Urban Forestry Commission

Urban Forestry Commission Meeting Minutes Wednesday, July 20, 2022 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Meeting Location: 300 Park Ave, Dogwood Room Attendees UFC members: Amy Crumpton (Chair), Tim Roche, Alison Miller (Secretary) UFC City Staff Liaison: City Council Liaison: Letty Hardi UFC Student Representative: Katharine Hall City Staff: Charles Prince (Arborist) Members of the Public: Other guests: Founders Row II - Mill Creek Team (Joe Muffler, Adam Steiner, Karen White) 1) Call to Order - the meeting was called to order at 7:32 p.m. by Amy Crumpton. 2) Reading of Virtual Meeting Notice - Not applicable for in-person meetings. 3) Roll Call 4) Approval of the June Minutes. June 2022 UFC Meeting Minutes were approved. 5) Public Comments - None received directly to the UFC for this meeting. 6) Staff Updates and Informational Items a) City Council Calendar August 1st is the walking tour of Park Avenue. This is part of the Great Streets Project. It will be important to have UFC participation. Charles will share his perspective prior to the tour since he will be unable to attend. Council recess is 2 weeks at the end of August. The Council will meet again after labor day. b) City Council Fiscal 2023-2024 Work Plan  This will be referred to the UFC shortly for review. This will ensure the Council and UFC are aligned on priorities. More to come. c) Staff Updates Urban Forester has accepted the offer and will be starting August 8th! He has extensive Urban Forestry experience and will provide some capacity relief for Charles. Maintenance role is the next staffing priority. Class B license will be required. If you have any referrals, please send to Charles. This role is available because one maintenance worker resigned for salary reasons. d) NVTA Grant N. Washington St. The city received the grant, but there is no site plan to review yet. The work will not start until 2026. e) Spotted Lantern Fly Update For awareness only. This will likely be in our region soon. We discussed how to make the community aware, such as post ID info on all park announcement kiosks and send out info to venues such as neighborhood listservs or community organizations to get the word out. Charles will ask if we can promote the issue in community newsletters. Falls Church Department of Urban Forestry lists the SLF under Invasive Species Alert on the City’s website: http://www.fallschurchva.gov/223/Invasive-Species-Alert. Reporting mechanisms have been set up in Fairfax County, Arlington, and City of Alexandria: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/spotted-lanternfly; https://mgnv.org/resources/spotted-lanternfly/. f) Virginia Trees for Clean Water Grant The Commission would like to consider where we could request a grant. One idea could be to add trees to Crossman and Howard Herman Park. Add undergrowth to both parks. It is due by August 25th. 7) Current Business a) Founders Row II Presentation This plan has evolved significantly over the past 2 years. They shared via teams the new site plan. The site plan had typical tree lines sidewalks on Broad Street. They noted that of the three mature trees in the Broad Street median, one will be removed, one will be replaced, and one will be retained due the changes to street design. Additionally, they have trees planted along Ellison and S. West Street. They also have an elevated plaza with seating and planters. They also have a public space called the lawn with plantings and shrubs. They also have a large central courtyard. The new design has a 13.8% canopy coverage (above 10% developer target). They are also  implementing raised brick curb to help with tree health. They also shared examples of the vegetation variety. Questions from the commission: ● They were asked how they determined canopy coverage. They applied the same math for Phase I and Phase II for tree coverage. ● They were asked about how they would make this feel more green than the Phase I development. The open spaces on the residential side are lawns. ● They were asked about the lawn and its use. It is intended to be an active use space on the corner. But the lawns further down the street are intended to be lawns. The Commission pushed for thinking about a different cover for that surface. ● They were asked about storm water for open spaces - which they confirmed they are soil volume only. ● They were asked about green roofing. They have two pieces of roof coverage that are intended to support stormwater management. They also have urban bio retention planters for other cover runoff. ● The Arborist, Charles Prince, was happy to see the raised planters along Broad Street to support runoff and drainage issues. The Commission plans to respond with a letter to Mill Creek formalizing concerns. Founders I was also addressed. The Commission asked about what ideas were being discussed to green-up the open space. They don’t believe there are lots of opportunity for plantings. They are thinking through potentially moving planters (similar to open spaces in Mosaic). b) Fellows Park Master Plan The Master Plan is expecting comments on the Plan to encourage community engagement. Members will review and determine how the UFC would like to weigh in. Comments are due by August 26th. Commissioner comments should be received by the next Commission meeting on August 17.. c) DRAFT Recommendations of Green Space and Tree Canopy Coverage Standards The Commission reviewed the draft letter and want to possibly add more category (tree canopy, open space, publicly available open space) definitions. We also want to be clear that street trees shouldn’t count towards canopy coverage. It was recommended to add comparison of what has been built to show Council the impact of these coverage. It was also recommended to discuss with City Attorney and Clerks office to review recommended code changes. CPrince@fallschurchva.govplease share the data d) Planning for joint meeting with Public Utilities Commission  They are very interested in discussing green space and residential space. Amy will circle back to coordinate a date for September. 8) Future Business a) Counting Tree Plantings (My Tree Counts) b) Green Infrastructure Plan/Standards c) Biophilic Cities d) UF Management Plan e) UFC Standard Maintenance Agreements f) TOTY Revision g) UF Code Changes h) Outreach/Publicity i) Memorial or Commemorative Tree Designation Process j) Stormwater Taskforce Coordination 9) Adjourn - the meeting adjourned at 9:21 p.m. by Amy Crumpton. Commission Staff liaison: Charles Prince: 571-238-6306, arborist@fallschurchva.gov