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2022-09-19 Tree Board MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS TREE BOARD 0Summary Minutes of Special Meeting September 19, 2022 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Cass called the Tree Board Special Meeting to order at 6:10 p.m. Board Members Present Janelle Cass, Chair Bill Phipps, Vice Chair Chris Eck Wendy Kliment Andy Lyon Ross Dimmick (Alternate) Board Members Absent Bill Grant Crane Stavig Staff Present Deb Powers, Urban Forest Planner LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT — ROLL CALL — INTRODUCTIONS Board Member Eck read the Land Acknowledgement. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved as presented. Board Member Eck requested a discussion at some point regarding the maximum length of these meetings. She suggested they conclude by 8 p.m. Chair Cass indicated she would put that on a future agenda. MINUTES: 1. Approval of August 4, 2022 Tree Board Minutes Board Member Lyon recalled that there had been discussion at the August meeting about him being present at the July meeting. The August 4 minutes should reflect that correction to the attendance section of the July minutes. Motion made by Chair Cass to add a discussion to these minutes regarding the fact that Board Member Lyon was present for the July meeting. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. Tree Board Special Meeting Minutes September 19, 2022 Page 1 of 4 The August 4, 2022 minutes were approved as corrected. AUDIENCE COMMENTS There were no audience comments. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Annual/Ongoing Events • Summer Farmer's Market Booth Oct 1 - Vice Chair Phipps gave a briefing about his progress on this. He has confirmed the booth. Board Member Eck will do the raffle. Vice Chair Phipps and Board Member Lyon bought two larger trees. Vice Chair Phipps bought 30 small to medium trees (six varieties) and has been taking care of 30 conifers over the summer. He would like to get a few more medium trees. He has spent $666 so far on trees and supplies. Board Member Lyon will help with unloading trees early in the morning of October 1. There was discussion about staffing assignments from 9-2. Vice Chair Phipps will investigate doing a press release and signage. Board Member Phipps suggested having some bags on hand for people that need them for trees. There was also discussion about brochures and having a flyer describing the characteristics and care of the trees and helping people choose the appropriate tree for their yard. There was consensus to let people know in the press release that the trees go fast so they should get there early and that delivery of the raffle trees would only be provided to Edmonds residents. Everyone expressed appreciation to Vice Chair Phipps for all his work on this. Motion made by Board Member Lyon, seconded by Board Member Dimmick, to approve expenditures of $750 for the October 1 Farmer's Market supplies. Motion passed unanimously. • Arbor Day proclamation at Sept 27 City Council meeting — Ms. Powers solicited feedback on the draft proclamation. There was discussion about when to have the official Arbor Day celebration. There was consensus to remove the October 29 date and just celebrate Arbor Day on October 1 this year with the Farmer's Market tree giveaway event. Board Member Dimmick indicated he would be present at the September 27 City Council meeting to accept the Proclamation. A couple other members may attend if they are available. Motion made by Chair Cass to recommend approval of the revised Arbor Day proclamation. The motion was seconded by Board Member Dimmick and approved unanimously. • Tree Code project status — Ms. Powers reported on her meeting with the Planning Board last week regarding no -policy -impact code amendments and the systematic approach she was taking to address the Tree Code amendments. She also discussed the Planning Board's major code amendment recommendations to maximize tree retention. She encouraged the Tree Board to listen to that meeting and be prepared for the upcoming joint meeting. Staff is recommending a focus on simplifying the code and streamlining the review process. Tree Board Special Meeting Minutes September 19, 2022 Page 2 of 4 Vice Chair Phipps spoke in support of counting trees greater than 24" as special trees. He argued that the proposed change was not a minor change. Ms. Powers clarified that minor refers to the policy impact and does not refer to how important the changes are. Chair Cass requested that staff provide printouts of the proposed minor amendments. There was discussion about expectations for the Tree Board's level of involvement in making code changes and in the joint meeting. Vice Chair Phipps commented that the code states the Tree Board is to be involved, but they have not been in the past. He expects to be involved either on his own as a citizen or as part of the Tree Board but cautioned against expecting them to go through the code on a line -by-line basis. Board Member Dimmick commented he didn't think the Tree Board was in a position to write code but stated that they were interested in reviewing what others have written and offer input. Board Member Eck spoke to the possibility of the Board's role being one of making the code more understandable for the average Edmonds resident. Ms. Powers concurred. She discussed potential objectives of the Tree Code and how it is or is not achieving those. If the highest priority of the Tree Code is tree retention with development, it is doing that. If tree replanting is the goal, it is not achieving that with the fees -in -lieu. Developers are retaining 50% of trees, but they are not necessarily replanting trees that were greater than 24 inches. Board Member Dimmick commented that the City could collect and use the fees -in -lieu in an efficient way to do some sort of conservation on a larger scale. Ms. Powers replied that is how it is supposed to work. Chair Cass commented that the Tree Board is listed as an advisory board to the Tree Code, and it does have a huge impact on the residents of Edmonds. All board members indicated an interest in being part of this code amendment process. Board Member Lyon suggested that the Board's focus be on simplifying the code. Ms. Powers was supportive of that and encouraged them to point out any proposed changes that would not simplify or streamline things. There was discussion about how this process could work. 2. Special Events/Projects • Joint meeting with Planning Board Oct 12 - preparation — discussed above Administrative • Staff role on boards and commissions Regular and special meeting agendas/noticing - Chair Cass apologized for difficulties she had in meeting the deadline for the September 1 meeting and discussed what she had learned about the process for calling special meetings. Vice Chair Phipps requested that they try to stick to meeting on the first Thursday of the month as much as possible and offered to help with the agenda in the future if needed. Ms. Powers reviewed how the agenda submittal process works. There was disagreement about whether the Board can meet without a staff person present. Ms. Powers did not think they were and encouraged them to clarify this with Director McLaughlin. ADJOURNMENT Tree Board Special Meeting Minutes September 19, 2022 Page 3 of 4 Motion made by Board Member Lyon, seconded by Chair Cass, to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:17 p.m. Next meeting: October 6 Tree Board Special Meeting Minutes September 19, 2022 Page 4 of 4