Community Tree Council

1 Community Tree Council (CTC) Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: September 9th, 2019 Location: Planning Department In Attendance - Members: Nina Wurzburger, Rodney Walters, Shawn Doonan. Pam Knox, Joseph Bates, Joe Perloff, Phil Hale, Mary Attaway, Myung Cogan, Staff, Guests, and Ex-Officio Members: Jessie McClellan (nominee), Lea Clark (nominee), Stacee Farrell (Director-Keep Athens Clarke County Beautiful), Russell Edwards (District 7 Commissioner), Daniel Sizemore (Leisure Services), Larry Morris (Emeritis Member) Absent: All members present Call to Order: Nina Wurzburger called the meeting to order at 4:00 P.M. A quorum was present. Housekeeping (Secretary) Rodney Walters 4:05- 4:20 PM ● Roll Call/Sign In (2 minutes): Sign-up sheet was distributed ● (Information- 1 minute) A request has been made to put the CTC approved nominees (Lea Clark and Jessica McClellan) on the September Mayor and Commission agenda setting session. It is anticipated that the Mayor and commission will appoint the two nominees above on October 1st. ● (Information- 10 minutes) ACC Community Tree Program & Warnell partnership. - Classes to conduct tree inventory data collection (inventory planning, attribute table development that will allow the data to generate analysis reports through iTree Eco and iTree Streets) - Tree Fund-Bob Skiera Memorial Fund, Grant opportunity - Community research, engagement, and education partnership opportunity )UGA, Athens Housing Authority, ACC, and the CTC) and may piggyback on West Broad Acres Neighborhood improvement Grant. The Bob Skiera grant will be lead by UGA, Warnell School of Foerstry. Opportunities include:  Citizen Engagement that more effectively fosters citizen participation and feedback (deliberative process -utilization of up to 3 feedback sessions/methods to elicit responses and feedback).  Enhanced understanding of the perceptions and interests of communities representing various socio-economic groups  Development of methodologies and materials for community education and engagement  Education of community and youth groups in aspects of urban forest structure, function, and benefits  Development of community forestry partnerships Treasurer’s Report (Information - 10 minutes): Pam Knox 4:20 – 4:25 PM September CTC written financial report not given, but there is little change in accounts from July or August. The only change would reflect small amounts of accrued interest.  2 CTC Committee Reports (Information and Discussion): 4:25 –5:00 PM ● CTC Executive Committee {Nina (chair), Shawn, Pam, Rodney} - No report given ● CTC Steering Committee {Executive Committee and Standing Committee Chairpersons} -Did not meet ● CTC Education Committee {currently inactive} ● CTC Policy Committee {Joe (Chair), Shawn, Joseph, Joe, Marc, Rodney} - No report given. Due to time constraints, Joe is stepping away from chair role. Rodney has offered to serve as chair and Lea has expressed a commitment to serve on the Policy Committee. ● CTC Trees for Tomorrow Ad-Hoc Committee {Phil (chair), Nina, Joe, Mary, Pam, Rodney} -Daniel asked about the status of the Carl Jordan grove for the Firefly Trail, which is currently under construction. The CTC has $12,000 in the TfT account and is obligated to plant 35 more trees on the Firefly trail. Daniel relayed that Todd Miller (Lesiure Services) would like to see 5 -10 more trees planted on the Firefly trail this year. Some discussion ensued about planting locations and Rodney agreed to have the necessary conversations for some trees to be planted this year next to the benches on the Firefly between S. Poplar St and Inglewood Ave and along Little Oak St. ● CTC Promotions Committee {Mary (Chair), Larry Morris, Joe Perloff} - Mary asked about the benefits of considering a CTC logo change - Jessica has begun work on updating the CTC webpage. Since the current website uses an archaic coding language that is to difficult to use, it is best to start over. Therefore, Jessica purchased a domain and website location for approximately $12 and will migrate the current website, with the current information and look, to the new website (if the CTC does not object). The general consensus was that is a good idea and there was no objection. The new domain would be AthensTreeCouncil.com. There was some discussion about whether the domain should be .org instead of .com, but the .com seems fine.  As Jessica rebuilds the website, she would like a short Bio for everyone (Mary will produce a short survey to help everyone develop their Bio). Ongoing Business (Information and Discussion- 10 minutes): Phil and Stacee 5:00 – 5:30 PM ● Phil and Shawn have been continuing to water trees at the Broad Acres site. ● Dog Park – Daniel asked the CTC about the current status with planting trees at the Dog Park and let the CTC know Leisure Services has a new project manager – Tommy Thurman. He also asked about the artist who had donated a sculpture for there. The CTC informed Daniel that the understanding is the sculpture was being moved to the pocket park by Cobb St and N Harris St. Daniel also asked about the memorial dog tag fundraising concept. The CTC informed Daniel that plans for planting have been tabled because there are no funds available for planting and let Daniel know the dog tag concept or memorial brick concept