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TREE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MINUTES
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NOVEMBER 28, 2006
ATTENDANCE: Don Nelson, Chairman; Laurel Lindstrom, Maribeth
Becker, Rich
Whitehead, Peter Viteretto
ABSENT: None
STAFF: Hal Alvord, Tree Warden; Paul Sotnik, Deputy Tree Warden
NORWALK TREE ALLIANCE: Alan Kingsbury, David Tracy (6:32 p.m.)
NEIGHBORHOOD TREE LIAISONS: Tia Sidley, Farm Creek
Association; Diane Witkowski, Spring Hill/ Hospital Area
OTHERS: Anne Cagnina, Conservation Commission
CALL TO ORDER
Mr. Nelson called the meeting to order at 6:06 p.m.
APPROVE MINUTES OF THE TREE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING FOR OCTOBER 24, 2006
The following corrections were noted:
Page 1, under ATTENDANCE: Please remove “Alan Kingsbury” from this category.
Page 1, following ATTENDANCE: Please add “ABSENT: Peter Viteretto”
Page 1, under OTHER: Please add “Alan Kingsbury, Norwalk Tree Alliance”
Page 2, 3rd paragraph, 2nd sentence: Please change “Kelly Cafforelli” to “Kelly Caffareli”
Page 3, 3rd paragraph, first sentence: please change “Shrub
Care for donating some trees; and reported that they had the highest turn
out for any DPW open house conducted so far.” to
“Shrub Care for providing some trees and its monetary donation; and reported
that they had the highest turn out for any DPW Open House conducted so far.
Page 3, 3rd paragraph, 3rd sentence: please change: “Further open houses are planned.” To “ The next Open House is planned for September 29, 2007.”
Page 4, 2nd paragraph, first line: please change “Officer Larson” to “Officer Paul Larson”
Page 4, paragraph 5, second line: please change: “will invite Chris to with him” to “will invite Chris Torre to with him”
Page 4, paragraph 8, third line: please change “they are meeting with Mike tomorrow” to “they are meeting with Mike Mushak tomorrow”
Page 5, paragraph 1, sixth sentence: please delete “Mr. Alvord said he was worked with Mike Mocciae about plantings, and described the vetting process of fifty species of trees.”
Page 5, paragraph 3, second sentence: please change “he had worked with Glen Dube as his assistant” to “he had worked Tom as with Glen Dube’s assistant”
Page 5, paragraph 3, third sentence: please change “At Oak Hills, he acts as a tree specialist.” To “At Oak Hills, he oversees the tree management program.”
Page 5, paragraph 4, second line: please change “brush needing clearing.” To “brush needing to be clear.”
Page 5, paragraph 4, fourth line: please change “was removed from Fillow Street” to “was removed near Fillow Street”
Page 5, paragraph 6, first line: Please change “The TAC” to “The NTA”.
Page 6, paragraph 2, first sentence: Please change “Mr. Alvord discussed the awards of trees” to “ Mr. Alvord then discussed whether or not the City should consider applying again this year for the Award of Excellence for Community Trees co-sponsored by the US Conference of Mayors and the Home Depot Foundation. It was decided that an application will not be submitted this year.
Page 6, paragraph 5, third line: please change “and the Route 7 project” to “and the Middletown-Norwalk project.”
Page 6, paragraph 6, first line: please change “curbing and sidewalks have been put on all of Main Street, with plantings” to “curbing and sidewalks will be put on all of Main Street by CL& P, with plantings”
** MS. BECKER MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE TREE ADVISORY
COMMITTEE MEETING FOR OCTOBER 24, 2006 AS CORRECTED.
** MR. WHITEHEAD SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
APPROVE MEEING SCHEDULE FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2007
After a brief discussion, the members of the Committee approved this schedule.
REPORT - INCIDENTS OF ILLEGAL CUTTING
Mr. Sotnik stated that there had been no reports of illegal cutting in the past month. However, Mr. Sotnik reported the property owner at 6 Lexington Avenue came in for a sewer and driveway permit. This was denied until the outstanding fine of $1,150 was paid.
TREE PLANTING REPORT
a. Fall Plantings
Mr. Alvord reported that an additional nine trees had been planted in the Golden Hill Neighborhood Area, both on Elmwood and on Taylor Avenues. This is the second planting in Golden Hill. At Ludlow Manor and Gregory Boulevard, ten trees were planted. An eleventh was a substitution, which was not available. Hopefully, this will be found and planted this year. Sammis Street had twenty-two plantings. Four new trees have been planted in the Webster Street parking Lot to replace the ones that were removed. Mr. Alvord stated that Webster Street merchants have sponsored all the landscaping. There were a total of forty- six planting this fall. The yearly planting total is close to two hundred.
