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2023-04-06 Tree Board MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS CITIZENS' TREE BOARD �•Summary Minutes of Regular Meeting April 6, 2023 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Cass called the Tree Board meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Board Members Present Janelle Cass, Chair Bill Phipps, Vice Chair Crane Stavig (online) Ross Dimmick, Alternate Kevin Fagerstrom Board Members Absent Chris Eck (excused) Wendy Kliment (excused) Andy Lyon (excused) LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Staff Present Deb Powers, Urban Forest Planner Others Present Jenna Nand, Edmonds City Council Representative Board Member Fagerstrom read the land acknowledgement. MINUTES Approval of March 2, 2023 Tree Board Minutes There was consensus to make the following amendments: • Under Unfinished Business, item 1, to add Janelle Cass as an attendee at Yost Park. • Board Alternate Dimmick made an appeal to the Chair regarding attendance at the March 2, 2023 Tree Board meeting. Due to uncertainty of the Alternate position's approval status by the full City Council, Alternate Dimmick requested that the absence be shown as excused in the minutes. Appeal granted. The March 2, 2023 Tree Board minutes were approved as amended. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There was discussion about the new format of the agendas. Ms. Powers explained all City boards and commissions under the Planning Division are to be consistent with Planning Board formatting. Board members Tree Board Meeting Minutes April 6, 2023 Page 1 of 6 requested more detail on the agenda for clarity and transparency. Chair Cass also noted it should be Citizens' Tree Board and not Edmonds Tree Board. It was noted that the in -person meeting location needs to be updated on the website. Board Member Fagerstrom recommended putting a printout copy of the full packet at the back of the room for visitors. Ms. Powers noted the purpose of the new agenda format is to provide greater detail on business items for the public and for consistency with other boards and commissions. She brought two copies of the full packet that were located at the back of the room to the tables where the Board was seated. Vice Chair Phipps asked to discuss a letter he received from a citizen at the first public meeting on the Tree Code which he physically distributed copies to everyone. He also requested a discussion under Unfinished Business about getting an update about the Street Tree Plan. He requested adding a discussion about the prior March 27, 2023 Tree Code Update -related event to New Business. He recommended the Tree Board consider an exercise to follow a proposed development from the beginning to the end of the process to understand how the code and tree retention plans work. This was added to New Business. The agenda was approved as amended. AUDIENCE COMMENTS Sherry Eischen and Jan Clem commented they were just present to observe and to learn. Sam Jaenicke (online) said she also was trying to get an understanding of where the Tree Board is and what their plans are. She commented that the great majority of the trees in Edmonds are on private property. This would lead her to believe that property owners are good and reasonable stewards of the tree canopy. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Approved Events & Projects • Earth Day — April 22 — Board Member Kliment will purchase snacks which will be divided between the two locations. Vice Chair Phipps will bring the banners, tablecloths, and pamphlets for setting up. Board Members Cass and Eck will be at Yost. Board Members Kliment and Fagerstrom (and his significant other) will be at Pine Ridge. Vice Chair Phipps will be at both sites to help set up. Exceptional Tree Designations — Chair Cass requested that the name Special Tree Designation be changed to Exceptional Tree Designation in the Work Plan, since that is what the group came to a consensus on. Chair Cass requested that Heritage Tree Designation be removed from the Work Plan. Ms. Powers noted the correction to the Exceptional tree designation and explained that Heritage Tree program is shown in the work plan as a "potential project," even though the Tree Board has not chosen to pursue it in 2023. Ms. Powers explained that heritage tree program for private property trees is a goal in the Urban Forest Management Plan Councilmember Nand pointed out that even if the Board doesn't take up the Heritage Tree Program as part of their work it is still a goal of the Urban Forest Management Plan which was previously approved by Council. Since the purpose of the Tree Board is to advise the Council on policies related to trees, she asked if they would be voting to advise the Council to remove the Heritage Tree Program from the document or if they would just not be considering it in 2023. Ms. Powers noted that the tasks for Tree Board Meeting Minutes April 6, 2023 Page 2 of 6 developing the program shown under Heritage trees apply, regardless of title. There was confusion about whether a budget was approved for the Exceptional tree plaques. Board Member Fagerstrom asked about the Board's authority to push the Heritage Trees item off until 2024. Ms. Powers reminded the group that the member who was taking the