Hendersonville Tree Board

CITY OF HENDERSONVILLE HENDERSONVILLE TREE BOARD Operations Center - Assembly Room | 305 Williams St. | Hendersonville NC 28792 Tuesday, January 05, 2021 – 3:00 PM AGENDA CALL TO ORDER City of Hendersonville Tree Board – Regular Meeting January 5, 2021 at 3 PM City Operation Center – Large Assembly Room (Zoom Meeting) Call to Order Consideration of Agenda Consideration of the July 7, 2020 Minutes Public Relations Update – Mary Jo Padgett Updates: Bee City, Bee Mural, Pollinator Bed at Hands On Museum – Kim Bailey Conditional Use District Projects: Fleming Street & The Cedars NeighborWoods Tree Board Budget for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Arbor Day Celebration HENDERSONVILLE TREE BOARD – January 05, 2021 Page | 1  Staff Comments Adjournment July 7, 2020 Minutes – Hendersonville Tree Board (Via Zoom) Members Present: Mac Bracket, Pat Christie, Mia Freeman, and Mark Madsen. Members Absent: Debbie Roundtree, Judy Frank, and Al Kruger. Tom Wooten, Chad Freeman, Allison Justice were also present. Called to order at 3:00 PM. Consideration of the agenda -No Additions. Vote – All Ayes. Consideration of the March 3, 2020 Minutes. Vote – All Ayes. Tree Board Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 - 2021. The new budget will be the same as 2019 – 2020 ($16,770) Public Relations Update by Mary Jo Padgett – Mary Jo provided her update via Zoom. Mary Jo discussed the Garden Jubilee event and the June pollinator events. Bee City Update by Kim Bailey – Kim provided an update via Zoom. Fundraising was at $20,000 but has been surpassed, the current amount is at $38,000. Since Garden Jubilee was scaled down, they focused on plant sales to raise money and they raised $6,000. Mast General was going to donate $500 but COVID-19 has delayed that donation. COVID 19 has also put a damper on fundraising at Hands on Museum so they have set up a method for collecting donation on their web page. Bold Rock wants to help raise money by having a National Honey Bee Day event. Black Eyed Susan seed packs were distributed through the Hendersonville Co-Op rather than at Garden Jubilee. The mural painting is still scheduled for October – November. Pollinator Beds on Four Seasons Blvd – Bruce Lowe provided an update via Zoom. Bruce stated that the materials for the beds should be around $5,000 - $6,000 (no Labor). The project should take place in the Spring of 2021. Soil prep should consist of tilling (by the City), leaf mulch addition, lime addition in the Fall, along with a temporary grass cover for erosion control. The contractor will need to till prior to planting. Encroachments have been sent to NCDOT. Tom will ask John Connet if this project needs to go before City Council. Kim Bailey spoke to the Master Gardeners about labor. They do not provide labor or maintenance. They are primarily an educational program. Tom will follow about water taps at both locations. Possible Pollinator Beds at Hands on Museum – a planting project should take place in the Spring after the mural is finished. Do we have the funds to plant this bed? Conditioinal Use Districts – Mac spoke to Daniel Heyman and reported the following: 1st Avenue Project is coming back with some modifications. The developer is trying to save some trees along the HENDERSONVILLE TREE BOARD – January 05, 2021 Page | 2 border but all trees with in the interior will be removed. The Cedars project is on hold, it may go before the Planning Board in August. The Duncan Hill Apartments project – the property is up for sale. Clear Creek project is still moving forward. There was no movement on the Signal Hill Storage Facility project. The Universal at Lakewood project does not have many trees on site so it will not be a drastic change if they cut them. Arbor Day Celebration – We are considering a celebration in the Fall. Mac will discuss this with the Rotary Club for input. The plaque for Dr. Volk is finished. SECU Mini Park – Is it possible to plant the park area if SECU does not landscape that area? We will wait and see what happens on site then follow up on this project. Impact on Trees from NCDOT Projects – Tom reported that the I-26 project is moving forward with grading and tree removal. Most of the other projects are on hold due to funding issues. Current Projects: A. Neighborwoods – Cambridge West – were these trees 10 gallon or 7 gallon? Chad reported that we purchased what we could find so some were 10 gallon and some were 7 gallon. Ideally, we would order in August and pick up in October. Chad needs a complete tree list by the end of August for all the trees that will be planted that Fall. Mac will organize a site visit at Oklawaha Village. B. Additional Trees & Replacement Trees Four Seasons Blvd – nine small trees are needed in the wooded area of the triangle area between Duncan Hill, 7th Avenue, and Four Seasons Blvd. Delay the project until the Spring of 2021. Four Seasons Blvd Trees – most have been planted at the Blue Ridge Mall. Yellowwood Trees – Mark pruned out the dead wood in these trees. C. Tree Canopy Survey – Mac could not get up with Mike Huffman for an update. D. Tree Maintenance on Four Seasons Blvd – Chad is trying to cut back the maintenance to once per month during the summer. Future Projects: Trees and Tree Tags for Hendersonville Elementary – No update on this project. Trees for Sullivan Park (Fall of 2020) – No update on this project. Maintenance of Pollinator Beds on Bearcat Loop – No update on this