Landscape Beautification Committee Agendas & Minutes

LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES June 14, 2012 Administration Building Room 218 Present: Trustee Louella Preston, Chair Susan Bus – Purchasing Agent Chuck Ostman – Director of Community Development Bob Pilat – Public Services Cathy Spadoni – Secretary Trustee Rosemary Palicki John Ryan – landscape architect with Ives/Ryan I. Call to Order Trustee Preston called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. Each attendee introduced him/herself. II. Approval of Minutes Trustee Preston moved to approve the minutes of the January 12, 2012 meeting pending review and clarification of the timeline of the official memo and email referred to on Page 1, Paragraph 4 and with the following correction: The words “There was” should be added to the beginning of the last sentence on Page 1, Paragraph 4. It was also noted that no adjournment time was recorded. Susan Bus seconded the motion. All approved. III. Old Business - Update on Phase I of the Landscape Beautification Project Waterfall/Fountain Plaza Bob Pilat reported that the construction end is completed on the waterfall/fountain plaza and that John Ryan has more work to do on the maintenance and warranty items. Chuck Ostman distributed photos of the plaza and made the following comments: a) Evident in the photos is spray paint, which was applied by Com-Ed to mark the area that was disturbed due to power issues. Public Services is working with different solutions to remove the paint without discoloring the existing paving materials. b) The Abe Lincoln statue/bench is bolted down, very close to its previous location. c) C. Ostman observed that the area will look beautiful when all the plantings have filled in. Page 1 of 6 Landscape Beautification Committee June 14, 2012 d) There are four benches installed; there should be ten. The additional benches were not covered in the grant. e) Public Services had a huge problem with the dirt that was being pushed down the hill into the area that accepts all the water overflow, plugging the sewer. f) The fabric that is up against the stone can tend to wash out over time. Trustee Preston distributed photos taken on 4/12/12 of the early spring bloom at the Village of Niles signs. John Ryan continued that he is in the process of visiting each site and putting together as-built drawings which reflect any minor changes that may have occurred between the plans and the actual installation. The installation went in so late last year, he was concerned what the result might be. So now he is taking this opportunity to do a preliminary inspection of each site even though the warranty period is not up. He is pleasantly surprised that there hasn’t been much loss over the winter. The only things he would like fixed are around the Police building – plant positioning, plant spacing, etc. He is meeting with Gabriel Hostalet of KGI tomorrow and will advise Bob Pilat of the results of the walk-around. John Ryan believes that our waterfall/fountain plaza goals were met. Because of the whole package – the new pavers that won’t fade, the new stone, the landscaping – the old, faded pavers are barely noticeable. Trustee Preston noted that we saved a lot of money by not replacing these pavers. John Ryan added that what was a hot wasteland is now an inviting place to go, and it will only get better with the new growth. Susan Bus pointed out the gaps in the flower beds, and asked that this be addressed. John Ryan stated that the fabric is doing its job, but there are voids between the fabric and where the rocks all fit together, so they need to fill all those voids with washed gravel or something similar. Susan Bus continued with a question about whether the bushes in the flower beds are to be natural or trimmed. John Ryan stated that they were not trimmed last fall in order to avoid winter burn, but they are supposed to be pruned as a hedge. He is letting them get established, and then they will be pruned this fall. The same is true of the Hawthorne hedge under the stairway at the Police Station. Police Station Trustee Preston informed John Ryan that the Police Station exterior may be under redevelopment. There has been discussion to remove the ramp and put in an elevator. We need to get some up-to-date information and determine what landscaping will need to be changed, removed, added, etc. She suggested that John Ryan hold off on landscaping projects that will be in the “demolition zone” and keep in mind what plants could be moved and saved. John Ryan stated that he has an obligation to make sure that the Village gets what it paid for so he needs to follow-up with the contractor to make sure that last year’s work is correct. The Police Station was part of Phase I. Bob Pilat stated that there is no money left in the grant; the cost of the project exceeded the grant amount. The Village will have to come up with a new plan for financing any landscape changes. Scott Jochim is the contact person for this project. Albion & Milwaukee Trustee Preston stated that the Landscape Beautification Plan – Phase I called for the removal of the Marcheschi Memorial Park rock. (Angelo Marcheschi was a trustee who died in office many Page 2 of 6 Landscape Beautification Committee June 14, 2012 years ago. His wife and son are deceased, and no other family members live in Niles.) It is to be moved because the current site is not really a “park” and is maintained by the Village of Niles, not the Park District. The Village Board has approved moving the rock, but we would like to keep it in the Village and keep it visible. Committee members submitted the following ideas for disposition of the rock: a) Move it to the Historical Society in the berm