lead on Exceptional trees was not present. The Board agreed to table this item until next month when Board Member Lyons could be present. • Sierra Park — continued to next month. • Arbor Day Celebration: October 7: o Board Member Fagerstrom reported that he paid and reserved the spot at the market. o Board Member Stavig commented he is researching various sources for trees. He thinks they should be able to find appropriate trees such as Japanese maple or vine maple trees for less than $5 per tree. He found some for $1-2 per little tree but the nursery had a $750 minimum. He also has connections for nice specimen trees if needed. o Vice Chair Phipps said he picked up about 25 little seedlings of a variety of conifers from his brother's tree farm. There was some discussion about whether these were the right tree for the right place. o There was some discussion about whether or not to do the raffle of some bigger trees. Several spoke in support of simplifying and not doing the raffle this year. o Board Member Fagerstrom asked about the GIS mapping activity that had been brought up. Ms. Powers explained that the City's IT department is still working on adding a public -facing layer to GIS mapping. She also raised concern that there might be some difficulties with the site loading outdoors at the market, using a wireless network. Board Member Fagerstrom suggested just having a handout with the website information. Ms. Powers noted they could have a large map printed to display on an easel. o The Board will discuss a staffing plan closer to the event. o Board Member Fagerstrom asked if the DNR grant that was received in 2022 was available for 2023. Is this something they want to consider? Ms. Powers offered to check. Arbor Day/Restoration Project — Ms. Powers explained that Parks is interested in collaborating on an Arbor Day related restoration project in the fall with Edmonds Stewards. She suggested, depending on what the restoration event date is, they might want to consider expanding Arbor Day to Arbor Week or Month. Garden Tour Tree Signs — Edmonds in Bloom — Vice Chair Phipps has the signs in his garage. Board Member Kliment will find out how many gardens there will be and what signs will be needed. Ms. Powers noted how the trees in each garden are identified and that the signs are ready to print and assemble by the Tree Board. The Edmonds in Bloom committee will place the signs the day before the actual tour. 2. Street Tree Plan — Vice Chair Phipps wanted to know if and when Edmonds is going to make a plan for planting street trees as is done in Mukilteo and Mill Creek. He also asked about Edmonds' budget for planting street trees. Ms. Powers reminded Board members that Planning Manager Levitan Tree Board Meeting Minutes April 6, 2023 Page 3 of 6 addressed this topic at a prior Tree Board meeting. Ms. Powers reviewed that the project languished after the last update to the Street Tree Plan in 2015. It used to be an appendix to a Parks document. This is already funded and is moving forward now under the Street Typologies Project under the Planning Division with Director McLaughlin as project manager. The street tree list will be updated under that project. Ms. Powers spoke of the importance of getting a good citywide street tree inventory so they can manage what they have before planting more. She recommended voicing support for this to the Council during the budget cycle. Vice Chair Phipps agreed. Councilmember Nand agreed that advocating for this when the budget requests are on the Council's agenda would be very effective. Councilmember Nand brought up the ancillary topic of undergrounding of utility lines which has an impact on what kind of trees can be planted. That is a budget item that generated some discussion last year. There was discussion about undergrounding utilities when possible and taking advantage of other projects to make it more economical. NEW BUSINESS Projects/Programs Under Consideration — Ms. Powers requested any anticipated costs for projects under consideration for 2023 be added to the Work Plan prior to fmal budget approval. Chair Cass summarized the anticipated expenses as $840 for Arbor Day, $60 for Earth Day snacks, and $500 for plaques. The Board was not sure if the plaques were for the street trees or for Sierra Park. Chair Cass thought the plaques were related to the street tree/Exceptional Trees. Ms. Powers noted $500 is shown in the Work Plan under Sierra Park signs. There was agreement that the total anticipated costs for 2023 was $1,400, so there may be a discrepancy. Walking Tour: Board Member Stavig said he talked to Bess Bronstein. One suggestion from her is to not do the tree walk in August; instead, they should do it on October 7 to coincide with all of the other tree stuff going on. She also mentioned that City Park might not be the best place but that there are some great streets surrounding City Park that have some fantastic specimens. Ms. Powers expressed concern about overscheduling Tree Board members too thin in one day and holding events at the same time. She suggested that the Farmers Market tree giveaway could be the kickoff event, and they could have a subsequent tree walk following that. There was discussion about whether the walk should happen on the same day or at a later date. No decision was made. Councilmember