Shade Tree Management Board

Shade Tree Management Board Madison, NJ 07940 Minutes of March 16, 2017 Meeting The Shade Tree Management Board held its regular monthly meeting on March 16, 2017 beginning at 8:10 AM in the Committee Room of the Hartley Dodge Memorial, 50 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. Call to Order: Gene Cracovia called the meeting to order. Present: Alan Andreas, Nancy Bruce, Gene Cracovia, Penny Garman, Vince Licari, Stephen Miller, Tom Salaki and Carmela Vitale. Not Attending: Brian Monaghan and Alice Wade. Minutes: The February minutes were approved. The Board addressed the following items of business: Public Contacts • 185 Ridgedale – construction contractor asked for permission to remove 3 trees. DPW determined that they were on private property. • 19 Bruns – Vince assessed the property and reported 1 borough tree should not be removed but be protected with proper fencing. That has not happened and a portable toilet has been placed on top of its root structure. A picture of this violation has been sent to Bob Vogel who has agreed to track these situations. Carmela will talk to Ray Cody on how to correct this and future violations. Council Liaison Report ● Carmela reported that the budget is on track for April approval. ● As a result of the recent fire on Main St., the fire chief raised a concern about the tree heights along Main St. impeding the fire apparatus. Vince will contact the chief and provide an assessment of the situation. Borough Tree Status ● Spring Tree Order – 105 trees are due to arrive on April 5th. New tree planting letters will be sent out this week. Quadrant teams were given the planned list of planting sites and tree species. Once the snow melts and mark-out dates have been provided, tree-planting sites need to be marked. ● Removals – 30 trees have been marked for removal of which 21 are ash trees. If the ashes are not removed by April 1st, their removal will be moved to September. ● Pruning – new tree pruning has started. TCC  ● There were 2 new cases that need assessment for the next April TCC meeting. Alan will do one and Vince the other. ● Alice reported that she has added 4 new locations which have potential construction / street tree conflicts. Road reconstruction for Howell and Lathrope are planned for this summer. Vince needs to assess the impact on the trees on these roads. Parks Advisory Committee ● Paul reported that there are some leaning trees near Summerhill Park paths. He will work with DPW to correct the situation. Also, with the help of Mike Kopas, the ash trees along the paths need to be identified. ● Extra tree planting sites have been identified on the fields by Howard and Myrtle. Budget Report ● 2017 projected budget $117,650 ● Encumbered $81,580 o $60,000 – Maintenance o $3,500 – Professional Services o $18,080 – Agricultural Supplies FMST ● Chris Schorr will be providing 105 custom tree planting instructions /door hangers like 2016 ● FMST’s annual solicitation letter and Electric Bill insert request will be sent out in March and April. ● Library - once planting proposals to replace the dying dogwoods along the southern entrance way are defined, FMST will help implement the project. Old/New Business ● EAB Update – a resident from the Commons asked for advice on whether the ash trees should be removed on the entire street or could be removed/replaced on an every-other-tree basis. Given the trees are not yet infected, there is an economic cost / value trade-off. In discussing the ash trees near the Noe cemetery, Tom was at a recent seminar, which talked about trees and cemeteries – he will see what trees are recommended. ● Tree inventory – ArborPro still has not re-scheduled a review of their new release. Steve will follow-up. Tom will work with Steve on getting some experience on the ArborPro software. ● Tree Seedling Program – Drew will again be the distribution point for 1000 free tree seedlings from the State. FMST will take the extras for both planting in the tree nursery and distribution on Amy/Arbor Day. ● Community Forestry Management Plan – Rich Wolowicz who has been commissioned to produce the next 5-year plan, is planning to have the 1st draft for review by April 1st. ● Private Tree Ordinance – Carmela will work with Ray Cody on determining what should change from the previous draft proposal. Tom recently described the removal of mature private trees and the quantitative impact (e.g. additional cooling costs) as well as qualitative impacts on the neighbors.  ● High School Service Day – STMB will partner with Parks Advisory on a project in Summerhill Park and the Luke Miller House. ● Arbor Day – Nancy has started planning for the annual Arbor/ May Day celebration. Board Adjourned 9:25 AM Submitted by Gene Cracovia