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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-08 Tree Board Minutes Tree Board Thursday, February 8, 2024 @ 4:00 p.m. City Council Chambers, 262 Harlow St. Meeting Minutes In Attendance: Tree Board Members: Greg Edwards, David Ludwig, Dominick Rizzo City Staff:Aaron Huotari, Ben Arruda,Tracy Willette,Jefferson Davis Guests: Carly Fredericks 1) Call meeting to order a) 4:00 pm 2) Approval of Meeting Minutes of 7/17/23, 10/18/23, 12/7/23 a) Motion to accept minutes as presented: David, Second: Dominick. Unanimous approval 3) Tree Board Membership Changes a) Formal welcome to David Ludwig and Dominick Rizzo at the first scheduled quarterly meeting of the Tree Board 4) December, 2023, Winter Storm Tree Damage Review a) Aaron Huotari and Ben Arruda provided overview of event damage and City of Bangor response 5) Resident Tree Removal Requests a) No requests to present 6) Spring Tree Planting a) Review of proposed list of purchases by Tree Board members b) List of 50 trees to be ordered. Additional 25-50 trees to be sourced locally c) Engineering to plant additional trees in their projects scheduled for this summer d) Replacements are a combination of resident requests and prior removal replacements e) Canopy trees chosen for all locations without overhead obstructions 7) Bangor Beautiful Spring Planting Donation a) Presentation of Bangor Beautiful proposal b) Area chosen to be near proposed mural project and area of high pavement ratio c) Targeted area is intersection of Ohio Street, Hammond Street, and High Street d) Plan includes proposed removal of overly wide sidewalk in one location to restore esplanade e) Board reached consensus to move forward with proposal request 8) Tree Inventory Plan a) Inventory needed to develop an Urban Forestry Management Plan b) Two graduate and two undergraduate students from the University of Maine Forestry program will work for Public Works and Parks & Recreation i) Create street and park tree inventory ii) Create a city forest tree harvest plan in accordance with City Forest Management Plan c) Discussed Masters Thesis of the two graduate students who are both developing components of an Emerald Ash Borer response plan for the City of Bangor i) Discussed utilization of harvested wood (1) Wood bank (2) Cultural uses 9) Browntail Moth Winter Web Clipping a) Forestry Division has only been clipping winter nests in trees that are being pruned as part of planned and unplanned maintenance b) Not planning to clip tall trees in parks this year. Failed attempt last year due to height of trees c) Produced BTM video for social media d) Introducing pole pruner program i) Holding a training class for residents to attend ii) Starting tool loan program managed by Public Works e) Suggestion to prune major arterials due to high pedestrian traffic 10) Urban Forestry Management Plan (UFMP) Update a) Readjusting plan to fund the project before we put out an RFP b) Capital Budget request for funding? c) ARPA funding available? d) Ideally put out RFP this year 11) Project Canopy Grant a) Grants are now up to $200,000 max b) Apply for funding to pay for plan c) Discussion around whether to ask for more than we need to fund multiple stages of the UFMP d) Application deadline May 15. 12) Tree City, USA Application a) Application for 2023 submitted on time 13) 2024-2025 Tree Board meeting dates a) Target meetings for the first month of the quarter, 2nd Wednesday, at 5:30 pm 14) Other Items a) Concern that trees are not welcome after all the tree damage during winter storms b) Can we look at paving plan to not have sidewalk paving go right up to the tree—causing potential damage? i) Public Works will look at best practice to avoid tree damage ii) Also look at downtown paver practices—pavement under the pavers iii) Can we look at using tree wells to replace sidewalk? c) Citizen Service Requests and proactive pruning i) Preventative Pruning—18 trees in Oct., 16 trees in Nov., 52 trees in Dec(prior to the storm) ii) Work orders (resident requests) 19 in Nov., 13 in Dec., 43 in Jan. d) Public versus private tree damage i) City is not responsible for managing private trees but we will clean up what is in the road/right of way e) Process to deal with dangerous private tree 15) Adjourn 5:01 pm