Nand suggested they explore other parts of Edmonds such as the Edmonds portion of the Interurban Trail by Lake Ballinger or by Meadowdale in North Edmonds. Board Member Stavig pointed out the importance of having a location with a nice diversity of specimens. He recommended letting Bess decide on the best location between now and then. Her fee for this is $125 per hour plus travel. Motion made by Chair Cass to budget $350 for a public tree walking tour. The motion was seconded by Board Member Dimmick. Motion passed unanimously. Updates to homeowner tree list: Ms. Powers noted that the list is outdated with species that are inappropriate. It should be reviewed for what is now considered an invasive species. It also needs to be formatted to print. This will remain on the to do list. • Voucher program: Vice Chair Phipps noted that Lynnwood has a nice tree voucher program that is run by the City/City staff. Anybody that lives in Lynnwood can apply for up to $500 Tree Board Meeting Minutes April 6, 2023 Page 4 of 6 worth of trees once a year. He reviewed how the process works. He was curious what their budget was per year and how many people actually take advantage of it. He wondered if they get help with the funding from any other agencies. Ms. Powers noted similar programs in Kirkland, Lynnwood and Tacoma that use different grant sources to get trees and stressed that each of these programs are run by City staff. There are no staffing resources currently in Edmonds. She recommended that the tree giveaway that they are already doing is a good start and to look for grant funding sources to expand/continue that in the future as the event grows in popularity. Vice Chair Phipps will continue to explore this as an incentive for citizens to plant trees as a "carrot" option versus "stick." Vice Chair Phipps asked for feedback about his idea to follow a development project from beginning to end. He was thinking about the one on 88t" because it looks like a significant project with significant tree loss. Motion made by Board Member Fagerstrom, seconded by Board Member Dimmick, to move the discussion about the development tree retention plan exercise to May. Motion passed 4-0 with Vice Chair Phipps abstaining. 2. Staff Updates — Ms. Powers said she would update the budget to present it for approval. She stated the importance of getting the Tree Board stakeholder meeting scheduled. One option is to have the regular May meeting designated as a Special Meeting which would be facilitated by the consultant. Motion made by Board Member Fagerstrom, seconded by Board Member Dimmick, to have the Tree Board stakeholder meeting on May 3 and the regular meeting on May 4. Motion passed unanimously. Discussion regarding initial public outreach for the Tree Code on March 27: • Vice Chair Phipps expressed frustration at how the discussion for breakout groups at that meeting was not guided or facilitated. He wished there had been a summary to hand to people about what the current code is because people had no idea. He thinks that the people that are against the idea are the ones that show up. • Board Member Fagerstrom thought the agenda of what they were trying to accomplish was too great and there was not enough time for discussion and presenting by the groups. He thought it would have been helpful to have facilitators there for the breakout groups and to provide more structure. • Chair Cass concurred. She suggested that the questions for the breakout group should have been included on the agenda. There would have been great value to having the groups have time to explain their notes. She also thought the online interaction was a little clunky. She noted that the QR code on the postcard didn't go to the survey; it went to the Zoom meeting. • Ms. Powers acknowledged all this and explained they had a debrief with the consultant the next day to review the scope and the contract. They stressed that they needed to be present for professional facilitation for the in -person side of things. There will be two people present for the May 15 in person event. • Chair Cass requested that there be a link to the project and timeline. Ms. Powers said there is a project webpage on the City's website and that the url is shown on printed publications related to the project. The project webpage shows upcoming public meeting dates. Tree Board Meeting Minutes April 6, 2023 Page 5 of 6 • Board Member Fagerstrom noted that the event hadn't been listed on the City's event calendar. Ms. Powers explained that was because it was not a public meeting. 4. Discussion about Development Exercise raised by Vice Chair Phipps — Continued to May TREE BOARD CHAIR/MEMBER COMMENTS Board Member Dimmick said he would like to spend some time at another meeting discussing the letter that Vice Chair Phipps had distributed to the group from an anonymous citizen about tree code concerns. Since she did not provide a name or contact information there was no way to respond. Board Member Fagerstrom asked about the required OPMA training. Ms. Powers directed him to an online link and also recommended to the Board that members watch the training City Attorney Faraday did at the Planning Board retreat. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:32 p.m. Next meeting: May 4 Tree Board Meeting Minutes April 6, 2023 Page 6 of 6