had been abandoned, because there is no way to replace these items if they should be vandalized. Daniel stated that Leisure services had no funding for planting trees at the dogpark. When asked why trees were not a part of the plan for the dog park, Daniel responded that landscapes are the first cuts made to a project when there are project overruns. The CTC said it could engage in fundraising. There was a discussion about possible memorial concepts and the general consensus is that a Kiosk or Post & Plaque could both communicate the contributions of the community and memorialize individual pets through an online format. The Kiosk approach is understood to be vulnerable to scams. The Post & Plaque concept was considered to be simple and could have a URLthat takes viewers to links of both memorialized pets (maintained on the CTC webpage) and to CTC fundraising links for the planting of trees at the dogpark for the purpose of providing shade to dog park users. Three questions were directed toward Rodney to inquire of Landscape Management (LMD), who has offered to plant and establish trees at the dogpark if the trees are purchased for that purpose: How much advanced notice does LMD need?; Can the trees be planted in stages over a period of years as funds to purchase trees becomes available?; Will LMD provide mulch?; are there any leftover funds available to help with the tree planting at the dogpark?  3 New Business: Nina Wurzburger 5:30 – 6:00 PM ● (Discussion – 15 minutes)) Fundraising and new funding opportunities: ▪ The current focus for funding includes grant applications to Synovous and Georgia Power. Nina was able to meet with the Athens Housing Authority (AHA) (Rick Parker) and the AHA is very enthusiastic about moving forward with a partnership with the CTC in planting trees on AHA locations. The AHA does need to maintain oversight and, therefore, needs to be kept in the communication loop. The AHA expressed an interest in helping to water trees to lower costs. The possibility of the AHA hiring a resident to water trees was mentioned. This understanding between the CTC and the AHA will help in the process to request a $25K grant from GA Power. ▪ The CTC agreed to pursue a Synovous grant for $10K, which would be granted to support underserved or marginalized Athens’ communities and would work well to continue planting at Broad Acres and Rock Springs ● Russell Edwards brought up a concern about the practice of large mature trees being removed when single family residential properties are purchased and/or renovated, especially when the lots are cleared and when right-of-way trees are removed without permission. Rodney cited information from the 2005 CTC inquiry and response to the Athens Commission about the CTC’s recommendation about ordinances that require a permit to remove a tree. The 2005 process involved a consensus from Athens community organizations (ACC Planning Commission, local foresters, commercial building contractors, designers/landscape architects, Federation of Neighborhood and Community Association of Athens Clarke County, residential building contractors and the Athens Area Home Builder’s Association, civil engineers, developers, the Community Tree Council, Athens area Utility Coordinating Committee). After reviewing ordinances from 25 other Southern communities, the stakeholder’s consensus was:  Tree removal permit requirements for existing lots was not recommended by the staff work team, because they are controversial and affect private property rights and because the community is not in agreement on this level of regulation.  Tree removal permits would require substantial staff time to implement (site inspection, monitoring, enforcement) and sufficient staff time is not available for these types of activities.  A process does exist in the Athen’s ordinance to protect trees on county property, with landmark distinction, and on protected zones (Milledge Ave). Additionally tree management plans are required before trees may be removed for development project. - The current administrative tools that may be utilized to protect trees were discussed and include: the requirements for right-of-way encroachment permits; timber harvest permit requirements for any removal of 5 or more trees; the forester’s and planning arborists ability to issue 24 or 48 hours notices of non-compliance, a stop work order, and to withhold occupancy permits. - The CTC discussed opportunities to deploy other tree protection strategies within the current ordinance framework and include: providing educational literature along with the plan review process, developing an incentive program to reduce stormwater runoff fees in exchange for planting and maintaining trees (good stewardship of trees, which reduce stormwater runoff); and developing a tree bank that may provide for the planting and maintenance of trees as a purchase option for the legal right to removing trees during development or otherwise. - The Policy Committee agreed to explore this concern, of trees being indiscriminately removed, in more depth to ask what solutions may be utilized to address the issue. Adjourn Nina Wurzburger 6:00 PM ● The next CTC meeting will be held on 10/14/2019 at 4:00 PM in the ACC Planning Office. ● A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting and the meeting adjourned at 6:00 PM.