Loading...
2024-02-01 Tree Board MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS TREE BOARD R Summary Minutes of Regular Meeting February 1, 2024 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 Ian Higgins Wendy Kliment Ben Mark Crane Stavig Board Members Absent Janelle Cass, Chair Ross Dimmick (alternate) LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Staff Present Angie Feser, Parks Director Others Present Jenna Nand, City Council Liaison Board Member Higgins read the Land Acknowledgement. lu l 101111 Y M Approval of January 4, 2024 Tree Board Minutes The 1/4/2024 Tree Board minutes were approved as presented. APPROVAL OF AGENDA The agenda was approved as presented. AUDIENCE COMMENTS Dennis Weaver, 1024 5th Avenue S, Boardwalk Condominiums, asked for help protecting a giant Coast Redwood tree of distinction nicknamed Big Red right along 5t' Avenue South on the Boardwalk property. He stated that the tree is threatened for removal by one of the board members of the Boardwalk Condominiums for no good reason. Mr. Weaver said he has had three licensed arborists assess the tree, and they all agree is a stable, healthy tree. He discussed the numerous environmental and health benefits of a tree this size. After 39 years the Tree Board Meeting Minutes February 1, 2024 Pagel of 5 tree's roots have caused damage to the parking lot. He recommended that, instead of removing the tree, they just recontour the parking lot. In addition to saving the tree, it would save a lot of money. He noted that the tremendous scale of the tree welcomes residents and guests as they pass by the sign, "Edmonds Tree City USA". He thinks Big Red is worth preserving for the community. He urged the Tree Board to do whatever they can to help protect and preserve the tree. General clarification questions and answers followed. Director Feser commented that the tree is on private property; and at this time there has been no permit submitted for removal of the tree. Board Member Mark recommended looking into Seattle Department of Transportation's Trees and Sidewalks Operations Plan which is available on their website and provides many ways that trees and sidewalks can get along. 1. Handbook Approval Motion made by Board Member Kliment, seconded by Board Member Higgins, to approve the handbook as presented. Motion passed unanimously. 2. Tree Board Draft Recommendation Letter review Part of the subcommittee (Board Member Mark and Vice Chair Phipps) met since the last meeting. Board Member Mark summarized the Planning Board recommendations and shared his thoughts. He would like to see consideration of species of trees. He recommended using DSH (Diameter at Standard Height) rather than DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) for measurement. He also recommended looking at the amount of tree canopy cover being removed in order to meet the City's tree canopy goals. He agrees that tree replacement is important. He will write up some recommendations that the Tree Board can discuss and vote on to share with the Planning Board. Councilmember Nand commented that items they disagree on are important to note. She also suggested that the Tree Board consider and make a recommendation to the City Council on the undergrounding of utilities. NEW BUSINESS 1. Board Membership Update (PRHS) • Director Feser explained that Board Member Fagerstrom's position is still open and will be appointed by Councilmember Eck. Other reappointments are on the agenda to be approved by Council at the next Council meeting. The website for the Tree Board has been updated. 2. Work Plan Update (discussion and work session) • Earth Day: Board Member Kliment spoke in support of the Tree Board's participation in the Earth Day event on April 20. Director Feser said she was going to look into why the Tree Board was buying snacks. She thought Tree Board members should just come to help sign people in and help support the event. Handing out snacks provided by Parks could be part of that. Volunteers for April 20 from 10-12: Wendy Kliment, Bill Phipps, Crane Stavig, Ian Higgins (maybe) Tree Board Meeting Minutes February 1, 2024 Page 2 of 5 Presentation to Council: Board Member Kliment said she could help with the PowerPoint. Director Feser will be there to support the group with the presentation. Director Feser will schedule this, most likely in March. • Garden Tour: Board Member Kliment volunteered to make the signs again. Nobody has to be on site. The Tree Board just provides the signs based on the recommendations of staff. Director Feser suggested contacting the Garden Club for recommendations by the homeowners. Vice Chair Phipps recommended making placards for significant public trees in the downtown area like they have done in the past. The placards would highlight environmental benefits of a tree or group of trees. This was a successful program and was well -received by the public. They used to try to get the signs up by the 4 h of July and keep them up for 3-4 weeks. The idea of permanent tree identification markers was also raised. Vice Chair Phipps noted that laminating the signs has been a significant expense in the past. Director Feser stated that Parks staff could take care of the