Tree Commission September 2018 Minutes Attending: Lynn Rush, Peter Russell Peggy Van Yahres, Brian Menard, Paul Josey, Jody Lahendro, Roxanne White, Mark Rylander, Matt Brinckman, Staff: Brian Daly, Mike Ronayne, Brian Ray, Abby Weaver Guests: none Approve July minutes: The commission suggests that locations for entrance corridor planting in the ROW be prioritized. There was objection using zelkovas in this location as an entry corridor species. The London plane trees along Cherry Av. here were not on the approved site plan and will be replaced with okame cherries. The commission will send a summary of comments to Jody to submit to the Planning Commission. Tree Data Collection Software Demonstration – Brian Ray The Tableau software is reviewed with the tree planting points collected by Abby. The process is explained how the software works, its capabilities and where the graphs come from. It discussed how best to present these graphs to council. It is suggested to change the color to show trees planted by agency for clarification and to present one chart at a time, larger and with a narrative. It is suggested that the canopy and possible planting area by neighborhood may be more effectively compared by acreage rather than percentage. It is also said that the Parks and Rec. survey point where the community has indicated that preserving open space as a high priority should be moved to the beginning of the presentation to council. The commission plans to take graphs from this data as part of the Annual State of the Forest presentation to City Council for October 15th. Parks staff will need the report for council’s agenda by October 1st. Intern Projects – Abby Aside from the tree inventory data needed for Tableau system, Abby has worked extensively on another project identifying possible tree planting locations in the right-of-way (ROW). Abby explains the process where she started using the Green Infrastructure Project that had previously identified possible planting areas and scrutinized them further. This process eventually lead to Abby physically checking locations in the field. After beginning with approximately 600 locations Abby was able to refine it to around 144 locations. She then prioritized these locations further, by low canopy neighborhood, sites that could plant several trees, riparian areas and grouped planting by street to minimize maintenance efforts. Mike will take seven of these locations, reach out to the residents of adjacent properties and confirm whether or not they would be supportive of this tree planting effort. If this initiative is successful and well-received, more locations could be planted in the future using the same process. It is said that planting trees 10’ from underground utilities is excessive and the commission asked about speaking with the Utilities Dept. about why this is necessary. Staff will provide contact information for Utilities Dept. Director Lauren Hildebrand. It is also suggested to also include non-Dominion overhead lines for consideration. Review Annual Tree Planting List/Schedule - Mike Mike reviews the tree planting list for FY ’19. The commission requests that they would like to see more white oaks on the list. Mike will substitute some of the other proposed oaks with white oaks. It is suggested that there might be more planting locations at the Pen Park parking area, Pen Park tennis courts, the long ramp at Tonsler, at Washington Park at the lower basketball court and playground and across from the little league field at McIntire. Another location suggested was at Darden-Towe parking area. Staff will explore these possibilities. Committee Reports Code Committee - Peggy The Tree Commission has not seen the latest revisions to the Standards and Design Manual (SADM). Staff will follow up with Missy/Marty to see where the process is. The commission would like to see a summary of comments and latest draft. Staff will provide the commission with an expected show-up date for the latest version of the SADM. CIP Requests 2020 – Brian Daly The CIP requests are due towards the end of the month. The entire City is moving towards a new CIP request process. The CIP requests for trees will widely be the same, excluding the $100k for the Mall Tree Study. The other three CIP requests for trees will be similar. There will be a request Proactive Mall Tree Maintenance again, Preventative Proactive Tree Work and Tree Planting. These dollar amounts are yet to be determined. The Commission suggested that the Tree Planting request be changed from $50k to $80k in order to support the 200 annual tree planting goal. The Tree Commission Annual Calendar will need to be changed to put the CIP in October for the future. Planting Committee – Peter The Planting Committee has approximately 27 people interested in receiving trees for the Belmont Project. There will need to be more site visits before project date. The planting date is currently scheduled for November 17th. Bremo nursery and Van Yahres Tree Care Company will be donating trees and Parks will provide woodchips in Belmont Park for people to take. Volunteers will mark the proposed planting location in advance and they will planting 1-1 ½” caliper trees. Belmont Day is September 15th and the Tree Commission will have a table, tree merchandise and flyers. Code Committee – Mark, Brian M. The Committee had a meeting with the steering committee for E. High St. and advocated for larger planter width for trees which would narrow bike lanes. Currently there are 7’ bike lanes proposed with a 3-4’ planter width for trees. There will be another meeting with Tree Commission and Bike/Ped Committee to get this issue resolved on Wednesday or Thursday next week. PLACE has developed an Alley and Paper Street Committee that Mark is on. That committee is considering the implications of alleys and paper streets. Some interest groups would prefer that they were paved and more accessible which would have implication for trees there. The Comprehensive Plan is still moving along with Tree Commission comments. Several commissioners express interest in attending the meeting for the E. High St. steering committee and begin preparations. Upcoming Projects That Impact Trees - Mike Mike shares the comment responses from the Seminole Square Project that the commission had provided comments for. Mike will forward comment responses. Other Items It is requested that the tree grates on the free expression wall be on the next agenda. Mike explains that these are already fabricated and installed. Missing NDS rep. Next meeting: Timmon’s Urban Tree Guide Update, CIP requests (dollar amounts), ROW spacing from Utilities (10’ for trees and underground utilities), SADM update Adjourn 6:59