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2024-01-04 Tree Board MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS F EYMo TREE BOARD Summary Minutes of Regular Meeting October 5, 2023 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Vice Chair Phipps called the Tree Board meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Board Members Present Bill Phipps, Vice Chair Kevin Fagerstrom Ian Higgins Wendy Kliment Ben Mark Board Members Absent Janelle Cass, Chair Crane Stavig Ross Dimmick (alternate) LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Staff Present Deb Powers, Urban Forest Planner Others Present Jenna Nand, City Council Liaison Board Member Fagerstrom read the Land Acknowledgement. ►A H1 Approval of September 7, 2023 Tree Board Minutes The September 7, 2023 Tree Board minutes were approved as presented. APPROVAL OF AGENDA An update on the letter from the Tree Board to the City Council was added to Unfinished Business. Vice Chair Phipps requested adding the following to the extended agenda: • An update on how the Tree Code has been working over the last year. • The balance of the Tree Fund, what it is being used for, and where it is kept. He requested adding approval of Chair Cass's request for money for tag board and printing costs for Saturday's event to Unfinished Business. Tree Board Meeting Minutes October 5, 2023 Pagel of 5 The agenda was approved as amended. AUDIENCE COMMENTS There were no audience comments. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. Upcoming Events • Tree Giveaway/Farmers Market Event: Vice Chair Phipps reported he has 35 conifers. Board Member Stavig also bought 50 trees (Japanese maple, dogwood, magnolia). Ms. Powers reported she met with Bess Bronstein and mapped out the walk and selected about a dozen trees. It is expected to last under an hour. Board Member Mark will meet Bess on Saturday. Board Member Kliment will print out some info about the walking tour to have at the table. Board members will plan on showing up at 8:30 a.m. Ms. Powers shared a draft critical areas handout for review. There was discussion about how much detail to provide. Vice Chair Phipps thought the detailed directions were helpful for people who might need more instruction. There was consensus to simplify the instructions to just get people to the 25% green layer. Ms. Powers will make the changes and email them to whoever is going to print it for the booth. Vice Chair Phipps recommended including this tool on the Tree Board page. Ms. Powers indicted there used to be a critical areas page but it is no longer there. She suggested eventually restoring a landing page that talks about critical areas. Once that is redeveloped, the Tree Board webpage could link to that. Neighborhood Tree Walk: Ms. Powers noted that when she met with Bess Bronstein, she finalized the speaker payment details for $350. • Winter Market Live Christmas Tree Giveaway: Vice Chair Phipps said he has not been able to get a response from his brother-in-law about what type of trees they are. He has reached out to the Adopt a Stream Foundation, and they also have a Christmas tree sales project. For one -gallon natural conifers they want $40 each. They will take the live conifers back and replant them after the holidays. They will also take back live conifers even if they did not sell them. This would be good information to share with people the Tree Board gives trees to in case they don't have room to plant them. Vice Chair Phipps said he talked with Tom Murdock who is the head of the Adopt a Stream Foundation and had a long discussion about Perrinville Creek, the history, and the mistakes that Edmonds has made. He noted that Streamkeeper.org has a detailed analysis with photos about Perrinville Creek. Tree Board Meeting Minutes October 5, 2023 Page 2 of 5 Board Member Mark said he knew of a timber harvest farm at Pilchuck where he could get as many baby hemlocks as they want for the Christmas tree giveaway. He offered to go rescue 20 of them from clearcutting. The group was very interested in this. Vice Chair Phipps said he submitted the application for the Winter Market booth for December 9 and confirmed that the Tree Board has the night for free. 2. Update on Tree Board's Tree Code Amendments Ms. Powers explained that this item was pulled as an agenda item from tonight's meeting. There may be a different direction to go with the tree code amendments but that is up to Director McLaughlin. Councilmember Nand said she thought the Tree Board could still work on the letter since the Tree Board has a legally defined mission to advise the Planning Board and the City Council. She thought a majority opinion of the Tree Board would be very helpful to the City Council as they are working through the Tree Code. She encouraged them to finalize the letter. Board Member Fagerstrom asked if other directors strike items from the agendas of other boards and commissions. Ms. Powers discussed the agenda creation process and limitations. All city boards and commission agendas go through a review process. Councilmember Nand pointed out that the Tree Board can always vote at meetings to amend the agenda to put items on or take them off. She stated she would ask Director McLaughlin why that was removed from the agenda. Board Member Kliment commented they didn't have any information in front of them to discuss. Ms. Powers recalled that the Board had asked at the last meeting to bring back a very condensed version for review because the original letter had a lot of things that didn't fit within the framework of policy and code recommendations. Councilmember Nand commented that the Tree Board is allowed to put whatever they think the Council should hear in a letter without seeking permission from the Administration. Board Member Kliment said she thought it would be better to wait until Chair Cass was present. She also wondered if the opinion would be the same now that they have two new board members. Board Member Mark asked Councilmember Nand if she was interested in hearing the dissenting minority opinion as well as the majority opinion. Councilmember Nand thought that would be helpful. Vice Chair Phipps said he thought Ms. Power's version was a