area to the south of the building behind the fence. Walt Busse is favorable to this idea as it is a historical part of the Village. b) Move it to the corner of Milwaukee and Harlem (Problems with this idea: There are so many trees that there is no real place to put it; we lease this property from the City of Chicago and we may be prohibited from doing things on the site because Chicago’s utility connections are underground.) c) Put it somewhere at Public Services. d) Leave the rock where it is, sandblast the face of the rock, and make the area a trustee memorial park – not necessarily with names of deceased trustees, but a generic indication of trustees’ service. e) Put a brass plate with trustees’ names over the existing name. This idea would have to be discussed with Park District Executive Director Joe LoVerde and the Park District Board. One problem with this idea is that having a memorial park as the entranceway to the Village does not give the best first impression. f) Re-face the rock to say “Welcome” and put a couple of benches at the site and keep it a park. Things to consider: a) Either moving the rock or re-facing it would be very expensive. b) No other trustee, living or dead, is similarly honored. c) There is a wooden cross at this site. No one knows who put it there or why. Trustee Preston asked Bob Pilat to check with Scott Jochim about its history and possibly removing it. d) If we leave the rock where it is, the plan, approved three years ago, would have to be amended. Trustee Preston would have to go back to the Board of Trustees to get approval of the change. The committee members were asked to give this situation some thought. It will be put on the next meeting’s agenda under Old Business. Then we can make a recommendation to the Board as to the disposition of the rock. IV. New Business – Review Landscape Beautification Project Phase II Bob Pilat reported that the budget was approved that included money for Phase II which was for the Village Hall Administration Building, the Fitness Center, the Senior Center, the area around the Post Office, the corner of Harlem and Milwaukee, Public Services and Fire Station 2. The timeline is as follows: May 2012 - approve John Ryan’s contract July 2012 - go out to bid Page 3 of 6 Landscape Beautification Committee June 14, 2012 August 2012 - approve the bids September 2012 - have the contractor start Bob stated that we will meet with John to discuss the drawings and any issues that need to be addressed so that we’re ready to go out to bid in July. He added that we have issues with the parkway trees by the Senior and Fitness Centers. Regarding the trees in the tree pits in the sidewalks, there are two solutions for dealing with such a confined space for a tree: a) Change the species, although for the most part we’re already using the best – Honey Locust and Hackberry. There are some Red Maples, but they are not drought-tolerant and are horrible choices for these locations; or b) Use an expensive, pre-construction product called CU (Cornell University) structural soil which is used instead of the base under the sidewalks surrounding the pit. This is a different kind of base that allows the tree roots to actually grow. Obviously, roots have nowhere to go in a 5 x 5 pit, so the tree is going to have a short life. But this structural soil allows the tree to actually grow beyond the pit, yet the material is approved as a base for sidewalks. In our case, unfortunately, the sidewalks are already there so we would have to demolish the sidewalk, add this new base and put the sidewalk back. That’s the only remedy to make the situation better than it is right now if we want trees. Otherwise, we’ll keep planting the best possible trees knowing that they’re not going to have a long life. With all of these issues - de-icing, chemicals, reflection off the pavement, and confined space for the roots – there’s nothing good there for that tree to grow in. When asked what he would recommend instead of a tree, John Ryan suggested concreting over the grates and using planters. He would not suggest putting planters over the grates for aesthetic and safety reasons. Chuck Ostman and Assistant Village Manager Steve Vinezeano are in favor of putting the Honey Locusts back in the tree pits. They would like to see the ground be proper for the growth of the trees and strongly believe the concrete should be chopped up where the trees were before and we should again plant trees along Civic Center Drive. Bob Pilat cautioned that we should carefully weigh the cost of continually replacing trees versus finding a proper solution versus using planters. John Ryan stated that a tree should last 15 to 20 years. If our trees are lasting only a couple of years, there is a problem. Trustee Preston suggested that perhaps Fred Braun, the Public Services arborist, can advise us on a viable solution. Trustees Preston and Palicki previously walked the Civic Center Drive sites and familiarized themselves with the plantings. They found the Serviceberry trees that are planted near the entrance to Village Hall to be a mess. John Ryan confirmed that this is a great ornamental tree but should not be placed by entrances or sidewalks. Trustee Preston reported that over the last two summers, Kelly Mickle (Director of the Senior Center) and Carl Maniscalco (Director of the Fitness Center) have hand-planted, with the Page 4 of 6 Landscape Beautification Committee June 14, 2012 assistance of Public Services personnel, hostas, daylilies, etc. in order to approve the appearance of their building entrances. It should be noted that there is nothing planted in the back of the large planter outside of the Fitness Center entrance. We don’t know where in the budget we will