Click here for minutes from YEAR 2005

JANUARY 24, 2006

ATTENDANCE: Don Nelson, Chairman; Rich Whitehead; Maribeth Becker;
Peter Viteretto (6:15 p.m.); Laurel Lindstrom (6:40 p.m.)

STAFF: Hal Alvord, Tree Warden; Paul Sotnik, Deputy Tree Warden

OTHER: Alan Kingsbury, Norwalk Tree Alliance; Dianne Witkowsky, Spring Hill/
Hospital Area Association; Michael Mushak, Golden Hill Association;
Doug Rising, MBA; Nick Overall, ENNA (6:35 p.m.)

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Nelson called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. He said that he and Mr. Alvord have to leave at
7:00 p.m. for another meeting, and Mr. Whitehead would chair the meeting at that point.

APPROVE MINUTES – TREE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING OF DECEMBER 27, 2005

Mr. Alvord said that he and Mr. Sotnik reviewed the minutes. He distributed copies of the revised minutes that had the changes printed in red.

Chairman Nelson confirmed for Mr. Kingsbury that the East Norwalk Neighborhood Association is now known as the Eastern Norwalk Neighborhood Association.

** MS. BECKER MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF DECEMBER 27, 2005 AS MODIFIED.
** MR. WHITEHEAD SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

MEETING WITH MAYOR MOCCIA – DECEMBER 29, 2005

Chairman Nelson said that he and Mr. Alvord had a meeting with Mayor Moccia, and they gave him a history on how the Tree Advisory Committee came together, and how the volunteer organization came to be. He said it was a great meeting. Mr. Alvord said Mr. Orchulli also attended the meeting and he and the Mayor were very complimentary of both the Tree Advisory Committee and the Norwalk Tree Alliance. As more issues and programs come up for the City to complete, it would require the effort of the volunteers, as there aren’t enough City resources to get it done.

REPORT – INNER CITY GRANT – ARBORETUM STATUS

Mr. Alvord said they need to verify with Mr. Viteretto the number of trees, 14 or 15, that are planted in the arboretum. The grant has been extended to the 15th of June, and they should start working on any new planting that needs to be done. This is not an upfront grant. The City pays the money first and is then reimbursed as the installation is approved. Mr. Sotnik said the initial work has been done, but Almstead has not been paid for their work.

Mr. Viteretto arrived at 6:15 p.m. He said that he had sent an email about the signs for the trees. He isn’t sure that the plastic signs are durable enough. One option is the black stainless steel sign. The sign(s) would be placed in front of the tree, and it was agreed that they could be the target of vandalism. Mr. Alvord said they didn’t see any signs of vandalism within the fenced-in area. Chairman Nelson said the trees in front of City Hall have a block of cement with a brass plaque on it, and one of the monument companies quoted a price of $150.00. Chairman Nelson suggested that Mr. Viteretto and Mr. Sotnik have a meeting to confirm the correct number of trees. Chairman Nelson said he will be speaking about tree watering at a Parent Teacher’s Organization meeting in February, and he asked that if anyone was interested in joining him, to let him know. He will provide everyone with the date of the meeting.

REPORT – INCIDENTS OF ILLEGAL CUTTING

Mr. Sotnik said there was another incident this month at 34 North Taylor Avenue. Pictures of the damaged tree were distributed to the Committee members for their opinion and comment. The homeowner thought that the 27-inch oak tree was a Private tree. Mr. Sotnik stated that they haven’t totally killed it, but there was not very much left to the tree. Upon reviewing the pictures, Mr. Whitehead stated that in his professional opinion, he thought the tree would die and they should take it down. Mr. Alvord said there is not much left to the leafy part of the tree, and he thought they should order them to remove the tree, send them a fine, and a tree replacement fee, and they remove it at their cost. Mr. Viteretto asked why it wouldn’t go back to the same location. Mr. Sotnik said it’s too close to the power lines. The tenant actually did the cutting with the homeowners permission. There is a language barrier with the tenant, and the homeowner is an absentee landlord. The right of way provides sufficient space, but the problem is the type of tree due to the proximity of the power lines. There was some discussion about replacing the tree, and where, and if the homeowner really wanted the tree removed, or if it was just a matter of the tree being too close to the power lines.

Mr. Sotnik said the illegal cutting incident at 22 Old Lantern Placefrom last month is being worked on with the homeowner. He is putting a replanting plan together for submission and approval.

REPORT – TREE BLOWDOWNS

Mr. Alvord said that they have exhausted all the funds in their Almstead contract in December. They had 35 trees blown down on Sunday, January 15, 2006. The crews were already out on Sunday clearing the roads of snow and ice, so there wasn’t much time to cut up trees. On Wednesday, January 18, they had another 15 trees come down. He said they are looking to increase the annual amount of their Almstead contract from $100,000 to $250,000 for next year. The backlog for tree orders is approaching 300.

Mr. Overall arrived at 6:35 p.m.

DISCUSSION – STATUS OF TREE PLANTING PROGRAM

a. Spring Hill/Hospital Area Association – neighborhood approach

Chairman Nelson said they are shifting their approach from soliciting new trees to be planted from individuals to neighborhoods. Mr. Alvord said this was discussed last month. Given the effort it takes to deal with a few hundred individual tree planting requests, and the Elmwood Avenue situation, the much more efficient and productive way to deal with the Tree Planting Program is to work through neighborhood associations. They will work on an area or street basis. They are hoping the tree liaison can become involved in all aspects of the tree program within that neighborhood.

