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TREE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MINUTES
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CITY OF NORWALK
TREE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
NOVEMBER 27, 2007
ATTENDANCE: Don Nelson, Chairman
David Tracy
Richard Whitehead
Maribeth Becker
ABSENT: Peter Viteretto
STAFF: Hal Alvord, Tree Warden
Paul Sotnik, Deputy Tree Warden
Dilene Byrd, Secretary
NORWALK TREE ALLIANCE: Dick Aime
NEIGHBORHOOD TREE LIAISONS: Dianne Witkowsky, Spring Hill/Hospital
Association
Gay McCloud, West Norwalk Association
Nick Overall, Eastern Norwalk Neighborhood Association
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Nelson called the meeting to order at 6:10 PM.
2. APPROVE MINUTES OF TREE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING OF OCTOBER 23, 2007
Mr. Tracy said on Page3, Item 9, to change “voluteers” to “volunteers”
** MR. WHITEHEAD MOVED TO APPROVE THE ITEMS AS CORRECTED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
3. REPORT- INCIDENTS OF ILLEGAL CUTTING
Mr. Sotnik had no illegal cuttings to report.
a. Bonnie Doone Lane
Mr. Alvord said he has not yet spoken with the Director of the Department
of Mental Retardation Facility because he has no definitive answer at this
time as to where the property lines are. Chairman Nelson asked how to go about
retrieving that information. Mr. Alvord said that research needs to be done
on land records other then what is in the Tax Map books. Ms. Leigh Grant introduced
residents of Bonnie Doone Lane and asked if they had any questions. Mr. Alvord
said he would like to meet with the residents after the meeting to get some
further information. Chairman Nelson asked how many trees had been cut. Mr.
Alvord said approximately thirty-seven. Mr. Alvord said his intentions are
once the property lines are verified that he would contact the Director of
the facility to request the trees that were taken down be replaced.
4. TREE PLANTING PROGRAM
a. Harbor Shores
Mr. Sotnik said the Harbor Shores plantings have been completed and that Almstead
Tree was able to get the material they needed for the last couple of properties.
He said there were twenty trees planted and the cost was approximately $ 8,800.00
b. Broad Street Planting
Mr. Whitehead said that Broad Street was originally staked in front of the
cemetery for eleven London Plane trees. He said that it has since been modified
for nine London Plane trees. He said that he had staked the area twice and
that the stakes were removed for the second time. He said that he had met
with Mr. Bociek, and Mr. Sotnik on Broad Street and re-marked the area by
painting the ground and lightly painted the curb. He said he had met the Almstead
crew on Broad Street when they went out to do the plantings. He said that
six Zelkova’s had been planted by the bridge and that nine London Planetrees
were planted in front of the cemetery. He said the one concern was over digging
the holes because of the soil conditions in that area and there was some discussion
of bringing in better soil, but that did not occur. Mr. Alvord said that the
plantings have already changed the streetscape and in the spring it will be
fantastic. Mr. Whitehead said that prior to the planting he had spoken with
the Diocese of Bridgeport Catholic Cemeteries requesting that the fence be
straightened and they said they would be obliged to do that. He said that
they are requesting something in writing so it could be forwarded to the proper
channels within the diocese and would help speed up the process. Mr. Sotnik
said that fifteen trees had been planted and the cost was $10,260.00 and for
the overall fall planting that thirty-five trees had been planted in the two
locations totaling approximately $19,000.00. Chairman Nelson asked what the
balance was in that account. Mr. Sotnik said he would have to get back to
him with that information.
c. Cross Street
Chairman Nelson asked if there were any plans to plant any trees along Cross
Street and Belden Avenue. Mr. Alvord said he would have to go back and look
at the plans.
d. Spring Hill
Chairman Nelson said that Ms. Witkowsky has identified the spots where the
five trees will be planted. Ms. Witkowsky said there are four spots at 45
Maple Street and one spot at 84 Truman Court. She said it would have completed
a line on Maple Street if the water department property can be planted on.
Mr. Alvord said if the Second District Water Department owns that property
that he didn’t think that would be a problem since the City and SNEW have
a good working relationship. Ms. Witkowsky said that the property is owned
by the Second District. Mr. Alvord said he would contact Mr. Hiscock and asked
Ms. Witkowsky to get back to him regarding where the trees would be planted
and what type of trees. He also asked Ms. Witkowsky to provide him with a
map of the areas that are to be staked. Ms. Witkowsky said she had also handed
in the signed agreements and asked if he still had those. Mr. Alvord asked
when she had handed those in. Ms. Witkowsky said a year ago. Mr. Sotnik said
he would check with staff regarding that. Mr. Alvord asked if the stakes were
still in the ground. Ms. Witkowsky said they had been removed but are back
in place now. Ms. Becker said there is a poster board with plans of landscaping
at the Norwalk Hospital and asked if any plans have been submitted for that.