There was a question about the number of trees that had been intended for Harbor Shores. Mr. Alvord said that between forty and fifty trees were planned for just the Harbor Shores area. This included Woodward Avenue and nine side streets off Woodward Avenue. Mr. Nelson said that when Pam Garrett returns, Mr. Alvord will try to get the details finalized so the purchase order can go out for early spring planting. Mr. Alvord said that some trees had been planned for the front of Darien Asphalt’s property, but Planning and Zoning was going to make the planting of trees part of the permit for their build out.
Mr. Nelson asked about the residents that requested trees when single orders were still being accepted. Mr. Alvord said that there were about one hundred requests that had not been screened yet. Mr. Nelson said that he would like to try to identify the neighborhood and contact the Tree Liaisons. Mr. Nelson and Ms. Becker have been working with Mr. Shockley to identify the areas where there are no neighborhood associations and/or no Tree Liaisons or the area does not have boundaries.
Mr. Alvord said that during the winter would be a good time to encourage Neighborhood Associations that don’t have a Tree Liaison to find someone interested in working with the program. There are actually thirty- three entities that call themselves Neighborhood Associations. Approximately twenty- six are listed with the Coalition of Norwalk Neighborhood Associations (CNNA). Ms. Becker said that some of the groups are small because they are just one or two street associations. She said that it was very possible that there were more associations listed than were active. Mr. Alvord said it would be wonderful to find people who were not only interested in the programs but also interested in becoming part of the (Norwalk Tree) Alliance. Mr. Nelson commented that it is important to broadcast for volunteers to work with the Alliance in doing the inventory, also.
Regarding the request list, Mr. Alvord said that one of the reasons that the second portion of the list had not been processed was because he and Paul simply had not had time to work on the screening. He suggested that it would be fairly simple to train someone to do the initial screening for the remaining portion of the list. Mr. Nelson asked if forming a committee might help. Mr. Alvord replied that he felt one person would be more efficient. There was a brief discussion about whether the list could be compared to a map with the neighborhood associations on it. Ms. Becker said that after the holidays, she might be able to help sort the requests into areas. Mr. Alvord then reviewed the process. Mr. Sotnik said that he was planning on updating the map.
Mr. Alvord said that one idea he was considering for the Tree City awards was creating a city map that indicated where trees have been planted. Mr. Kingsbury asked what happens when a request comes in for a tree and during the screening process it is determined that the property already has several trees on the parcel. This will place that request on the lower priority list. Mr. Kingsbury wanted to know how this was handled. Mr. Alvord reviewed the process, which includes sending the property owner a letter explaining the property owner’s location on the list.
Mr. Nelson asked if the Tree Advisory Committeee could do between a quarter and a third of the plantings in the spring and another third or quarter in the fall. Mr. Alvord stated that based on the first hundred that had been on the list, after the screening, the Tree Advisory Committeee had ended up with between thirty to forty plantings. Mr. Nelson said that it would be best to concentrate on the Neighborhood Liaison approach. Ms. Becker commented that now that several neighborhoods have been planted, the Tree Advisory Committeee has something to show the other neighborhood associations and organizations. Mr. Alvord said the Neighborhood Associations that have an interested and active tree liaison are the ones that are having trees planted.
b) Guidebook for Volunteers
Mr. Alvord reported that he had been able to get Mr. Kingsbury to work on the volunteer guidebook. Mr. Kingsbury has already done the page layout. Mr. Alvord said there would be more information than originally planned in the book. Contact had been made with the publisher of Dirr’s and originally the publisher agreed to allow the copyright to be waived, but later changed their mind.
Mr. Kingsbury explained that there is an application system for copying the photograph before granting a waiver. Dr. Dirr is not allowing his photographs to be used without payment. Mr. Kingsbury said that Dirr’s book is unsurpassed in its excellence. Because of this, Mr. Alvord suggested that there were a few options. One option was to purchase a number of copies of Dirr’s. The drawback to this is the weight of the volume. It is also not as efficient as having the selected photos in the guidebook. A second option is to pare down the number of photos. The drawback is that there are fifty trees and twenty three shrubs on the contract list, but there are only ten or twelve that are the most popularly requested items. Mr. Nelson asked if contact could be made with the publisher again to see what the price would be for a non-profit to use the thirty or forty photos. Mr. Kingsbury said that this could be done. Mr. Alvord said another option if the Committee decided to use the fewer number of photographs, DPW could make color copies on their copier . There was a discussion about the number of photographs that will be used with Princeton’s text for this project.
