ASHLAND TREE COMMISSION

MINUTES

April 7, 2011

CALL TO ORDER –Ashland Tree Commission meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. on April 7, 2011, in the Siskiyou Room in the Community Development and Engineering Services Building located at 51 Winburn Way, Ashland, Oregon.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

February 3, 2011 Tree Commission Minutes – Roland motioned/Meyers seconded to approve the December 6^th, 2010 regular meeting minutes Voice vote: all AYES, Motion passed.  The minutes were approved as submitted.

WELCOME GUESTS

PUBLIC FORUM

None

TYPE I PLANNING REVIEW

PLANNING ACTION:        2011-00267    

SUBJECT PROPERTY:     134 Terrace / 19 Hillcrest

APPLICANT:                       Carolyn and David Allman

DESCRIPTION:            A request for Physical and Environmental Constraints review permit approval for Hillside Development to construct a new single-family residence on a vacant parcel located at 134 Terrace Street.  Also included are a Lot Line Adjustment, and Variances (2) to reduce the rear yard setback from 20 feet to 11 feet, six and ½ inches and to make the existing non-conforming lot, which is wider than it is deep, more non-conforming through the Lot Line Adjustment.

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION: Single Family Residential;

ZONING: R-1-7.5; ASSESSOR’S MAP : 39 1E 09CA; TAX LOT: 11300 & 11301

Commissioner Tom Myers recused himself from the meeting as he was the project Arborist.

Amy gave the Staff Report for the project.

In attendance to speak about the property were, Mark Knox, Project Planner, Carolyn and David Allman, Property Owners and Laurie Sager, Project Landscape Architect.

Mark Knox, spoke about the various issues that arose pertaining to the lot layout and that the configuration of the lot created some obstacles for the design. Additionally, hillside constraints, trees, distance to improved portion of right-of-way posed complications to the house design. The property is also within the Historic District and the applicant strived to create a design that was modern but also cohesive with the integrity of the historic district.

There is a very wide are of un-improved right of way in front of property between front property line and the ‘improved’ section of Terrace. Laurie Sager noted that many of the trees are within the right-of-way.

Commission Roland stated that he was very concerned about the large ponderosa pines and their removal; the other trees are not that great. He asked how those trees be mitigated for?

Laurie stated that you can see from the tree protection / preservation plan they tried to save the pines but with the amount of fill that will be necessary the trees will be compromised. The pine in the right-of-way will be retained. No large mitigation trees are proposed due to the tight constraints of the lot. Laurie feels that the applicant has proposed to keep the canopy coverage as similar as possible. When she looked at the surrounding area when designing the landscape plan and found that the surrounding neighborhood has a large number of big trees and the impact of removing the pines will be less impactful.

Mark said that at the neighborhood meeting the neighbors in attendance express relief that the large trees would be removed due to the proximity of those trees to the structures, the high winds, and the surrounding area.

Commissioner Discussion:

Commissioner Roland was curious about the other mitigation options out there. Is there a park or other area where the applicants could plant large stature trees that will mitigate for the canopy loss, the habitat loss etc.?

Commissioner Townsend felt that he understands the request to remove the trees as lots urbanize, but also recognizes that in time the other large pine trees could go as the urbanization argument is made. Townsend asked what the property owner will be doing with the wood material. Can it be donated and milled to utilize the materials in as much as a form as possible?

The Commissioners asked Staff what would be comparable for mitigation because the proposed maple trees are not comparable in size or stature at maturity. Amy read the code language allowing for payment in lieu of planting and the off-site mitigation language.

Based on the discussion the Tree Commission had the following recommendation.

The Tree Commission has recommended the following for the above planning action:

1)      That the two Ponderosa Pine trees on site shall be mitigated for either off-site in accordance with 18.61.084.B or a Payment in lieu of planting as set forth in 18.61.084.C.

Commissioner Townsend moved to approve and Commissioner Neff seconded, all were in favor.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Earthday Planning – April 23, 2011

“Sowing Seeds of Stewardship”

Ideas: Climbing demonstration, grab box, Tree Walk, pruning demonstration, 

Commissioner Townsend will be contacting former Commissioner Steve Siewert to see if he would like to participate in Earthday.

Schedule:

10 – 12: Amy & Tracy

12 – 2: Casey & Tom Bobby

2 – Teardown: Russ

ITEMS FROM COMMISSIONERS

Liaison Reports

      None

New Items:

Commissioner Roland wanted to bring everyone’s attention to the Groasis water box. It is container that a tree gets planted in and it meters the water out. In the summer it pulls the water out of the air. In the Sahara there was a 90% survival rate.

Current Balance $525.00

Tree of the Year Plaque – on order, not paid yet.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Amy Gunter, Assistant Planner

Commissioner Training next Month.

Next Meeting:  Thursday, May 5, 2011