Mr. Alvord said he has not received any. Mr. Alvord said after he receives
the map from Ms. Witkowsky he would set up a walkthrough of the site to be
sure there are no underground infrastructures or any property issues. He said
once that has been completed an order would be issued to Almstead Tree.
Mr. Overall said that on the west side of East Avenue from I-95 to the cemetery that there are some trees that are in bad shape and there are numerous property owners that have space that could accommodate trees and asked if anyone has considered the option of doing tree plantings on these properties. Mr. Alvord said that they have not but would not rule it out, but simply has not had the time to look into that, but said as a neighborhood tree liaison if he wanted to take on that initiative he would be happy to support it.
e. Guidebook for volunteers
Mr. Alvord said he is still working on the guidebook
5. INFORMATION COPIES
a. Arbor Day November/December 2007
Mr. Alvord distributed copies.
b. Tree City USA Bulletin No. 15
Mr. Alvord distributed copies.
6. UPDATE- TREE REPLACEMENTS ON CALF PASTURE BEACH ROAD
Mr. Whitehead had no new updates to report and that he is waiting on Mr. Viteretto’s availability to get together with the condominium association. Mr. Alvord said he has spoken with the President of the Charles Cove Condominium Association several times and they are very interested in meeting in regards to Calf Pasture Beach and how they can participate. Mr. Alvord said he would schedule the meeting and if Mr. Viteretto is not available we will have to meet without him.
7. UPDATE- WALMART GIFT OF LIBERTY ELM TREE
Chairman Nelson said that Dan Landau has been working with the Elm Research Institute and Wal-Mart and that the Boy scouts are working on getting the plaque positioned. He said the ceremony would be taking place on December 6, 2007, at 3:30PM at City Hall. Mr. Alvord said the location has been staked and has been coordinated with Parks and Recreation. He said the planting would take place on the Sunset Hills Boulevard side of City Hall. Chairman Nelson said that Mr. Landau has spoken with Mr. Bociek and the Elm Research Institute and the tree would be shipped to Mr. Boceik on December 5, 2007. He said that the Boy scouts would also be reading a poem at the ceremony. Mr. Alvord said he would like to speak with Mr. Landau prior to the ceremony to see what the agenda is for that day so that he can let Mayor Moccia know what his role would be. He said the other thing to keep in mind is that the City Hall Christmas tree lighting is scheduled for December 5, 2007, and that after Mr. Bociek digs the hole that it will need to be fenced off.
8. UPDATE- STATUS OF URBAN FORESTRY GRANT
Mr. Sotnik said he had spoken with Katherine Pytleski, the grants coordinator for the City of Norwalk, and she said the personal services agreement has been processed through the Law Department and has been signed and executed by Mayor Moccia and has been sent back to the Department of Environmental Protection Forestry Division. He said they now have an anti-discrimination certification form that needs to be processed through the Law Office, signed by the appropriate City Officials and sent back to D.E.P. Forestry. He said once that has been done the planting should be scheduled for the spring. Chairman Nelson asked where the location of the planting would be. Mr. Alvord said they would be planted at the Lockwood Matthews Mansion at the start of the bike trail.