Mr. Kingsbury said that he had located a National Geographic book on trees. Ms. Sidey suggested that perhaps next summer the volunteers could photograph the trees. Mr. Sotnik said that there were twenty- two in the arboretum. Some of the trees in the arboretum are not on the planting list. The difficulty of photographing a mature tree was discussed.
Mr. Alvord stated that Jeanne McAndrews is putting together the second of two brochures for the arboretum. The first one is a simpl tri- fold that has the map and simple directions on how to get there. The second one is a twenty- eight page brochure, with one page with a color photograph for each tree in the arboretum. Mr. Kingsbury said that he had contacted Jeannie and looked at a number of websites that she suggested but that Dirr’s photographs were still superior.
When asked, Mr. Kingsbury said that there were a number of illustrations in the National Geographic, but the National Geographic does not have shrubs. Ms. Lindstrom asked if Dirr’s has all of the trees and shrubs. Mr. Alvord said that there were five that were not part of Dirr’s, out of the total of sixty. Mr. Kingsbury commented that the people who want to see the photos are generally interested in what the tree looks like when it is In bloom or during the fall. He estimated that only about a third of the trees on the list do either one. Therefore, it might be important to clarify that with the owners. Mr. Nelson asked about line drawings, but the Committee said that the copyright issue would still be a problem.
Ms. Witkowski commented that nurseries often have tags on their trees that have color photos and a very brief description on the back of the tag. She suggested contacting a nursery and perhaps purchasing the tags. A discussion about the pros and cons of this idea followed. It was decided that this would not be practical in the long run. The discussion then moved back to securing the copyright from Dirr’s. Mr. Alvord outlined the strategy for approaching the publishers of Dirr’s. Once Mr. Kingsbury has a firm copyright cost, the Committee can make a decision whether or not to pursue this. The committee then discussed the number of photos they would use from Dirr’s. Mr. Kingsbury suggested that the committee wait until he speaks with Dirr’s again and has more information.
APPLICATON FOR RECERTIFICATION AS TREE CITY USA
Ms. Lindstrom stated that with assistance from the Mayor’s office, the Tree City USA application has been submitted to the State. Mr. Alvord displayed a copy of the application to the members of Committee.
APPLICATION FOR TREE CITY USA GROWTH AWARD
Mr. Alvord reported that he had met with Ms. Lindstrom and that she had recommended a number of materials. Following that meeting, Mr. Alvord received information about Tree City USA Growth Award in the mail. To qualify for a Growth Award, the applicant needs to have a total of ten points. Mr. Alvord said that Norwalk would qualify for a Growth Award. Mr. Alvord said that he was able to submit the Tree City USA Growth Award application at the same time the Tree City USA application was submitted to Mr. Donnelly. Mr. Nelson asked what the award would be like. Mr. Alvord said that there would be a plaque and there would also be banners for the signs.
INFORMATIONAL COPIES
a. Draft job descriptions for Municipal Forester
Mr. Alvord distributed copies of the Municipal Forester job description to the members of the Committee.
Mr. Alvord went on to explain that the City will need to target forestry schools to get qualified applicants. If the job description is not clear, the intern will not end up accomplishing the tasks that need to be done at the end of the year. Mr. Alvord said that he had done some research about this on the Society of Municipal Arborists website. By starting this position as an intern position, Mr. Alvord hopes to develop the position into a full time position in the future. A city the size of Norwalk with the number of trees that the City is responsible for can certainly justify a full time municipal employee. Mr. Alvord said that if any member of the Committee had comments or suggestions, to please email them to him. Mr. Donnelly gave Mr. Alvord a list of schools to target. Mr. Alvord hopes to have the job description mailed to these schools in January.
The discussion then moved to the topic of an intern. Mr. Viteretto suggested offering credits with the position. Mr. Alvord said that was a very good idea. He also requested that comments on the job description not be too specific and went on to give the reasons why.
b. Chris Donnelly letter re: US Forest Service visit
Mr. Alvord stated that on October 18th, the US Forest Service did their five- year review of the Connecticut DEP Division of Forestry’s program. The DEP requested to bring the Forest Service to Norwalk. Mr. Nelson and Mr. Alvord hosted the visit. After a brief visit at DPW offices, they then took the visitors to the arboretum, Elmwood Avenue and the Golden Hill area, along with other sites. The visit went well.
c. Arbor Day November/December 2006
Mr. Alvord distributed copies of the Arbor Day November/December 2006 newsletter to the members of the Committee.
d. Tree City USA Growth Award Activity Guide
Mr. Alvord distributed copies of the Tree City USA Growth Award Activity Guide to the members of the Committee.
