitted later in a different proposal, which could be accomplished either through the STC, REAC, or the "Green Team".

Afterward, will meet with Chris Rutishauser and develop administrative flow chart to show how the permit process will work and its relevance to other municipal functions.

Presentation will be made to individual council members to gain acceptance and soften objections to important points prior to submitting for a vote before the full council. Target date for presentation to full Council is prior to the end of October.

George stressed that we need an ordinance soon as possible as several potentially significant properties are likely to be subdivided and trees taken down in the process.

Nursery

George reported that the nursery at the recycling center had been staked out and that we needed to do the following:

• Clear brush from the area
• Put up a fence for deer protection
• Move the potted trees to the location and mulch them for the winter.It was agreed that we would need to organize volunteers for the work.  
• Please let me know if I missed anything important.