9. DISCUSSION- TREE AND SHRUB LISTS FOR UPCOMING TREE PLANTING RFP
Mr. Alvord said that all of the option years have been exercised in the existing contract for tree planting with Almstead Tree and that a request for proposal will need to go out to bid for tree planting. He said the current contract expires on June 30, 2008 and he would like to put the contract out to bid by January 2008. He said as previously discussed there are fifty trees and thirty-three shrubs that are currently on the planting list and asked if that list should be shortened as previously discussed. He said he would like to now start the discussion as to whether or not to distribute lists to the committee members and tree liaisons and ask for input of which trees should be eliminated from the list of trees and shrubs so that when the request for proposal goes out to bid there is a definitive list of trees and shrubs that the contractors are going to be bidding on. Mr. Alvord said that of the fifty species of trees that are listed in the current contract there have been fifteen species requested and planted. He said the more concise the list is, the better pricing and responses would be from the contractors submitting bids. Chairman Nelson suggested circulating the list of the trees that are in the existing contract with some notification of which trees have been planted. He said he does not think that such a large list of species is needed as long as there is a good selection. Mr. Alvord said the list could potentially be reduced to twenty-five to thirty species and have more than enough of a selection and the shrub list could be cut in half. Mr. Alvord said he would e-mail the latest list of species of trees that have been requested and planted to the committee members and neighborhood tree liaisons so those trees would not be eliminated. Mr. Tracy asked if a tree is eliminated from the list does that mean if a tree is needed for special purposes that it could not be obtained. Mr. Alvord said that Almstead Tree has done that under the current contract but he does not know if any other contractor would be willing to do that. Mr. Tracy asked if they are legally obligated to purchase the trees only from the contractor that wins the bid. Mr. Alvord said they are only obligated to purchase the species of trees that are in the current contract.
10. TREE CITY USA-VOLUTEER NEEDED TO PREPARE APPLICATION FOR RE-CERTIFICATION AND GROWTH AWARD
Mr. Aime said he would be getting together with Mr. Sotnik and Mr. Alvord this week to start gathering the information for the application. Mr. Alvord said that Ms. Lindstrom had done a good job on preparing the applications in the past and that there are probably some additional program items that they may want to include in this application. He said that Ms. Hebert would provide the financial documents that are needed.
11. DISCUSSION- 2008 AWARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR COMMUNITY TREES- US CONFERENCE OF MAYORS AND HOME DEPOT FOUNDATION
Mr. Alvord said he had been notified about the next round of awards and has discussed in past meetings if enough programs have been added to make it worthwhile to re-apply. He said that needs to be discussed tonight and a decision needs to be made on whether to apply or not. He said the first round of applications has to be done on line and the deadline for that is December 15, 2007. Mr. Whitehead suggested that Mr. Alvord contact the representatives from Home Depot and tell them all the great things that the Tree Advisory Committee has accomplished in the last year and ask them if they feel it is worthwhile to submit an application or if we should hold off another year. Mr. Alvord said the deadline is before the next meeting and asked if he should submit the on-line application. Chairman Nelson asked Mr. Alvord to submit the on-line application if the folks at Home Depot feel we should re-apply.
12. DISCUSSION- NEIGHBORHOOD ACTIVITES
No discussion.
13. DISCUSSION-NTA ACTIVITES
Mr. Aime said that on October 25, 2007, Mr. Tracy and he had gone to Wallingford to the Connecticut Urban Forestry Council annual meeting and said they put on a very interesting and informational program. He also said that the American Chestnut Foundation had put on a slide presentation on what they have been doing and said that it showed that there are tree farms all over where they are trying to grow disease resistant chestnuts. Mr. Alvord asked if they were offering any plantings. Mr. Tracy said they are trying to get people to establish demonstration orchards and that they would supply the seeds of a variety of different species of chestnuts including the American Chestnuts which will definitely die within fifteen months and that there is a huge cost associated with this because they would have to be fenced in and also need a lot of care and in the end would still die. He said they are approximately twelve years away from getting the disease resistant trees. Mr. Alvord asked if we are at a point where we should volunteer to take on a planting program with the American Chestnut Foundation. Mr. Tracy said it would only make sense in an educational sense but that would be limited because of the life of the trees.
Mr. Tracy said that he had been contacted in the past by the Wilton Garden Club to establish a tree program and they put on a contest and had approximately eighty entries and had an awards ceremony a couple of weeks ago at the Wilton Library and he was invited and showed the video of the Norwalk Tree Festival and gave a brief overview and said it was very well done.
Mr. Aime said that the scheduled date for next year’s tree festival is May 3, 2008, at Shady Beach, which has been approved by Parks and Recreation.
14. NEW BUSINESS
Chairman Nelson introduced Ms. Gay MacLeod as the new tree liaison for the West Norwalk area. Chairman Nelson said in speaking with Ms. MacLeod that he had indicated to her that the responsibility of tree liaisons is to identify open spaces where trees could be planted to enhance the tree scape and she had informed him that she is already working on that. Mr. Alvord said there have been some orientations for new tree liaisons in the past and is planning on scheduling one for early spring. Ms. McCloud’s contact information is gay.macleod@zenithmedia-na.com.
15. ADJOURNMENT
** MR. WHITEHEAD MOVED TO ADJOURN
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
The Meeting adjourned at 7:20 PM
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