laminating. The Board was interested in starting this up again. Board Member Mark volunteered to work on it. Board Member Stavig suggested looking for additional trees outside the downtown area. Councilmember Nand suggested doing signs along the interurban trail for trees in people's yards adjacent to the trail. Board Member Mark thought they would have enough trees in the city parks. Farmer's Market: This is a tree giveaway event for Arbor Day which has been very successful. Last year they included the critical areas education project which worked well. The public tree walking tour may be breaking off from the Farmer's Market/Arbor Day event. Vice Chair Phipps said he could get trees for free. Board Member Stavig got a lot of great trees last year. The group agreed that the first Saturday of October (the last Farmer's Market) was a good time to do the tree giveaway. An Arbor Day proclamation at City Council will be done related to this event. Director Feser recommended that the Board put a wish list together for the trees they would like and Parks staff can shop for what is available. Walking Tree Tour: The group was undecided about whether to do the walking tour on the same day as the tree giveaway. Board Member Kliment recommended doing one at City Park that could be nearly free. Board Member Mark recommended having a map of where all the placards are and people could do self -guided tours. Board Member Stavig brought up an idea to provide a tree climbing activity through a recreational climbing group at the park. • Winter Market Tree Giveaway: There was consensus to combine this with the October tree giveaway and allocate these funds to that event. • Vice Chair Phipps brought up two projects he is interested in: Tree Voucher Program modeled after Lynnwood's program and a Tree Maintenance Voucher Program to help lower income families maintain their trees. • Critical Areas: There was a suggestion to have a link to the City's critical areas GIS maps on the Tree Board website. • Tree List Update: Vice Chair Phipps and Board Member Stavig will continue working on pruning this list. Tree Board Meeting Minutes February 1, 2024 Page 3 of 5 Exceptional Trees: These would be plaques for trees on private property. This was very low on the priority list. Board Member Mark expressed interest in looking into permanent signs for exceptional public trees in parks. • Tree Board Recommendation Letter: Board Members Mark and Phipps will continue working on this. Sierra Park signage: Vice Chair Phipps commented that it is too expensive to fix the path for the blind that is all buckled. He suggested using regular tree identification signs and planting a tree that matches the sign. He thought that the Lions Club would help with this. Director Feser commented that currently 7 of the 10 trees are missing. The braille on the signs is old braille and not completely readable by sight impaired individuals today. The asphalt path has tree been buckled by tree roots creating tripping hazards. Additionally, there are square, tube metal path guides ("shin breakers") that are not safe for the blind. Considering all this, she is not comfortable calling this a path for the blind. They could still plant trees and have signs with both words and braille. She will follow up on this. She raised the possibility of renaming the park Lions Park. Councilmember Nand wondered about also providing something for assistive technology and mobile devices. • Heritage Tree Program: Vice Chair Phipps thought this was important; there just needs to be a way to opt out for homeowners who move or don't want to be part of the program anymore. Councilmember Nand said if the Tree Board ever wanted to take up an analysis of this topic as a policy issue with a recommendation to Council, she would find it valuable. There was some discussion about tying the designation into an app or a tree walking tour which would make it easy to add or remove listings. • Tree Planting or Pruning Class: Board Member Stavig noted there are already classes people can take. Board Member Mark suggested getting literature together and hand it out at the Farmer's Market tree giveaway. Director Feser suggested they could create a hub of resource information on the website and just direct people to the website. • Save Our Salmon: Vice Chair Phipps thought this would be a good event for the Tree Board to participate in. Director Feser agreed it would be a good fit. • Web Page Update: Vice Chair Phipps noted that the website needs to be updated. Director Feser said they have staff who can make changes to the website. If the Board comes up with content, staff can make it happen. 3. Officer Election • This item was continued to the next meeting when Chair Cass would be present. TREE BOARD CHAIR, MEMBER COMMENTS • Board Member Stavig said he was hoping to spend less time this year on policy discussions. Other board members concurred. • Board Member Kliment agreed and said it will be nice when the recommendation letter is done, and they can move on. Tree Board Meeting Minutes February 1, 2024 Page 4 of 5 ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:02 p.m. Next meeting: March 7 Tree Board Meeting Minutes February 1, 2024 Page 5 of 5