Urban Forestry Commission

URBAN FORESTRY COMMISSION Regular Meeting Minutes of August 25 2022 IN PERSON MEETING Room 208 Municipal Building MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT ALSO PRESENT Jane Harris, Chairwoman James Sipperly, Staff Bob Grimm Ken Ahnell, DBD Jon Morris Atty. Rich Carella Liz Holder Tony Zaremba, Soil Scientist Chris Holden Zoe Farnsworth, Wesleyan Alumni 1. Roll Call Jane Harris, Chairwoman called the meeting to order at 4:33 pm, in Room 208 of the Municipal Building at 245 DeKoven Drive. The roll was called and a quorum was determined. Motion: To move item #2 under new business Big Y up on the agenda. Moved by J. Morris; seconded by B. Grimm; approved unanimously. Atty. Rich Carella presented the project in detail. The site is where the former SNET building is located between RT 17 and Highland Avenue. The main entrance will be off of RT 17 with a new traffic light. There will be 7 acres of development and there will be a rear delivery access of RT 17 as well. Pursuant to the street tree ordinance many of the large oaks will be saved. The parking areas will be sloped down towards the existing house on the lot. Tony Zemba, Land Tech is a sub to the Hesketh Engineering firm designing the project. The landscape architect who designed the planting plan could not be here today. Tony is a licensed Arborist in the firm. All the plantings conforms to the setback distances. Some plantings will provide shade, aesthetic components, and be a mix of native species and cultivars. Tony went over the planting plan in detail. J. Harris would like to have some verbage expressing that they will indeed protect the existing trees identified on the plans. L. Holder asked about the drainage for those trees. J. Harris stated that there should be a greater diversity, 35% are maples, suggesting that some should be honey locusts. Most of the oaks are English Oaks, she suggested using native oaks – Tupelo and London Planes. Valley Forge Elms need to be pruned a lot, Jefferson Elms are better. Jane will send a recommendation list of revisions. Item 3 under new business was moved to this part of the agenda. Zoe Farnsworth, Permaculture Farm Project Discussion. Z. Farnsworth has ideas about planting fruit trees in the community gardens and would like to explore those and other locations. Z. Farnsworth would like to focus on native plants and trees, to get food growing on Middletown landscapes. Water availability is important. J. Morris mentioned that Middlesex community College has a permaculture park. C. Holden mentioned that there is a potential location at the corner of Long Lane and Wadsworth Street. The Commission will think about locations for this proposal and thanked Z. Farnsworth for attending. Next moved up on the agenda is Ken Ahnell, former UFC member now with the Downtown Business District to talk about tree wells on Main Street. It was mentioned that at the old pool property maybe a bunch of wood chips should be dumped there for some use instead of mowing 6 acres of lawn. Maybe a RFP Charret proposal should be done. K. Ahnell is starting out working with the Downtown Business District focusing on the deficiencies of the trees and planting spots. He noted that many trees need to be pruned. J. Harris agreed that just about every Zelkova has dead tops that need to be removed. The preference is to keep them and prune them. K. Ahnell will provide a detailed list and C. Holden will arrange to have them pruned for the length of Main Street. Ken can also get some volunteers to replace old mulch. They prefer brown mulch not black mulch. 1. Review of Minutes Minutes of June 28, 2022 The minutes have not been posted on line. Staff will check on this with the Town Clerk.  Motion: To approve the minutes. Moved by L. Holder; seconded by J. Morris approved unanimously. 1. Old Business 1) Tree Warden Report C. Holden said that they are busy working on the tree bid list and adding many more On Aircraft Road. They removed 180 trees in 48 hours. At 25 Gordon place, a tree was taking down without notice and the owners want a new tree but the sidewalk needs to be repaired first. Jack English Drive the developer planted pear trees and are horrible. Magnolia Woods, Mile Lane and Ridge road need trees. Serra Drive there are 25 green ash trees that are dying. Chris will check on Vets Green and Vine Street and will remove what is needed. The Arboretum needs to be looked at as well and some trees just need a good pruning. 2. Public Works Report This was incorporated in the report above. 3. Account Balance No monies have been spent except for the Protective tree conference. 3. New Business 1. These items were moved up previously on the agenda. Perhaps in October we can schedule a field trip to Eversource Tree Park in Berlin. 2. Pump station planting. It was recommended that eastern red cedars be used instead of the arborvitaes and that 2 red buds be planted near the proposed bench. 4. Other/Correspondence The commission discussed reaching out to Chris Donnely, former DEEP employee  to serve as our City arborist. 5. Public Comment None at this time. 6. Adjournment Motion to adjourn at 5:47pm. Moved by B. Grimm; seconded by J. Morris, approved unanimously