get money to fix this, but it needs to be made more inviting. Perhaps we can plant something temporarily to bring us to November. It was also noted that KGI is supposed to maintain this planter; Trustee Preston wondered why KGI has not done so. It was noted that the replacement sign for the Civic Center plaza will be the same size and in the same location as the previous one, and that there is discussion about putting a statue or a piece of art next to the new sign. The original plan was to complete Phase I in one year, but the Milwaukee Avenue Redevelopment project began and delayed the progress four years. The Milwaukee Avenue Redevelopment committee talked in terms of three seasons of plantings or interest. Since that time, we decided we would like to have four seasons of interest so that it looks attractive during the winter. It is unclear where the sprinkler heads are and what is the sprinkling schedule. Bob Pilat responded that Public Services waters the plants as needed. Trustee Preston pointed out that the Public Services Department has fewer personnel available at this time to water the plants, so drought-tolerance is a bigger concern for us than it was before. The drought has caused us to be concerned about the hostas and whether they are planted correctly in full sun or part sun. We are also concerned about how the daylilies look. Bob Pilat stated that the landscapers do not do any dead-heading. Due to our current fiscal situation, the landscape budget is conservative, leading us to plan for a reduction in the number of annuals. Trustee Palicki favors a more natural look in our flower beds throughout the Village rather than a collection of one kind of flower. This approach would require less maintenance. She suggested incorporating fewer annuals, more perennials, and some shrubs with a crescent in the middle planted with annuals. These annuals are what would be replaced each year – not the whole bed. This approach would cut down on cost. She asked to walk with John Ryan so she can share her concerns. She has noticed that while the plans do not call for trees in the planters out front, there are, in fact, trees planted in them. Perhaps trees and plantings could be moved or incorporated in different ways to improve the aesthetics rather than buy new. We should be looking at drought- tolerance, low maintenance and four season interest plantings. Trustee Preston reminded that we also need to look at low cost options. Considering the labor needed to maintain the grass in the plaza area, perhaps ground cover could be used instead of grass. At 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, June 15, John Ryan will walk all Phase II facilities, accompanied by Trustee Preston, Trustee Palicki, Chuck Ostman and Susan Bus. At 11:00, he will meet with Gabriel Hostalet of KGI. Page 5 of 6 Landscape Beautification Committee June 14, 2012 In his site visit with Mr. Hostalet, John Ryan will walk the sites and mark up a set of plans and see what the magnitude of changes is since we did these four years ago. He will then report back to the committee with suggested changes. This committee needs to fully understand the plans and approve them before going out to bid so as to take full responsibility for the project. John Ryan pointed out that the drawings of the Ives/Ryan plan show new benches and trash cans at Triangle Park. He needs specs for these items so he can match what is currently being used. John Ryan continued that regarding the annuals, what is on the plans right now is the program that was already in place. It was previously left to the contractors to come up with what the flowers were going to be. But we thought it would be better to have a set plan to bid on so we know what we’re getting every year. The only annuals in Phase II are at this building, the planters out front and around the side, and the round planter by the Fitness Center. The committee will meet again after John marks up the drawings. At the June 26 Board meeting, Trustee Preston can report that, per the discussions of the committee, John Ryan is revising the Phase II plans based on current conditions. At the July 24 Board meeting, we will request authorization to go out to bid based on the revised plan. In August, we will go out to bid and, at the August 28 Board meeting, we will award the bid. By September 1, the contractor can start. Trustee Preston noted that it is important for us to know how much is spent on annuals each year. It is difficult to come up with a budget if we don’t know what the materials cost. She asked Susan Bus to bring to the next meeting the amount of money that is spent on annuals. Susan responded that that detail is part of the entire landscape contract and is not broken down. She can call KGI and ask how much he spends on annuals. Bob Pilat stated that the maintenance of the different sites is in the maintenance contract, and it is revised every year. There are things that they do weekly, monthly, and annually in order to maintain status quo. What has been there has been maintained. There are things that have been around for some time that need to be replaced or removed, and that is what is addressed in the landscape plans. What is in the landscape plan becomes part of the annual maintenance plan. We may have to figure out something in the specs for replacement, but he does not recall a major “die-off” of anything that needed to be replaced by the maintenance contract. The date of the next meeting will be decided when John Ryan’s plans are ready for review. V. Adjournment Trustee Preston entertained a motion to adjourn. Bob Pilat moved to adjourn, seconded by Chuck Ostman. All approved. The meeting adjourned at 11:16 a.m. Approved August 2, 2012 Page 6 of 6