Zionsville Tree Board

Minutes of the PZAZ Committee Date: January 20, 2021 Zoom Meeting ELECTRONIC MEETING This meeting was conducted pursuant to Governor Eric J. Holcomb’s Executive Orders 20-02, 20-04 and 20- 08 and Governor Holcomb’s Exercise of his powers under Indiana’s Emergency Management and Disaster Law, Ind. Code 10-14-3, et seq. Additional information about this meeting was provided in the annex published with the Agenda Minutes PZAZ Date: 20th of January 2021 Present: Tom Casalini, Mervyn Cohen, Greta Sanderson, Nancy Tikijian, Brad Burk and Amy lacy Greta Sanderson called the meeting to order at 8:00 AM The minutes of the meeting of 16th of December 2020 were approved. Guest Presentation Update on Zionsville Trees, 2021, from Lance Lantz – Director of Public Works Lance confirmed that Zionsville meets the requirements to remain a certified Tree City by the National Arbor Foundation. • The tree city application is due each summer. • To remain a tree city we must meet the requirement , as a community, of spending $2 per person on planting of new trees. We easily meet this requirement. • Zionsville's budget for planting of new trees is $30,000 each year. There is an additional annual budget of $15,000 a year for tree removal and major tree trimming. New Trees • In some years planting new trees exceeds removal of dead trees; in other years the reverse is true. • The planting of new trees is done by a contractor.  • A priority for planting new trees is replacement of old dead trees. • The town ordinance contains a list of approved trees and another list of trees that should not be planted. Chris Sanders advises on best species of tree to be planted for each particular micro involvement . He keeps up-to-date with knew hardier species that become available. • Each year Zionsville plants between 70 and 100 new trees . They get help from Google Maps and identifying areas needing trees. They are thinking of contacting homeowners associations to identify subdivisions which may like tree a planting. • Lance is suggested that we could get a small number of tree saplings donated and that the town could provide land for these to be planted as a small nursery. This would be a good volunteer a project for town residents. • Glance believes that if knew trees are planted as part of the new Gateway Project, they would most likely be funded out of this project. Tree inventory Lance reported that the town had undertaken a tree inventory in 2012 with some update in 2015. This involved the downtown area and a few subdivisions such as Raintree, Sugarbush, and Colony Woods . He showed a map of which identifies the location of every tree in these areas. It also provides information about the age of the tree, its species, and identified trees that will need removal Old business a. Ordinances and preservation-Mervyn The list of approved and non-approved trees for planting in Zionsville needs to be updated b. Events (tree-planting day, Z’Greenfest)-Nancy National Arbor Day is on the 20th of April. The Mayor will be asked to issue a proclamation for this week. It was suggested that a dedication ceremony of four the Lana memorial be held a couple of days before this. The plaque has been chosen and the inscription is still to be confirmed. C. Outreach-Greta. Some ideas presented included: • Community days , tree trimming, the planting trees step flings etc • Creation of a list of desirable recommended trees for individual homeowners to plant. This could include the specific attributes and disadvantages of each individual tree. c. Beautification-Tom: Tom I asked Lance about new streetlights.  New lights from the Sycamore street bridge to route 421 are in the planning and awaiting funding. Lance said that Duke Energy have proposals that prevent the need for capital expenditure. They will finance new lights, own them and also maintain them. Tom also shared the need for improved lighting in some of the small side streets in the village and in the town car parks. Lance said that he will investigate this. d. Memorial for PZAZ Founder Lana Funkhouser See above e. DNR on establishing a tree board Carrie Tauscher, State Urban Forestry Coordinator is available on Feb 9,10,12, 16,17 and 18th.Members of our committee should send a Greta times of availability on these dates f. Renaming PZAZ Previously mentioned reasons for renaming PZAZ , or retaining the name, were again discussed. Greta suggested Zionsville Aesthetic Advisory Committee. Members were asked to submit additional ideas at two Greta for discussion next month. The next meeting will be at on 17th of February 2021 at 8:00 AM The meeting adjourned at 9:10 am.