project. Tree Cities of the World (Mantova Challenge) – Mac will send the winners to Tom. This may be a good PR project for the City if we can find the resources to participate in the project. New Business – Tree Cutting at Housing Authority 3rd Avenue – No trees will be removed at this site. They are completing some routine maintenance to help with some problems but no trees will be removed. They are removing some shrubs/plants but they plan to replant with better plants for the areas. Old Business: New Name for Community Foundation Neighborwoods Tree Fund – A discussion was held concerning the name of the fund. The Board settled on “Hendersonville Tree Board Fund”. HENDERSONVILLE TREE BOARD – January 05, 2021 Page | 3 Memorial Garden for Wes Burlingame – a proposed memorial garden at the triangle area along the Oklawaha Greenway Trail was discussed. Dogwood Trees or Blackgum Trees would be good choices (any trees that can survive very wet areas and flooding conditions). Heritage Tree Application – Pat Christie will go out and assess the trees for the latest Heritage Tree Application. No other action taken. Coloring Book – no action was taken. Citizens Concerned with Climate Crisis – no action was taken. Staff Comments Utility Update – Duke Energy has a contractor in town replacing all of the old streetlights with new LED streetlights. No trees will be removed for this project. Do other updates. Other – Mary Jo mentioned Tiny Urban Forests which is a project that originated in Japan and is gaining momentum in the United States. Mac will add it to the agenda for further discussion. Adjournment – 4:45 PM. REPORT TO: Hendersonville Tree Board FROM: Mary Jo Padgett, PR Consultant RE: Publicity Report for July Board meeting DATE: July 7, 2020 [Information on the circumstances surrounding the lack of reports on publicity since the last meeting of the Hendersonville Tree Board on March 3: in mid-March the coronavirus pandemic, aka COVID-19, which had begun earlier in the year in Asia and Europe, entered the U.S. and quickly spread across the country. Guidelines and restrictions were imposed by the CDC and by governors in various states, including NC. By the end of March, stay-at-home restrictions were imposed in Henderson County, leading to the shutdown of Hendersonville municipal offices, with staff working at home for the most part. The pandemic has led to closing of restaurants and other non-essential businesses, which has led to a significant economic downturn nationwide and globally. No meetings of the Tree Board were held in April, May, and June. The July meeting is a remote meeting, with the majority of board members participating via Zoom conferencing interface.] Publicity/ events since last board meeting -- Garden Jubilee, May 22-25 A perennial favorite annual event sponsored by Hendersonville TDA, Garden Jubilee format was changed this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. Hendersonville’s Bee City USA project takes advantage by hosting an information tent … which this year was located at Sideways HENDERSONVILLE TREE BOARD – January 05, 2021 Page | 4 Farm and Brewery in Etowah. Publicity involved a news release about the tent location and highlighted the pollinator-friendly plant sale, on location and online, to raise money for the Bee Mural project. News coverage was excellent – on TV, radio, and print – so that attendance and participation by the public resulted in a good sum raised. Kim B. will give a report on this during today’s meeting. June Pollinator Month activities – Kim B., coordinator for Pollinator Month activities, worked with businesses and other locations to create a calendar of events during this unusual Pollinator Month scenario. I prepared a news release with that calendar included, which resulted in excellent news coverage on all media. Kim will give a report on the results of this event. Publicity/Funding for Bee Mural – I continue to help Kim Bailey and the fundraising committee to publicize the Bee Mural Project. Watch for Kim’s report on this. Arbor Day Ceremony – The annual Arbor Day Ceremony, normally scheduled in early May, was not held this spring due to COVID-19. I will work with Four Seasons Rotary Club to publicize the event whenever it is re-scheduled. Upcoming Calendar -- HENDERSONVILLE TREE BOARD CALENDAR 2020 Fall – NeighborWoods Project at Oklawaha Village Tree Walk co-sponsored w FOOG – Mark M. pick a date Plant 16 trees at Hendersonville Elementary, (need 15 vols) Trees for Sullivan Park The City of Hendersonville is committed to providing accessible facilities, programs and services for all people in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Should you need assistance or an HENDERSONVILLE TREE BOARD – January 05, 2021 Page | 5 accommodation for this meeting please contact the City Clerk no later than 24 hours prior to the meeting at 697-3005. EnterTextHere EnterTextHere EnterTextHere BUDGET AMOUNT APPROVED FOR FY 2019/2020 Tree Replacement and Supplies - $4,500 PR Work - $2,500 NeighborWoods Projects - $3,000 Arbor Day and Bee City USA - $250 Urban Forestry Membership - $20 MLK Blvd Maintenance - $4,500 Planting Projects - $2,000 Total Approved for FY 2019/2020 is $16,770 Cancelled due to COVID - 19 Restrictions Tree City USA and Tree City Growth Award Applications were submitted in December, 2020. Current Budget Amount Available For The Remainder Of This Year: $4,928.81. ADJOURNMENT HENDERSONVILLE TREE BOARD – January 05, 2021 Page | 6