20210309 - Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes
Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission
Meeting Minutes
March 9, 2021
Opening
The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM on March 9, 2021 by Andrew Lowry. The meeting was held virtually on Zoom.
Present
Andrew Lowry, Michael Sedon, Melody Corcoran, Carolyn Jacoby, Declan Madden, Steve McCabe, Mahmoud Hamza, Manish Shrimali
Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes for February 9, 2021 was made by Mike Sedon, seconded by Carolyn Jacoby, and approved by all present.
Capital Budget
The 2021 village capital budget has allocated $110,000 for trees.
2018-2019 Tree Plantings
A date will be set up in the next few weeks on a Saturday for members of the Shade Tree Commission to check on trees planted in 2018 and 2019. Andrew Lowry will check with Declan Madden about which tasks need to be performed – stake and water bag removal, mulching, etc. Andrew and Mahmoud Hamzah have volunteered for this project. Manish Shrimali and Mike Sedon would also be available on a Saturday for a few hours.
STC Facebook Page
Links to relevant articles will be posted, not the articles themselves. Steve McCabe has before and after pictures of tree work done on Oak Street and South Irving and the clean-up done in Maple Park. Steve will send the pictures to Mahmoud for posting. Street work updates about tree pruning, etc. could also be posted on the Facebook page.
Tree Seedling Handout for Arbor Day
One hundred tree seedlings will be available at the Paramus distribution site on April 22nd between 10am – 2pm. Steve McCabe will pick up the seedlings and deliver them to Carolyn Jacoby’s house. Information about the tree seedling handout will be sent to Nancy Bigos. Residents will be able to request a seedling and pick it up at Graydon on May 1st.
Memorial Trees at Veteran’s Field
Mahmoud Hamza generously donated $2000 to plant trees in memory of his mother and father at Veteran’s Field. The memorial plaques are in the Shade Tree Department shop and ready to install. Mahmoud contacted Heather Mailander concerning having an event at the location of the memorial trees to honor first responders. Mike Sedon will work on setting a date for the event. Nancy Bigos and Heather Mailander will be invited.
Mahmoud would like any remaining funds from his donation to go into the STC trust fund. Mike Sedon reminded the STC that any donation to the village over $600 needs to go to the village council for approval. After the donation is approved, the funds are earmarked for use. The STC would request that these funds be used for tree planting.
Graydon Elm
Three new quotes are needed for the necessary treatments of the Graydon elm; the vendor quote approved for 2019 cannot be used. $3500 has been approved by the village council for these treatments. Early spring is the best time for this work to be performed.
Ash Trees and EAB
Declan Madden inspected 615 village ash trees. He identified 28 trees that should be saved and cross-referenced them with the 25 ash trees the tree inventory identified that should be saved. These trees tend to be smaller and are suitable for treatment. The remainder of the ash trees should be removed.
Declan said that pesticides for the treatment of EAB are restricted use and expensive. Injectable application of the pesticide is better than a soil drench. Treatment would need to be contracted out because the village does not have the necessary equipment to perform pesticide injections. The DBH of the trees to be treated needs to be sent to the vendors to obtain the treatment price because price varies with tree size.
April is the target for treating the 28 ash trees already noted plus ten ash trees at Graydon.
Ian Keller will be making a 5-10 minute presentation on ash trees to the village council covering canopy loss and treatment versus taking trees down. Treatment costs need to be included in the presentation.
$125,000 is requested in the budget for ash tree removal; the removal needs to be out-sourced.
Annual Accomplishment Report and Tree City
The AAR for the Community Forestry Management Plan was submitted and accepted. Dina Kat obtained the mayor’s signature for the Tree City application and submitted it.
New Tree Plantings
Nancy Bigos and Dina Kat have been sent a template for the information postcards to be mailed to residents before tree are planted at their address. Resident requests for trees will be filled first. Requested trees have been planted in area D; areas B and C are next in the rotation.
Carolyn Jacoby will re-write the tree request form to be posted on the STC website.
Central Business District
The tree well project for the CBD using CU soil is still being worked on. Lisa Simms of the NJ Tree Foundation has agreed to bid on the project. Andrew Lowry got a mason’s $2500 estimate for removing a 30 foot length of concrete along Maple Avenue. Three trees could be planted in that 30 foot space. Total cost of such a project might be $8-10,000.
Declan Madden suggested using a tree service such as Downes to do the entire project. The cost would most likely be less if one vendor did all the work together. Declan will talk to the Downes sales representative.
Fall Tree Planting Bid
Two rounds of watering of the new trees needs to be included in the bids. Declan will speak to Chris Rutishauser. Including the cost of watering in the bid will mean a few less trees planted but a better outcome for the new trees.
New STC Members
The STC needs new members. Candidates for membership are to contact Mike Sedon.
E-notices
Heather Mailander responded to the STC inquiry about possible e-notices concerning trees. She said that e-notices are reserved for emergencies and important information only.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:10 PM by: Andrew Lowry.
Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran
Volunteer Hours: 7.5
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