Mr. Alvord said that the Growth Award is available every year and the activities remain essentially the same.
DISCUSSION – NEIGHBORHOOD ACTIVITIES
Ms. Becker said that she was not present for the last CNNA meeting but that Mr. Fred Wilms had given a presentation about the budget. Ms. Becker said that she heard it was lively, and there were many questions asked. Ms. Witkowski said that many of the attendees were interested in what was happening budget-wise.
Ms. Becker said that the other discussion topic at the meeting was flooding. Ms. Witkowski reported that people were asking about particular topics and then wanted to know which meetings to attend to address their particular issues.
There were also questions about how the budget is formed and how the Board of Education also sets their budget.
The December CNNA meeting will be focused on what the organization
has accomplished in the past year and goal setting for the upcoming year.
In January, representatives from Spinnaker will be present to talk about the
development of Reed Putnam.
DISCUSSION – NTA ACTIVITES
Mr. Tracy said that most of his information about working on the manual had been covered by the discussion with Mr. Kingsbury. He commented that the NTA had held its annual meeting. Mr. Tracy said that Mr. Donnelly had been able to attend and reported that the Connecticut Urban Forest Council has given the Norwalk Tree Alliance an award for Outstanding Urban Forestry Volunteer Organizations. Mr. Tracy passed the award around for the Committee members to see.
Mr. Tracy also mentioned the tree counting project. He said that a grant had been awarded for developing a semi-automated tree counting machine. This project had been somewhat delayed, but it will be mounted on top of a car. The device automatically measures the locations of the trees. This data will be downloaded into Mike Yeosock’s GIS database. This will allow the Tree Alliance to get the first stage of the street tree inventory done much faster.
Mr. Nelson commented that Jeanne McAndrew was also working on compiling a list of memorial trees.
Mr. Alvord said that the Tree Alliance had used good strategy by keeping things simple for the late fall meeting and focusing strongly on reaching out to the public in the spring. He said it would be good to start thinking about some event in the spring sponsored by the City, the Tree Alliance and the Tree Advisory Committeee. Mr. Alvord said that a strong advertising campaign would be needed, but that the City had done a great job in the past year. Mr. Nelson said that this idea should be included on the next agenda and that the Committee members should give thought to what type of promotional program could be done.
NEW BUSINESS
Ms. Sidey thanked everyone for the Sammis Street project and expressed her appreciation of it. She also said that she would like to follow-up on the removal of a dead tree. Mr. Alvord said that he and Mr. Sotnik had spoken about that earlier in the day. Mr. Alvord said that it would be good to leave it until the spring and then remove it, if needed. Ms. Sidey said that Mr. Viteretto had suggested that rather than putting a ring around each shrub, they should be planted in beds with mulch. Ms. Sidey said that during the spring clean up she would provide volunteers to outline the beds.
Ms. Sidey said there were some concerns about the dogs being near the new trees. One suggestion was that an announcement be put in the Rowayton newsletter about this.
Ms. Sidey suggested that the City consider doing a care and maintenance workshop for the people who have just had a new tree planted. Mr. Sotnik said that Almstead was supposed to be leaving watering and care instructions with the property owners. Mr. Alvord said that those instructions were for the use of the Tree Gator watering collar.
Ms. Sidey said that she had been engaged with the State over the work that was done at the intersection of McKinley Street and Roton Avenue. She also informed the group that on the north side of McKinley where Farm Creek goes up, there is a downed tree that is partially blocking a ditch dug by the State for catchment reasons. The State claims that it is City property. Mr. Alvord said that he would look at the site. Ms. Sidey said that there was also a large branch down in the creek.
Mr. Nelson said that he was going to meet with some people from the Town of Fairfield and review their procedures for making money out of the tree chips.
There was also a brief discussion about the earlier request to remove some of the trees along Westport Avenue by Marshall’s. Mr. Alvord reminded everyone that the Committee had recommended that this request be denied. Apparently, some of the trees were excessively trimmed anyway. Mr. Alvord said he was unsure how Planning and Zoning would handle this. People’s Bank has also been trimming their landscaping. Mr. Alvord said that he gives Planning and Zoning a lot of credit due to the fact that their enforcement officers visit sites for years following the issuance of a permit.
Ms. Cagnina said that she is the Conservation Commission chairwoman. She said that the Committee spends 90% of their time doing regulatory work. She said that the Tree Advisory Committee was doing a wonderful job. She said that she would be happy to work with the Tree Advisory Committee regarding public relations. Mr. Alvord said that there needs to be more coordination between the various entities in the City.
ADJOURNMENT
** MR. NELSON MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MS. BECKER SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Services
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