Tree & Landscape Board

Minutes of the Tree and Landscape Board City of College Park Virtual Meeting Wednesday, November 17, 2021, 7:00PM Term Exp. Members Present Absent N/A Brenda Alexander, Public Works Assistant Director 04/30/2021 John Lea-Cox, City Forester 04/30/2021 Christine O’Brien, member 10/31/2021 James Meyer, member 04/09/2021 Janet Wagner, member 04/30/2021 Rashawna Alfred, member 04/30/2021 Todd Reitzel, member Dylan Burns, CBE, representative Caroline Wick, CBE representative ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Present: Carleveva Thompson, Contract Secretary Ms. Alfred called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. 1. Approval of Meeting Agenda: The agenda for the November 17, 2021 meeting was reviewed and edits were made to the agenda. Motion: Add University of Maryland meeting to New Business and monthly Municipal Scene to Old Business. Moved: Ms. Alfred Second: Dr. Lea-Cox Aye: Unanimous Nay: 0 Abstain: 0 2. Approval of September Meeting Minutes: The Board reviewed the meeting minutes of the September 15, 2021 meeting. Motion: Accept September meeting minutes as amended. Moved: Ms. Alfred Second: Dr. Lea-Cox Aye: Unanimous Nay: 0 Abstain: 0 3. Approval of October Meeting Minutes: The Board reviewed the meeting minutes of the October 20, 2021 meeting. Motion: Accept October meeting minutes as amended. Moved: Ms. Alfred Second: Mr. Reitzel Aye: Unanimous Nay: 0 Abstain: 0 4. Public Works Department Report: Ms. Alexander shared the following highlights:  The online form to request street tree maintenance or street tree planting is posted on the City’s website. The online form can be accessed from a mobile device. The form includes questions to see if residents are interested in planting a tree on private property and link to the Tree Canopy Enhancement Program application.  Planning to develop a new program for the City to hire a contractor to plant trees on private property.   Pepco line clearance work will begin in December in the College Park Woods area. Mostly tree pruning will be done.  Public Works has finished planting over 50 street tree replacements.  Tree identification signs have been installed on 9 trees in Berwyn. Old Town and Calvert Hills are the next areas to install tree identification signs. 5. CBE Report: No report was provided. 6. Old Business a. Annual Report The Board discussed including the following accomplishments in the 2021 annual report:  Revised and refined the Urban Forest Protection Recommendations and submitted to the City Council for voting.  Maintained collaborations with the Bee City Committee.  Submitted educational articles related to trees in the Municipal Scene. b. Municipal Scene The next article for the December Municipal Scene will be called “Leave the Leaves”. 7. New Business a. Meeting with University of Maryland Dr. Lea-Cox and Ms. Alexander met with Karen Petroff, Facilities Management, Richard Jones, Urban Forester, and Darwin Bernstein, Landscape Architect, all with the University of Maryland. The University is amendable to work with the City. The University is behind in implementing the 2025 strategic plan and are also learning a new strategic plan process. The meeting was scheduled as a result of the urban forest recommendations to meet with Maryland National Capital Park and Planning and the University of Maryland as they are responsible for significant acreage in the City. There was also discussion regarding the University having the same issues as the City such as difficulty finding good tree planting locations and utility issues. There was also interest in joint collaboration projects with the City. The Board will invite Richard Jones to the January 19, 2022 meeting to provide a presentation. b. The Board will draft a letter to the City Manager requesting that the City ARPA funds be designated to develop an urban tree canopy master plan. c. The Board reviewed the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning’s audio presentation regarding permitting processes in conjunction with development projects. An addendum will be drafted and finalized to capture the main discussion points from this September meeting. 8. Next Meeting Date The next scheduled meeting will be held on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. 9. Adjourn Ms. Alfred motioned to adjourn the meeting. Second by Mr. Reitzel. The meeting was adjourned at 9:04 p.m.