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TREE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MINUTES
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JULY 25, 2006
ATTENDANCE: Don Nelson, Chairman; Rich Whitehead, Laurel Lindstrom;
Maribeth Becker
STAFF: Hal Alvord, Tree Warden; Paul Sotnik, Deputy Tree Warden
OTHERS: Dan Landau, Norwalk Tree Alliance
TREE LIAISONS: Dianne Witkowsky, Spring Hill/Hospital Area Association, Michael Mushak, Golden Hill Neighborhood Association, Nick Overall, Eastern Norwalk Neighborhood Association
ABSENT: Peter Viteretto
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Nelson called the meeting to order at 6:10 p.m.
2. APPROVE MINUTES
a. Tree Advisory Committee meeting of June 27, 2006
** MS. LINDSTROM MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF JUNE 27, 2006
AS AMENDED.
** MS. BECKER SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
3. REPORT – STATUS OF INNER CITY URBAN FORESTRY GRANT
a. Columbus Arboretum completion
Mr. Alvord stated that the arboretum has been completed. Mr. Alvord distributed copies of the final report, entitled Inner City Urban Forestry Grant Program Project DEP 000002011005 with a cover letter addressed to Mr. Chris Donnelly, the Urban Forestry Coordinator at the State DEP. Mr. Alvord stated that Mr. Donnelly was very pleased with the report and requested the receipts for expenses. Mr. Alvord sent the individual receipts immediately and the City should soon receive a check. All signs have been installed and all replacement trees have been planted. There is one cherry tree that may need to be replaced, but that will be done tomorrow.
b. Final Report, DEP Inspection
Parks and Recreation have cut the grass, cleared the sidewalk and will make a final sweep before the final inspection by Mr. Donnelly which will take place on July 26th at 10 a.m.
Mr. Alvord thanked the Norwalk Tree Alliance for seeing that the first printing of the tri-fold brochure was done. Five hundred were printed in the first run, with many more to come. Copies of those were distributed by Mr. Alvord to the Committee members. The 24 page brochure is in rough draft and ready for the printers. Mr. Nelson commented that the brochure looks very nice and came together well. Mr. Alvord reiterated that the Tree Alliance had invested a lot of time n the arboretum and the brochure project. Mr. Alvord stated that the project had exceeded its original estimate, but that the City was aware of the fact. The most that the City will receive from the State will be $18,365.00. Mr. Alvord commented that this arboretum will last, is something to be proud of and will be minimal maintenance. He also reminded the Committee that the budget at the onset was someone’s best guess. Mr. Sotnik commented that the neighbors have been inquiring how many trips around the arboretum equal a mile because residents in the area are using it as a walking track. Mr. Alvord stated that eight laps around the arboretum equals a mile.
Mr. Nelson commented that the Mayor will perform the dedication of the park to Rosa Parks in September. Mr. Alvord stated that the program manager at Home Depot had a family emergency and had to delay their presentation. It has been decided that the the Home Depot Foundation will be invited to do the local presentation in conjunction with the Mayor’s dedication.
Mr. Nelson commented that there is a new volunteer with the Tree Alliance who does professional public relations. Due to her efforts, there has already been one release on the completion of the arboretum, which should appear in the newspapers shortly.
4. REPORT – INCIDENTS OF ILLEGAL CUTTING
Mr. Sotnik stated that there were no new reports of illegal tree cutting.
The situation at 6 Lexington has not moved forward. Multiple calls have been made to the property owner without results. The property owner has not come in to apply for any DPW permits either.
243 Strawberry Hill Avenue is also stalled. Multiple calls have been made to the property owner without results.
There was a report of a possible illegal cutting on River Road, which turned out to be false as the trees were not City trees, but privately owned trees.
5. REPORT – 2006 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE – HOME DEPOT FOUNDATION
This was discussed earlier in the meeting.
6. DISCUSSION – STATUS OF TREE PLANTING PROGRAM
a. Harbor Shores plan
Mr. Alvord reported that he and Mr. Nelson had visited the site with Pam Garrett and had the Neighborhood Association’s plan for tree planting on Woodward Avenue along with six side streets. Mr. Alvord said that he was looking to have a P.O. ready for Almstead to do a planting on Harbor Shores. This will be the second successful neighborhood planting plan. Mr. Nelson commented that he hoped to meet with Ms. Garrett to expand the neighborhood area for South Norwalk. He said that he hoped to have all of the neighborhoods in the City available for planting as long as they have a neighborhood plan. Mr. Alvord agreed but said that he wished to make sure that the same sense of ownership exists in any neighborhood where a planting takes place. He went on to explain that ownership was just as important at the arboretum to prevent vandalism.
b. Sammis Street Pumping Station
Mr. Alvord reported that the construction at the Sammis Street Pumping Station is complete. Mr. Alvord reported that he had reviewed what OMI had for a planting screen. It is an underground pumping station and the contractor did a nice job with the driveway. Mr. Alvord informed the contractor that he was not to start planting the shrubs until they have a meeting with the Farm Creek Association. Mr. Alvord stated that he wished to do a site visit with the Farm Creek Association.
c. Guidebook for volunteers
Mr. Alvord stated that he had not been able to work on this project recently.