good synopsis of their opinion. He thought Chair Cass would agree was long as they put in a couple sentences that not everyone agrees with this. He thought it would take too long to bring new members up to speed and he is sick of talking about it. Board Member Fagerstrom said he thought Chair Cass should contact Director McLaughlin to get an explanation about why it was removed. If it is to be put back on a future agenda, so be it. Ms. Powers said she thought Director McLaughlin intended to have a meeting with Chair Cass, Vice Chair Phipps, Councilmember Nand, and herself. Vice Chair Phipps expressed frustration about the situation. Councilmember Nand added that she had suggested the meeting in an attempt to build and repair relationships. Vice Chair Phipps asked if this topic was still on the Planning Board's agenda or if it was being pulled from there as well. Ms. Powers replied that the agenda and agenda items are still under review so it's not confirmed until it's published. She encouraged the Board to not make any assumptions Tree Board Meeting Minutes October 5, 2023 Page 3 of 5 about what is going on and why. Vice Chair Phipps suggested they could skip the Planning Board since they already generally understand their point of view and just prepare a letter to go straight to the City Council. There was discussion about reviewing the draft synopsis that Ms. Powers had provided. Ms. Powers wondered if they should have the subcommittee do that. Vice Chair Phipps was concerned that they didn't have enough time. Ms. Powers reviewed the steps remaining in the public process that still need to take place. Councilmember Nand thought it would be valuable to have the Tree Board read their letter at the public hearing on this topic before the City Council. Motion made by Board Member Fagerstrom, seconded by Board Member Kliment, to delay any action on this until the next meeting. Motion passed unanimously. Vice Chair Phipps protested and expressed frustration with the format of the agenda which he feels is confusing and lacks transparency. By looking at the agenda, you can't tell what they are going to be talking about without digging into the agenda. For the public's sake, he wants to go back to the format where it is easy to see what is going on at the meetings. He referred to an agenda from the most recent Diversity Commission and noted that is the way he would like their agendas to look. He requested that a copy of that agenda be put into the minutes. Ms. Powers explained it could be added to a future agenda as an attachment. She commented that all the boards under the Planning Division's purview are submitted through Minute Track software which has a template and lacks the ability to make changes. The cover/agenda is meant to be a one -page public meeting notice. The agenda packet has all the details that aren't part of the public notice cover letter. She has been putting all of the sub items in the staff report so it is easier to follow. Vice Chair Phipps said it was a mistake to do it that way; they are taking away transparency from city government. Councilmember Nand wondered if Chair Cass and Ms. Powers could look at a way to put more information into the single line. Board Member Fagerstrom suggested taking it up with the City Council. 3. Budget Request for printing and other materials for the Farmer's Market event Motion made by Vice Chair Phipps, seconded by Board Member Fagerstrom, to approve $100 for the thumbtack board and printing costs. Ms. Powers noted that they still don't know if there is sufficient money in the budget to cover this. Vice Chair Phipps stressed that this was necessary, and he was willing to donate the money for it if necessary. Ms. Powers suggested there are still items that have been budgeted for the rest of the year that are a little fluid such as Christmas trees for the winter market. If they have exceeded their budget, they could just decrease it for the winter market. Motion passed unanimously. NEW BUSINESS l . Draft Tree Board Handbook Board members expressed appreciation for the handbook. Tree Board Meeting Minutes October 5, 2023 Page 4 of 5 Motion made by Board Member Kliment, seconded by Vice Chair Phipps, to approve the handbook with changes to update staff members' names. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Tree City USA Application Ms. Powers reviewed requirements to be a Tree City USA and the application process. She indicated Chair Cass had expressed interest in the Tree Board taking over Tree City USA and requested clarification on that. Vice Chair Phipps noted that before Ms. Powers came on board, they used to hire a consultant to do the application. No one on the Tree Board was interested in taking over the application process. Motion made by Board Member Kliment, seconded by Board Member Fagerstrom, to have Ms. Powers continue with the Tree City application process this year, and they will look at options for next year. Motion passed unanimously. TREE BOARD MEMBER IDEAS AND COMMENTS Vice Chair Phipps noted that there is a tree planting event that the Parks Board is doing on October 28 as part of Arbor Month. He wondered if the Tree Board should be part of that. Ms. Powers explained that they would have to register on the website individually if they want to participate. It is at Edmonds Marsh. Vice Chair Phipps noted he heard back from Board Member Stavig who said he spend about $740 on trees. Ms. Powers said they also have to add in tax and mileage reimbursement. However, they are still covered with other funds. Board Member Mark reported on a conference he recently attended with ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) which has a big focus on urban forestry. He noted this would be worthwhile for other board members to attend in the future. Also, he learned there is a lot of grant money coming available for investments in urban forestry. Councilmember Nand commented that someone was complaining over the summer that there wasn't enough shade at the new Civic Park. She thinks there is a lot more shade awareness now with the extremely hot summers. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:06 p.m. Tree Board Meeting Minutes October 5, 2023 Page 5 of 5