Ms. Lindstrom arrived at 6:40 p.m.

There was some discussion regarding whether or not the neighbors can work with the liaison, or whether members of the committee should go out first. Chairman Nelson suggested the idea of having meetings among the tree liaisons. They are close to having one in each neighborhood, and the boundaries of each neighborhood will be determined, as well as having the tree liaisons identified. Ms. Becker said they would like to invite the tree liaisons to the meeting on February 13, 2006 for the Coalition of Norwalk Neighborhood Associations (CNNA). There will be a power point presentation shown at the meeting.

b. Next 30 locations – status

Mr. Sotnik said the 6 property line checks have been completed. They needed 13 ownership agreements, and he is waiting to hear back from the people that are researching them. Mr. Overall said he will be able to get to them now. Mr. Sotnik said there are about 20 trees that have the property lines checked, but they don’t have ownership agreements on them. They reviewed Mr. Sotnik’s list and assigned Committee members to get the ownership agreements on them. It was agreed that the Committee members will be emailed a copy of the ownership agreement to provide to the homeowner. The Committee members will also try to stake at the same time they get the agreements. They should check with Mr. Sotnik for a map with property line information if stated on the information sheets before they stake.

21 Myrtle Street, 24 Myrtle Street, 12 Myrtle Street, 15 Myrtle Street,
23 Ludlow Manor, 26 Novak, 24 Winfield Court Mr. Overall
22 Lockwood Lane, 9 Jefferson Street Ms. Becker
33 Naramake, 13 Quintard, 6 McIntosh Mr. Nelson
23 Glenwood Ms.Witkowsky

c. Letters to NOT RECOMMENDED residents

Mr. Alvord reported that he had sent letters out to the residents that had requested free trees but where the priority was low. Their properties were already heavily vegetated. The residents were informed via letter that they have been moved to a low priority status on the list. Copies of the letters were circulated among Committee members and Mr. said he would email copies to Committee members.

d. Guidebook for volunteers

Mr. Alvord said that the process has slowed down due to the budget cycle.

INFORMATION COPIES

a. Arbor Day January/February 2006

Mr. Alvord provided copies of a pamphlet he received from the National Arbor Day Foundation.

b. Letter to Martha Stewart Living OmniMedia

Mr. Viteretto said he spoke with Ms. Stewart’s representative, Ms. Pamela Peterson, and he told her that the City would like to see the trees that had been removed be replaced. He provided her a list of trees to select from. He explained to her that the house is in an historic district, and the tree should be a species that is appropriate to the 1860’s. He told her that the neighborhood was not happy with the trees being cut down. Mr. Alvord said that he had emailed the new Tree Advisory Committee letterhead, with the City seal on it, to Mr. Viteretto on two occasions.

DISCUSSION – DATABASE DEVELOPMENT

Chairman Nelson said that he and Ms. Becker met with Mr. Shockley, who is the Neighborhood Improvement Coordinator. They will use his computer to build a database that will have all the tree-related information in one place. Chairman Nelson said they are making good progress, and in the near future the information will be ready for the commissioners to review.

Mr. Alvord and Mr. Nelson left the meeting at 7:00 p.m. Mr. Whitehead chaired the remainder of the meeting.

DISCUSSION – NEIGHBORHOOD ACTIVITIES

Ms. Becker asked if they wanted to, as a group, provide input into the Planning Principles that go into the Planning Commission. She said they have two weeks to submit the information. She agreed with Mr. Mushak’s suggestion that they review other cities’ tree rules. A packet of information was issued on-line, and she will forward the link. The Committee members agreed that they would submit their suggestions on-line before February 15th. Ms. Witkowsky and Ms. Lindstrom were both at the meeting that reviewed the Planning Principles. They said that there was very little mention of open space. Ms. Lindstrom said she will post the Planning Principles document to the CNNA [did Laurel mean the “ENNA” site?]website.

DISCUSSION – NTA ACTIVITIES

Mr. Kingsbury said there was nothing new to report.

NEW BUSINESS

Mr. Viteretto said that there was a tree in the Silvermine area that is targeted to come down, and he isn’t sure why. He said he will check with Mr. Alvord again.

Mr. Mushak spoke about two ordinances from Bedford and Pound Ridge. He suggested that they include in the Planning Principles that they would consider a clear-cutting ordinance. In Pound Ridge, they define clear-cutting as more than ½ of the existing trees in an area of 1 acre per parcel. In Bedford, the ordinance defined clear cutting as more than 10 trees on 4 acres or less, or 20 trees on between 4 and 6 acres, and up to 50 trees on 10 acres. That wouldn’t apply to Norwalk. His suggestions for the ordinance were 10 trees on any given lot; or for new developments, a 20% canopy cover at mature tree size. Some discussion followed regarding regulating the ordinances in Connecticut, and the possibility of recommending landscape requirements as part of the site plan review for residential developed properties.

ADJOURNMENT

** MR. WHITEHEAD MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Carolyn Marr
Telesco Secretarial Services