Tree Commission June 2018 Minutes Attending: Rosanne Simon, Lynn Rush, Peggy Van Yahres, Brian Menard, Paul Josey, Jody Lahendro, Lawson Leavell Staff: Brian Daly, Mike Ronayne, Abby Weaver, Matt Alfele Guests: none Approve May minutes: No corrections. Welcome new Tree Commissioner Lawson Leavell is introduced. Lawson is from southern California and intends to attend UVA’s environmental science program. He is interested in environmental stewardship and helping the community. New Urban Forestry Intern – Abby/Mike Abby Weaver started last week and has recently graduated from Christopher Newport University with a major in environmental sciences. She has worked on projects teaching tree ID as a naturalist for Parks programs in South Dakota. She was also part of a study on white cedar trees in the Great Dismal Swamp. She has also previously worked on storm water projects for Albemarle County using GIS. Abby will be working on the tree dashboard presented to tree commission earlier this year along with vetting possible planting areas and identifying hazard trees in forested areas. The intern projects will be recapped in August. Report on SADM - Peggy Peggy, Mark and Paul attended the latest work session and provided comments. It is clarified that the SADM is primarily for new development. Peggy will check with Marty about timeframe for latest comments. Peggy will also confirm that language will get into the manual about referring to the NDS document BMP for trees and tree pres. Natural Resources Plan – Brian/All A Natural Resources Plan for the City does not currently exists. It would be helpful to staff to have a guiding document for land and natural resource management which would be a wider scope than the Urban Forestry Management Plan. The question is raised which departments should be involved and it is decided most City departments would be involved and that this may need to be a City Manager decision. Something will need to drive this to receive CIP funding. Brian will speak with other key staff to making this happen and will check back with commission in September. Mall Tree Study Update- Mike A status update on the Mall Study associated with the new CIP funds is requested. It is explained that this money will not be available until July 1st of the new fiscal year. Parks will show a draft RFP to the commission in September. Committee Reports Planting Committee Westhaven/Michie Dr. – Roseanne It is decided to shelf the idea of planting at Michie Dr and Westhaven at this time. Belmont – Roseanne/Lynn The volunteers went out on a Saturday and Tuesday with door hangers in Belmont along Altavista and Druid Av. Residents there were supportive but many of the lots could only support small trees. The group is offering a choice of 5 small trees and 5 large shade trees for the project. Upcoming projects that impact trees – Mike Mike has 4 projects that impact trees. Seminole Square, 700 Harris St., West 2nd (Market Plaza) and the Ivy Corridor for UVA. The commission expressed interest in seeing Seminole Square and Ivy Corridor site plans. Mike will provide them to the commission. Code Committee – Peggy, Jody Peggy will check status on Comp. Plan. Mark has submitted comments. There has been 4 of the 4 public presentations regarding the Comp. Plan. Council has indicated that they would like to meet with the Planning Commission to review comments. June 18th is the tentative deadline to submit comments. Part of the delay was to wait for the results of the housing assessment study that the community wanted to have included. Cemetery Maintenance and Tree Planting- Mike/All There is concern about long term management and tree replacement strategy in our local cemeteries. Some of the challenges with planting in cemeteries is that families own the plots as if they were private property. Reaching out to these families can be extremely difficult as families have moved away or died off, particularly in very old sections of the cemeteries. Parks would be willing to plant in cemeteries given Parks feels confident that there are no obstructions for equipment and maintenance, no future potential plots, no current plots and no people buried in the digging area. Brian, Lynn, Mark and Roseanne will take two maps of Maplewood and look at tree planting possibilities. Paper Street Policy – Mike This issue came to Brian M. from a friend who had a tree issue behind their house who thought it was a city owned alley. These alleys and paper streets exist all over the city and mostly have trees on them. They are pieces of property drawn by the developer previously and are streets or alleys that were never adopted by the city. Since it is not city property, the city does not maintain this area nor the trees there. It is the responsibility of the adjacent homeowners to manage this common area should they wish to do so. There are six alleys the city has formally adopted and maintains. Other Items RFP for Parks’ Redesigns – Brian The question is raised about the status of the two downtown parks redesign process. There is an RFQ that closes this Friday at 2pm for the redesigns. There will be an evaluation group for the redesign proposals that is not yet defined. Peggy volunteers to be the representative from the commission. July Meeting – Paul The July meeting will be moved to Monday July 9th at 5pm in the same location. Brian will confirm location is available at that time. Action items: Brian, Lynn, Roseanne and Mark will look at possible tree planting locations in Maplewood. Mike will send two requested site plans. The intern projects will be recapped in August. The RFP draft for the Mall Tree Study will be presented in August. Next meeting: Arborist Annual Fiscal Year Work Plan, Urban Forest Management Plan, Standing Committee Updates Adjourn 6:30