Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission

Meeting Minutes 13 September 2022

Opening

The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:30pm on 13 September 2022 by Andrew Lowry. The meeting was held in the Garden Room of Ridgewood Village Hall.

Present

Andrew Lowry, Carolyn Jacoby, Declan Madden, Yamini Chinni, Nancy Brennan- Hill, Vicky Van Dyke, Adam Brown, Ian Keller, Pam Perron

Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes for the August 9, 2022 STC meeting and all prior meeting minutes not previously approved was made by Carolyn Jacoby, seconded by Nancy Brennan-Hill, and approved by all present.

Administration

-       All members voted in favor of rotating the responsibility of taking meeting minutes.

-       Status must be determined for all Commission members as some appointments were mistakenly not renewed in a timely manner.

Master Plan overview, presented by Pam Perron

-       Master Plan delves into many topics, including Sustainability, Resiliency, Disaster response, utilities, CBD economics, DPW, Historic Preservation, and others. Shade Trees play a role in almost all aspects of the Master Plan.

-       “Principle 4: Protect and Enhance the Tree Canopy” - a clear mandate.

-       Master Plan will inform many decisions made by the Council and Planning Board in the coming years.

-       STC should voice priorities before the Planning Board and Council

Discussion about CFMP

-       Presently past the 5-year mark but all CFMPs were extended due to covid.

-       We should consider revising our plan proactively despite several years of validity remaining.

Discussion about tree loss vs replanting rate

-       Current Shade Tree staffing cannot easily support additional planting. Despite tremendous progress in planting more trees we are still at a net loss every year.