20201013 - Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission

Meeting Minutes

October 13, 2020

Opening

The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:30 PM on March 10, 2020, by Andrew Lowry. The meeting was held virtually on Zoom.

Present

Andrew Lowry, Michael Sedon, Melody Corcoran, Ian Keller, Carolyn Jacoby, Declan Madden, Steve McCabe, Manish Shrimali, Mahmoud Hamza.

Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes for September 8, 2020, was made by Carolyn Jacoby, seconded by Ian Keller, and approved by all present.

 

New STC Members

Mahmoud Hamza and Justin Halwagy are now members of the Shade Tree Commission. Mike Sedon will contact Steve Freides about being an alternate member of the STC.

 

Tree Inventory

Declan Madden and the tree crew are working on the removal of the 32 hazard trees identified in the inventory. The crew has already removed 11 or 12 hazard trees and will begin necessary pruning next.

Manish Shrimali asked if it would be possible to see the Davey Tree inventory presentation before it is presented to the village council. The STC needs to explain to the council how the inventory will be used as a tool to facilitate tree planting, both resident requests, and to replace/increase street trees. It needs to be explained how the inventory will be utilized going forward. The presentation to the village council may be in December.

Some street trees, such as those on county roads and some others, were not inventoried. Twelve thousand trees were budgeted to be inventoried; 13,105 were actually inventoried. The cost overage was covered by STC funds.

 

Fall 2020 Planting

A pre-planning meeting with the three vendors contracted to do the fall planting will be held on October 14. Packages will be handed out to the vendors containing planting specifics. There are also 30 possible overage planting sites if a particular site is found unsuitable. The planting start date is not yet determined.

Door hangers with care instructions will be left; gator bags will be placed on the trees.

 

2021 Capital Budget

A tree planting budget of $150,000 was recommended for 2021. That amount was reduced to $100,000.

2018-2019 Plantings

Train station trees that have died will be replaced by the vendor.

 

Adopt-a-Trees

The STC is offering to help resolve resident complaints and/or problems with the Adopt-a-Tree program. Also, multiple vendors have complicated the process.

 

Educational Webinars

Carolyn Jacoby has researched many webinars concerning tree-related topics and forwarded this information to the STC members. There are many webinars available and specific recommendations are requested.

 

2021 Objectives

Goals need to be formulated for the next CFMP 5-year plan. Keeping and expanding the village tree canopy is the major objective. Andrew Lowry requested the STC members to send him any objectives before the next meeting.

 

Graydon Elm, Paperbark Maples

Because of inadequate rainfall, the treatments for the Graydon elm are postponed until spring 2021. Approximately $3500 will need to be re-budgeted for 2021 by the village to cover the cost of these treatments which include Dutch elm disease treatment, fertilization, root reinvigoration, etc.

The paperbark maples transplanted to the train station will be treated by Bartlett Tree Experts. The cost of this treatment is approximately $200 and will be funded by the STC trust fund.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM by: Andrew Lowry.

Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran

 

Volunteer Hours: 7.5