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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-11-13 Tree Board Minutes Tree Board Workshop Wednesday, November 13, 2024 @ 3:00 p.m. City Council Chambers, 262 Harlow St. Workshop Meeting Minutes In Attendance: Tree Board Members: Greg Edwards, Annette Dodd, Karen Marysdaughter, Dominick Rizzo City Staff: Aaron Huotari — PW Director, Ben Arruda — Forestry Manager, Jefferson Davis—City Engineer, Anja Collette—City Planning Officer Guests:Josh Behounek &Ashley McElhinney— Davey Resource Group, Rita Edelmann— Resident, Kenneth Ferguson—Orono Tree Board member& Maine Forest Service District Forester 1. Call meeting to Order(Greg Edwards) a. 3:00 pm b. Introductions 2. Creation of Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) a. With funding committed, we need to start developing a Request for Proposals (RFP). b. Looking at scope and timing of RFP. c. Previously started review of Glenville, NY RFP for an UFMP. d. Good reason for a plan - "If I don't have a forestry plan, I have a 125k people telling me what to do, if I have a plan, I am telling them what I am doing." 3. Scope of RFP a. What trees are to be included? i. Street trees ii. Rural areas iii. Forested parks iv. City park trees v. Cemeteries b. To what extent do all of these get included in the plan? i. Forested parks have their own forest management plans. ii. Have these existing plans added to the UFMP as addendums? c. Explore the options of tiered RFP to get pricing for: i. A basic cost for core needs. ii. Add layers of additional "wants" with a cost associated with each additional service. iii. Common process after receiving bids is to perform interviews with bidders to discuss the bids and understand scope of project. 1. Need to review grant contract, when we get it, to determine whether the bid is strictly cost based, qualification based, or a combination of both. d. Do we want to include any guidance/direction for privately owned trees on private property. e. Should we ask for recommendations regarding staffing levels should be to maintain an urban forest of x number of trees? i. Could look for recommendations of ideal staffing and tasking? f. Do we need to include a canopy assessment in the RFP? g. Can we ask for guidance in identification of appropriate species to adapt to climate change/assisted migration. h. Do we address residents who want trees first, then have a plan to move into areas that need trees but the residents don't want to trees. i. Planting guidelines in urban areas—size of tree pits, curbing guidelines, size of trees, right tree in right place. j. Include guidelines for utility and sidewalk work, width of sidewalks, to reduce impact to trees. k. Recommendations for more permissible land-use planning to allow more shrubs of different heights on esplanade?Are there line-of-sight issues?This hasn't been seen very often in Davey plans but it may be something we want to explore in our RFP. Example in Miami? I. May also want to include recommendations for the use of shrubs for stormwater runoff control. m. Recommendations for buffer zones and trees to land development standards? n. Can we include recommendations for edible fruit trees in the UFMP? 4. Who will write the RFP? i. Staff will write the RFP and present to Tree Board for review. 5. Data Collection a. Discussed whether vendors will be willing to use our tree inventory collection data. b. Ashley said vendors are usually willing to work with customer data as long as they can clarify data points. c. Recommended that we include information in RFP information about our inventory collection process and sample data. i. Data may be suitable for some uses in the plan, but not for others. 6. Plan Types a. Josh explained the difference between a management (operational) plan and a master plan i. Operational plan helps define a work plan on a near-term basis. ii. Master plan is more of a 10-20 year plan to align our tree goals with City Master Plan, equity measures, etc. iii. There are also management plans that are actually master plans, too. b. Staff expressed a desire for an overarching plan to guide our long-term efforts. 7. Vision Statement a. Do we need to develop a vision statement for Bangor trees? For the RFP? 8. Timing a. Draft RFP by January 8t"Tree Board Meeting. b. Tree Board makes recommendations for RFP. c. Master plan generally takes 9-15 months to complete. d. Management plan can be completed in 2-3 months. e. Target release of RFP in 15t quarter. 9. Next Regularly Scheduled Tree Board Meeting a. January 8, 2025, 5:30 pm