7. COMMITTEE REAPPOINTMENTS
Mr. Alvord reported that the Mayor had reappointed Ms. Becker and Mr. Viteretto for additional three year terms. The Council unanimously approved them and their terms will expire on July 1, 2009.
8. DISCUSSION – NEIGHBORHOOD ACTIVITIES
Mr. Nelson stated that he had been able to arrange a meeting with Ms. Becker and Mr. Shockley from Redevelopment to try to combine the information that the Tree Advisory Committee, the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, and the Neighborhood Association, and CNNA information. Ms. Becker compiled all the information into data spreadsheets, which were distributed to the members of the Committee at this time. Mr. Nelson stated that some areas need boundaries so that this information can be submitted to the City for entry into the GIS. Mr. Nelson stated that he would be responsible for contacting the associations that do not have a liaison or does not have boundaries to clarify matters. The goal is to have all of the neighborhoods working on plans for all of their areas by the fall. Mr. Alvord stated that it was important to figure out where there were gaps between Neighborhood Associations and to provide coverage. He commented that the neighborhood association approach to the tree planting program is the only successful way to implement the program. There was some discussion about establishing boundaries for the neighborhood associations. Ms. Lindstrom pointed out that there were several reasons for not limiting the neighborhood associations to rigid boundaries. Mr. Alvord agreed and stated that he wished to have the neighborhood associations elastic, regardless of what is on paper. He commented that these boundaries are for planning purposes.
Mr. Mushak commented that part of his neighborhood association boundaries only include one side of the street, which annoys the residents on the opposite side when a Saturday clean up day is scheduled. Mr. Alvord commented that the City will be launching a pilot “bulky waste pick up” on July 29th, which Mr. Alvord hopes to have as an annual event. Mr. Alvord said that he would like to have a special waste collection facility at the Public Works Center because those who want to drop off oil and batteries, they are only accepted on two Saturday mornings a month. Household Hazardous Waste is only done once a year, although Norwalk residents can go to Westport, Wilton, Darien, and Redding on their assigned days to dispose of hazardous waste. There is no consistent program and there is still paint and solvents and oils going into the storm drain system.
The discussion turned back to the establishment of boundaries. Mr. Landau suggested that natural boundaries, such as rivers, golf courses, commercial streets where there are no residences, be used rather than dividing the streets down the middle. Mr. Nelson stated that it is important to have clear boundaries and liaisons for all the groups.
9. DISCUSSION – NTA ACTIVITIES
Mr. Landau commented that the NTA did contribute a lot of work on the arboretum and the Home Depot Foundation project. It was commented that Mr. Tracy deserved special recognition on his contribution also.
10. NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Alvord informed the Committee that he had met with Don Nelson, David Tracy and Katherine Pytleski, who is the City’s new grants coordinator, exploring grant opportunities for the tree program. Ms. Pytleski will be looking for possible grants for the City. Mr. Nelson commented that the Tree Alliance had applied to the Mayor for a matching grant to the Home Depot grant amount of $75,000. This would fund an intern for the City to work with DPW and coordinate all the tree issues that are spread among the DPW employees as additional duties. Having a professional inventory done of all the City’s twenty thousand plus trees would help with managing the trimming and removals. The new grants coordinator has 20 plus years experience doing this, so it will be interesting to see what opportunities are uncovered.
Mr. Mushak reported that the trees in Golden Hill look great. He compiled a list of an additional nine trees with the possibility of an additional three trees for the fall planting. He submitted two signed ownership agreements. Mr. Mushak distributed copies of a New York Times article dated July 18, 2006, and titled “Boy With an Allergy Wins in Battle Over City Trees” about a request to cut down hickory trees in Milford, CT to the members of the Committee. This is something Mr. Mushak wanted to make the Committee aware of in regards to planting trees.
Mr. Mushak also distributed copies of a UMass Extension Hort[icultural] Notes dated May 29, 2006 entitled Ten Tree Myths. Mr. Mushak pointed out that the first line of each paragraph states the myth but the author immediately debunks it. Therefore he marked the copies to show where the statement of facts begins. He also informed the Committee that there is a monitoring check list for trees that comes each month. Mr. Mushak said that he would be happy to bring in copies each month to make the Committee members aware of the various things that can affect trees.
11. ADJOURNMENT
** MS. LINDSTROM MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MR. WHITEHEAD SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
The meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
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