Shade Tree Management Board

Shade Tree Management Board Madison, NJ 07940 Minutes of March 21, 2019 The Shade Tree Management Board held its regularly scheduled meeting at 8:00 AM on Thursday, March 21, 2019 in the Committee Room of the Hartley Dodge Memorial, 50 Kings Road, Madison, NJ. Call to Order by Chairman Gene Cracovia. Reading of the Sunshine Law. Members present: Alan Andreas, Gene Cracovia, Judy Honohan, Vince Licari, Stephen Miller, Brian Monaghan, Tom Salaki, Alice Wade Members absent: Nancy Bruce Liaisons present: Paul Allocco (Parks), Ken O’Brien (DPW), Joan Maccari (Environmental), Absent: Maureen Byrne (Council) Borough Staff present: Frank Russo, Lisa Ellis Guests: Chris Schorr-FMST Chair, Richard Feldman-Borough resident Minutes: February 2019 minutes approved as submitted. Public contacts/correspondence: A letter to the owner of the Stonehedge home regarding the replacement street trees at the building site was returned to Frank Russo as undeliverable. Another contact attempt will be made. The DPW site on Station Rd. will have some trees removed to make space for a more accessible recycling area. Council Liaison: No report. Borough Tree Status:  Public contacts are minimal but expected to increase with the change of season.  Spring tree planting: Letters to residents and businesses are ready to go to Fran for reproduction and mailing. Ken or Vince will be on site to inspect delivered trees. When tree arrival date is known, planting sites will need to be marked on curbs and grass. o Rather than space removals and replanting over the length of Main St. from Prospect to Division, all forty trees are in the stretch from Prospect to Rosedale. Council will be made aware of this in order to respond to any subsequent public concerns. A press release informing the public of these activities will be issued. o Borough tree maintenance needs to be done in a more systematic way. Scheduled and timely canopy elevation needs to be done. This year the plan is to tie tree maintenance to areas of road construction and sidewalk work. 1 Financial Report: 2019 budget $119,500 Expended February Honor Tree $180 Total expended YTD $180 Encumbered 2019 ($103,165) Unexpended 2019 $119,320 Remaining Balance $13,155 TCC (Technical Coordinating Committee): Nothing new. FDU has received Planning Board approval for the revised plan for the fields at the corner of Madison Ave. and Shadylawn. Parks Advisory Committee: The committee has met its fund-raising goal for the dog park. Open Space Committee will be asked for the balance of the funding. Parks Committee will help the Boy Scouts find an alternate camping site. Parks is meeting with stakeholders regarding the Forge Building. The use of goats in Summerhill Park is being explored for reducing invasive plants and poison ivy, among others. At the MRC slope, 1/3 of invasive pear trees have been removed. Honor Tree will do the stump grinding. Friends of Madison Shade Trees (FMST): Chris Schorr reviewed a Tree Canopy presentation which she gave to Rotary. In it she stressed the value and contributions made by shade trees and their canopies. She invited STMB to write short pieces promoting trees which would be suitable for publication in the Eagle. FMST joins STMB in support of the passage of a Protective Tree Ordinance. Brochures on the importance of trees were made available to Realtors. MEC: Madison Environmental Commission held a successful Green Vision Forum in which local schools participated. There is the potential for a campaign to reduce plastic bag and straw usage. Old/New Business:  The Tree Protection Ordinance will be modeled on those of other municipalities with parts coming from many different places. It will contain a tree replacement component, enforcement, defined arborist responsibilities, violations and appeals process. Enforcement will be through the Zoning Officer. Rich Wolowicz would be the arborist. The document should be available for review by STMB and the Borough attorney in April. Plans are to submit it to Council in June.  Core Training is at Rutgers on March 23. Right Tree, Right Place is in Hackensack on Friday, April 12 (3 CEUs).  About 700 tree seedlings will be distributed on April 26 at Drew University 2 Action Items:  Ken will share the tree delivery date.  Alice will send Chris Schorr the list of suggested trees used in her VA hometown.  Alice and Nancy will draft a proposal for a private tree planting subsidy. Submitted by Judy Honohan 3