20220308 - Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission

Draft Meeting Minutes

March 8, 2022

Opening

The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM. The meeting was held virtually on Zoom.

Present

Andrew Lowry, Ian Keller, Matt Andreula, Carolyn Jacoby, Declan Madden, Nancy Brennan-Hill, Mahmoud Hamza, Yamini Chinni, Michael Guerriero  

Minutes

The minutes for the February 8, 2022, meeting were approved.

Membership & Terms of Service

There is a need to double check terms and memberships as records seem to be out of date.  Andrew will follow up.

Planting for 2022

With the approval of $640,000 for tree planting and CBD work there are many issues to be discussed and agreed to.  It is possible that over 400 trees will be planted on the streets and 70 trees planted in the CBD.  Clearly there is a need for careful planning and scheduling.

Andrew agreed to develop a draft list of issues and opportunities for both the Street Tree Planting and CBD work.  Once we have the draft list it will be reviewed with Nancy Bigos so we are all on the same page as much as we can be.

Arbor Day

Carolyn reviewed plan for STC representation at Earth Day Festival

·       Members are encouraged to show up particularly 11-2 PM

·       Seedlings will be picked up by Parks Dept. and distributed at the event.

·       Other ideas for the booth should be sent to Carolyn

Water Trailer

·       Matt and Declan to investigate the water trailer that fits village needs best

·       Question of sourcing water for irrigation was discussed as the Water Department generally wants water metered.  Possibility of sourcing water from one of the streams in VOR was thought to be unlikely but will confirm.

·       Matt will discuss issue with the Water Dept.

Longer term

·       The STC needs to connect more directly with the Planning Board

o   Attendance at meetings is one step

o   Andrew will explore the best way to get in contact with the Board to make a case for trees being part of the site planning process.

Meeting Adjourned at 9:10 PM

Please let me know if I have missed anything important.

Andrew Lowry