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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

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Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes 20191112

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes November 12, 2019

Opening
The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM on November 12, 2019 by Andrew Lowry.
Present
Andrew Lowry, Melody Corcoran, Carolyn Jacoby, Declan Madden, Susan Nashel, Bob Upton (chairman Green Ridgewood), Joanna Hanrahan, Judith Driver
Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes for October 15, 2019 was made by Andrew Lowry, seconded by Carolyn Jacoby, and approved by all present.
 
Tree Inventory
On November 26, 2019 there will be a meeting with Civil Solutions detailing the tree inventory which will be performed by Davey Tree Service. Planning to attend are Declan Madden, Nancy Bigos, Ian Keller, Steve McCabe, Candace Fitzpatrick and, perhaps, Manish Shrimali.
Shade Tree Conference
Declan Madden attended the NJ Shade Tree Federation conference on October 24 and 25, 2019. The most significant information taken away from the conference is the importance of grouping trees; trees communicate with each other through chemicals and need to be located together to allow this communication to occur.
Central Business District
Andrew Lowry attended a council meeting to request funding for trees be put in the engineering budget.
Deputy mayor Susan Knudsen has contacted two of the three developers of the CBD building projects. Susan spoke to them about using structural soil for the street tree plantings at their projects and received a positive response. She is waiting for a response from the third developer.
Evaluation of 2018 Planting
Andrew Lowry randomly inspected 10 trees planted in 2018 and most are alive.
Moynihan LLC Landscaping from Parsippany will be planting the street trees, Adopt-a-Trees, and resident requested trees this fall. One hundred trees are scheduled to be planted. For the first tree planted, Declan Madden will give a tutorial to the tree planting crew to ensure that proper planting technique is followed.
 
Train Station
CU- structural soil will be put in the tree planting strips. Andrew Lowry informed the engineering department that there are local suppliers for this soil.
The species of tree to be planted at the train station has not yet been determined.
Earth Day Expenses, 2020 Events
Susan Nashel was finally reimbursed for the 2019 Earth Day expenses.
The next Earth Day will be on Sunday, April19, 2020.
The next Arbor day will be on Friday, April 24, 2020. A tree needs to be planted in honor of Arbor Day to continue Ridgewood’s status as a Tree City. Application to continue this status needs to be made in February, 2020.
Village Support
Carolyn Jacoby attended the League of Women Voters general meeting. At this meeting, the LWV environmental committee report focused on water and the monitoring of the water for chemical contaminants. Carolyn asked if the committee was looking at trees as an area of concern. As a result of this question, the LWV is setting up a subcommittee on trees.
The LWV voters presents policy issues for public property. The best way to increase resident awareness is to present these policy issues to the village council.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:15PM by: Andrew Lowry.
Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran
Volunteer Hours: 6
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Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes 10152019

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2019

Opening
The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM on October 15, 2019 by Andrew Lowry.
Present
Andrew Lowry, Michael Sedon, Manish Shrimali, Melody Corcoran, Ian Keller, Carolyn Jacoby, Susan Nashel, Declan Madden, Steve McCabe, Jean Epiphan
Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes for September 10, 2019 was made by Andrew Lowry, seconded by Carolyn Jacoby, and approved by all present.
 
 
Tree Inventory Bidding Process
The water department is mapping the entire village infrastructure using Geographic Information System (GIS) software through the company Civil Solutions. Civil Solutions has a state contract and, therefore, the village does not need to go through a bidding process to use their services.
Many things can be layered on top of this GIS mapping including trees. Davey Tree Service is integrated with Civil Solutions. The preliminary proposal from Davey for a tree inventory of 12,000 village trees was $58,000; each tree above 12,000 would be $3.80 per tree. The inventory is planned to start with the trees on village roads. If there are more than 12,000 trees on village roads, the trees on county roads within the village could be added later.
Street Tree and Adopt-a-Tree Planting 2019
Declan Madden will initially train the contracted crews that are planting the trees this fall and then follow-up to ensure that the trees have been properly planted.
One hundred trees in section B and nine Adopt-a-Trees will be planted this fall; the planting has not yet started. The Adopt-a-Trees will be checked to ensure that the correct species have been planted.
Two hundred fifty-three street trees have been removed so far this year.
Schedler Tree Planting
Manish Shrimali is still waiting on the plans for the Schedler tree planting. The village engineering department has not yet shared information concerning the total number of trees cut down or to be planted. Downes Tree Service did the tree work at Schedler.
 
