2013-11-07 Tree Board MinutesCity of Edmonds Citizens' Tree Board
APPROVED MINUTES
November 7, 2013
Meeting Date: November 7, 2013
Meeting called to order at 6:05 by Steve Hatzenbeler, in the Brackett Room at Edmonds City Hall
Appointed Members Present:
Darcy McPherson
Barbara Harrell
Roy Smith
Rick Zitzman
Steve Hatzenbeler
Appointed Members Absent:
Susan Paine
Anna Marie Heckman
Rene Travis
City Staff Present:
Joan Bloom (Edmonds City Council)
Rich Lindsay (Edmonds Parks Manager)
Guests Present:
Janice Freeman (Sustainable Edmonds)
Bill Weaver (Edmonds resident)
Discussion:
1. Roll Call
2. Agenda: Agenda was amended to delete approval of previous months' meeting minutes because none
have been received for review. Rick moved to approve amended agenda, and Darcy seconded; motion
passed unanimously.
3. Audience Comments:
Bill Weaver, 19632 84t" Ave W, was at the meeting to discuss a large tree in his front yard. Originally
Bill believed the tree was on his property, but in his review of the plat map, it appears the tree is
actually in the City right of way. The tree has a history of dropping large limbs, including several
recently that fell near his automobiles. He is concerned about the hazard of the falling limbs, and also
about the damage to his driveway due to root uplift, and potential damage that may occur to his home
when the roots reach the other walkway(s) and the building foundation. Bill has contacted the City and
sent some information to Chris Rivera, who has reviewed the tree's condition. Bill is asking for the City
to maintain the tree and/or to pay for removal, since it is in the City right of way.
Rich Lindsay said he would visit the site to review the condition of the tree and get back to Bill with
advice regarding next steps. Steve commented that if the tree gets removed, the Tree Board would
encourage Bill to consider planting some new smaller trees in its place to improve tree canopy
coverage.
4. There was a short discussion of the Heritage Tree Program. Rick has not received any comments on
the draft resolution he sent out to the group. Steve noted that he is aware that Susan has some
thoughts on it, but since she was not at the meeting, we agreed to postpone further discussion to next
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month. Rick will re -send the document to the Tree Board for review.
5. We discussed the City's draft Procedures for Obtaining Permitting and Approval for Tree Removal or
Trimming within City of Edmonds Rights of Way, which was distributed to the Tree Board for review
prior to the meeting. The following comments were discussed, and we agreed that further discussion
would be added to the December meeting agenda:
• There is unusual wording in the 5th bullet item in Section 1 — Permit Required. The sentence "...any
branches or portions of the tree exceeding six inches (6") in diameter falling within the traveled
way..." should be re -worked to be more clear.
• In Section 3, 5th bullet item, the arborist should be a Certified Tree Risk Assessor.
• In Section 3, 5th bullet item, there needs to be clarification added regarding who is responsible for
paying for the arborist evaluation.
6. There was discussion about the Trees for the Planet speaker for January. Nobody present had any
information to share, so we agreed to postpone the discussion until the December meeting.
7. Rich Lindsay presented a memo he prepared in response to a Craig and Cathy Colbert's inquiry about
the existing Corkscrew Willow trees in the Elm Place development. Rich asked for Tree Board
members to review the memo and bring comments to the December meeting. Steve asked Rich to
send a pdf of the memo to the Tree Board so that Anna and Susan can review it.
8. Darcy raised some questions about the Tree Board Mission Statement. We did not discuss it in detail
and agreed that it could be a discussion item at the December meeting or another upcoming month.
9. Joan discussed the City Council's allocation of $75,000 for a code rewrite, which does not include the
Tree Code. Joan is considering proposing $15,000-25,000 from the City, with pursuit of a matching
grant, for a Tree Code rewrite. Joan asked if that is enough money for the Tree Code and we agreed
would be good to get Susan's input because of her experience working on Seattle's code.
Meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:45.
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