Zionsville Tree Board

Minutes PZAZ Date: 21st July 2021 Present: Mervyn Cohen, Greta Sanderson, Brad Burk and Amy Lacy Greta Sanderson called the meeting to order at 8 AM I. The minutes from Feb. 17, 2021 were approved. The June minutes will be submitted for approval next month. II. Update on initiatives and committee responsibilities a. Ordinances and preservation Mervyn shared an update from Mark Walters. The new conservation ordinance is being drafted by the town attorney and should be complete next month. It will be posted on the conservation committee website and on the town website. Public town hall question and answer meetings will be held in August. There is some opposition to the new ordinance with reports of an attorney being hired. It is hoped that the public meetings will address any concerns. Brad shared an opinion that the new ordinance will receive widespread support from the town Council. b. Events (tree-planting day, Z’Greenfest). Nothing new c. Tree City designation: Lance. No new report d. Outreach- see below for suggestion to have a high school student on our committee. e. Beautification- Tom submitted a written report. • He met with Roger from Brightview and had a productive meeting. Tree trimming, curb plantings, and good-looking hanging flower baskets are complete. Other landscaping issues need addressing and these will be discussed with town partners. • Sullivan Munce and the art gallery have had programs community and schools.  • There are ongoing discussions with the town to expand Street lighting. • Village toilets will most likely be included in the Gateway project. III. Discussion on action items following tree board training with Carrie Tauscher. The following items were discussed: a. Grant application – it was felt that this would not be a productive use of time. b. Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) Assessment – it was felt that it would be useful continue to evaluate our canopy cover. This would show areas which are good or bad and help make suggestions for future tree planting. 40% canopy cover is recommended, c. Tree designation for businesses or homes that meet a list of standards. The town ordinance and should be changed so that it includes only trees that should not be planted. Approved and suggested trees could be provided as a separate list which could be easily adjusted. Advertising this information is crucial. Ideas included placement of the list on the town website and meetings with local subdivision homeowners’ associations. d. Mitigation plans for stormwater and retention was discussed and not felt to be the responsibility of our committee. e. Expand board members – Brad and Amy reported that PZAZ is not a legally constituted town board or committee. As such we can make changes to membership at any time. We agreed that the committee should be expanded to seven people. Nancy has resigned because of poor health. Greta has three names of people who are interested in joining our committee. The openings will however be advertised before making final decisions on new members. It was also agreed that Brad would discuss with the high school the possibility of a student is sitting on our committee. As school starts late on Wednesday’s time should not be a conflict. f. Members felt that it would be a good idea to offer awards to people or projects that were deemed extremely good demonstrations of tree preservation or new tree plantings. The process for doing this still needs to be determined. IV. Greta attached a list of Watch items for our committee. a. Landscape in the Village b. Highlight Village history c. Expand decorative lighting poles, flags etc onto the streets adjacent to Main Street d. Install works of sculpture around the Village, Lions Park and Elm Street Green. e. Toilets in the Village Business District f. Support the ongoing efforts to create a conservation district designation for the Historic Village. g. Tree inventory  V. The meeting adjourned at 9:10 AM Next meeting: Aug. 18th at 8 AM in the town hall. Future meetings: Sept. 15, Oct. 20, Nov. 17, Dec. 15 Mervyn Cohen