Evaluation of 2018 Planting
The sawtooth oaks that were planted in 2018 have died. Those particular trees were fall dug. Declan Madden says that is not the correct time to dig up this species and that is why they failed.
The warranty specifics for the 2018 trees are still not known.
Carolyn Jacoby gave Nancy Bigos all of the tree care information that was to be included on the door hangers given to residents who had a tree planted in front of their property.
Train Station
The paper bark maples that were transplanted from Broad Street are doing well.
Shade trees will be planted on the perimeter of the parking lot; the species has not been determined yet. Small trees may be planted in the center aisle.
Earth Day Expenses
Susan Nashel has not been reimbursed yet for Earth Day expenditures. Mike Sedon will meet with the village finance office concerning this delay.
Village Priorities
• The 2020 Parks Department budget needs to include line items for the central business district.
• Ian Keller suggested a possible village ordinance that would require the village to plant a tree for every village tree removed.
• The Parks Department needs a separate crew that only performs tree work.
• Mike Sedon will speak to Chris Rutishauser about the trees to be planted in front of the new construction in the downtown area. The STC has guidelines for street tree planting that would be simple to follow for new construction and beneficial for the trees.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:35PM by: Andrew Lowry.
Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran
Volunteer hours: 12
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Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes 09102019

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes September 10, 2019
 
Opening
The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM on September 10, 2019 by Andrew Lowry.
 
Present
Andrew Lowry, Michael Sedon, Manish Shrimali, Melody Corcoran, Ian Keller, Declan Madden, Susan Nashel, Steven McCabe
 
Approval of Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes for July 9, 2019 was made by Susan Nashel, seconded by Ian Keller, and approved by all present.
 
Tree Inventory Bidding Process
Ian Keller has copies of the Bartlett and Davey tree inventory proposals; there has been no response from Paul Cowey yet. If the tree inventory were to be performed as a professional service, no bidding process would be needed and there would not be a cap on the fee.
The software for the tree inventory needs to be capable of being updated with daily workorders. The cost for yearly software updating also needs to be determined.
The bid package needs to go out 20 to 30 days before a company is chosen for the work. Declan Madden, Manish Shrimali and Ian Keller will review the software management software from the various companies and also the cost to maintain the tree inventory software.
 
Paper Bark Maples (Declan’s Trees)
The paper bark maples have been successfully moved to the train station lot. The trees have irrigation and will be watered twice weekly for 30 minutes. It is not known if any information on the tree move was published in the local newspapers. Jovan Mehandzic’s video of the moving process may be available for a Facebook post.
 
Evaluation of 2018 Tree Planting
Declan Madden needs to be given time to review and evaluate the condition of the trees planted in 2018. Andrew Lowry will check on the terms of the warranty for these trees.
 
2019 Street Tree Planting Budget Cut
The 2019 street tree planting budget was cut because of cost overruns in street paving. Monies need to be found to budget for the trees which have been cut from this year’s planting. It also needs to be clarified if the Chestnut Street tree well demonstration project has been cancelled; Andrew Lowry will speak to Chris Rutishauser about this.
To avoid budget cuts such as these in the future, tree planting needs to made a line item in the Parks and Shade Tree budget.
 
Train Station Parking Lot Trees
The specifications for the trees to be planted on the perimeter of the parking lot have been given to Jovan Mehandzic.
The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) will be involved in the decision as to the species of trees planted. SHPO has recommended red oak, the NJ state tree. Declan Madden, the village arborist, has recommended willow oak instead because red oak is susceptible to bacterial leaf scorch.
 
Schedler Tree Planting and Clearing
The large sugar maple at Schedler will be cabled, aerated and pruned to preserve it.
The berm will have large boulders placed along the Route 17 side. There will be plantings on top of the berm and in front of the berm on the playing field side.
Mike Sedon will look into getting the exact planting schedule from Chris Rutishauser.
Manish Shrimali will attend the next village council work session to request information on the Schedler plantings.
 
Financial Items
The reimbursement of Susan Nashel’s expenses for Earth Day is still in process.
The STC trust account is approximately $12,000; Adopt-a-Tree funds are placed in this account.
 
Long Term Objectives
The STC needs to have more input to the village council concerning our goals and objectives; it was suggested that once a month a commission member should present our concerns to the council.
Declan Madden needs to be freed from some of his current duties to be able to work on tree inventory bids and other shade tree projects.

Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:10PM by: Andrew Lowry.
Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran
 
Volunteer Hours: 7.5
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Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission Meeting Minutes 20190709

Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission
Meeting Minutes   :   July 9, 2019

Opening

The regular meeting of the Ridgewood Shade Tree Commission was called to order at 7:35PM on July 9, 2019 by Andrew Lowry.

Present

Andrew Lowry, Michael Sedon, Dan Cramblitt, Manish Shrimali, Melody Corcoran, Ian Keller, Carolyn Jacoby, Declan Madden

Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes for June 11, 2019 was made by Ian Keller, seconded by Andrew Lowry, and approved by all present.

Tree Inventory Bidding Process

The bidding process occurs through a NJ state online website. Specific contractors can be notified that a call for bids has gone out. Bidding packets may be picked up at the Village Hall. The specifications for the tree inventory need to be determined. Declan Madden and Dan Cramblitt will meet with Paul Cowie. Mr. Cowie has done numerous tree inventories; he does not have a proprietary tree inventory program. He should be able to recommend the specifications needed. All STC members will be notified of the meeting with Mr. Cowie so that they may attend if available.

Winter is the best time to perform an inventory as the structure of the trees is clearly visible after the leaves have fallen. If possible, the monies earmarked for the inventory will be spent this year. Leaving off county roads from the inventory will save money at this time; the county road trees could be inventoried later when there are more funds.

Evaluation of 2018 Planting

Most all of the street trees planted in 2018 are doing well; the 2018 Adopt-a-Trees are in good condition. In the fall, Declan Madden will check the trees, remove stakes, chains and gator bags and prune the trees as necessary.

Dan Cramblitt will check with Jovan Mehandzic in engineering to clarify if the warranty on these trees is for one or two years.

CBD Trees Project

Andrew Lowry sent a confirmation memo to Chris Rutishauser concerning the tree well implementation on Chestnut Street and also about the possibility of including moving the two paper bark maples on Broad Street as part of the train station or parking garage project. Andrew will follow-up with Chris, hopefully in the next two weeks.

Jovan Mehandzic has suggested the train station pedestrian underpass entrance on the west side of the tracks as a new location for the paper bark maples. Alan Goodell of East Coast Tree Service has previously successfully moved trees for the village and would be a good choice for this project.

Other Trees of Concern

The large elm at Graydon needs to be preserved at all costs. Declan Madden said that the elm needs root invigoration using an air spade. Also, mulching and fencing should be done to help protect its roots; further protection could be provided by the addition of a small retaining wall. Treatment for Dutch elm disease will be performed.

Ash trees comprise 15-18% of village trees. Because of the emerald ash borer, these trees will eventually die. The number of trees concerned is too large for the village shade tree crew to handle; an outside contractor will need to be hired. The village needs to budget to remove these trees in the future.

Tree Nursery Group

On July 10, Mike Sedon will meet for the second time with the ad hoc tree nursery group composed of interested residents. Mike will inform them that the village tree crew cannot take care of the nursery; he may take the group to other town nurseries to see all the work that is involved.

If the group is still interested, funds will need to be raised. The village is currently in the process of establishing a 501c(3) that village committees will be able to use for fund raising.

Schedler Tree Planting and Clearing

The soil being moved to the Schedler site from the downtown construction sites has been tested and found to be clean and safe. The soil being moved there is temporarily burying some tree trunks and residents have expressed their concerns to Manish Shrimali.

Trees along Route 17 need to be cut down before the berm along Route 17 can be built and new trees planted on it. The plan for Schedler is available online.

Manish requested that a timeline be published so that residents are aware of what is happening and when. Mike Sedon will check with Heather Mailander about sending out a village-wide email with this information.

The village signal department will be making and posting signs on the current phases of the project.

Ridgewood Calendar for 2020

The STC is no longer involved in this project.

Earth Day Expenses

Susan Nashel gave her receipts to Andrew Lowry for reimbursement from the village.

Long Term Priorities

Andrew Lowry questions whether the STC is making an effort to present our priorities and concerns to the village council. Mike Sedon presents one or two topics from the STC meetings at each village council session. The STC needs to set priorities, make presentations to the council, raise issues, and keep promoting the importance of trees. All these items need to supported with facts.

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 9:15PM by: Andrew Lowry.

Minutes submitted by: Melody Corcoran

Volunteer Hours: 8.75

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