MINUTES
September 7, 2006
CALL TO ORDER –Chair Bryan Holley called the Ashland Tree Commission meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. on July 6, 2006 in the Siskiyou Room in the Community Development and
Commissioners Present |
Council Liaison |
Bryan Holley |
David Chapman, arrived at 7:08 |
Mary Pritchard |
|
Laurie Sager |
Staff Present |
Ted Loftus |
Amy Anderson, Assistant Planner |
Steve Siewert |
Anne Rich, Parks Department, arrived at 7:10 |
Colin Guiley |
Carolyn Schwendener, Account Clerk |
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Loftus/Pritchard m/s to approve the minutes of July 6, 2006. Voice vote: all AYES, Motion passed. The minutes of July 6, 2006 were approved as presented.
Pritchard/Sager m/s to approve the minutes of August 3, 2006. Voice vote: all AYES, Motion passed. The minutes of August 3, 2006 were approved as presented.
Regarding last months Planning Action #2005-01869, 1751 Dragonfly. Sager reported that Mrs. George contacted Mark Knox at Urban Development Services requesting his help to get approval on the lot split.
PUBLIC FORUM
Jonathan Frank shared his interest in the operations of the Tree Commission and his interest in how the City is paying attention to the native oak species. Mr. Frank said that in order to maintain a healthy community it is necessary to have native trees, he especially is interested in the Oregon White Oak.
Tracy Harding from the Bike and Pedestrian Commission was present to discuss the upcoming Car Free Day on September 22, 2006. The Bike and Ped Commission decided to have the Tree Walk Tour before the events on
PUBLIC HEARINGS
PLANNING ACTION 2006-01091 Outline Plan approval under the Performance Standards Options Chapter 18.88 to subdivide the property into 14 lots including 13 lots for single-family homes and one lot for open space purposes for the property located at
Site Visits and Ex Parte Contacts – Sager, Rich, Loftus, Siewert, Guiley and Holley did site visits, Chapman did not. Pritchard did a site visit the last time this project was reviewed.
Amy presented the staff report.
Applicant testimony: Larry Medinger
Tom Myers, Certified Arborist,
Dean Walker, applicant,
The Commissioners discussed the project. Sager suggested minimizing the width of the driveway in order to try and save the English Walnut. She also suggested having the garage door engineered so that there is no center post allowing the car on the right-hand side to make the maneuver away from the tree. Mr. Medinger agreed that was a good idea.
Recommendations:
1) Tree Commission recommends using pervious paving techniques for driveway on
2) Minimize driveway width on
3) That a curb, keystone wall, boulders or other form of parking obstacle be installed along driveway of Lot 3 and along south edge of alley to prevent parking under English walnut.
4) All future landscaping and irrigation under dripline of English walnut shall be implemented under supervision of consulting project Arborist.
5) Tree Commission supports applicant’s efforts to retain Black Walnut under consultation with project Arborist, but supports the possible future removal if preservation proves to be ill fated or potentially hazardous.
6) That all tree preservation, protection and pruning techniques recommended by the consulting project arborist shall become conditions of approval.
Pritchard reported that the tree protection has been removed from
The Commissioners welcomed Colin Guiley to the Commission. Guiley is a student at SOU with a double major in Spanish and Biology. By joining the Commission he is hoping to learn more about City Government as well as adding a different perspective to the Commission. He is very interested in the protection of trees.
ACTION ITEMS
Type 1 Review sign-up –
October 5, 2006-Sager, Holley, Pritchard
November 9, 2006-Loftus, Pritchard, Guiley
December 7, 2006-Holley, Siewert, Loftus, Guiley
DISCUSSION ITEMS
Land Use Ordinance Review chapters 18.61 & 18.62 (Siegel Report)-The Commissioners decided they would each individually review the ordinance between now and the next meeting, make their comments and corrections and bring them back to the Commission next month. A subcommittee will be put together next month who will combine the comments and prepare a draft which will eventually go to the City Council.
Commission Powers and Duties 2.25-Chapman reported that the subcommittee is coming up with a template to make all the Commissions consistent. The Commissions will receive another questionnaire soon. Holley has prepared a draft with corrections and will send that new version to the Tree Commissioners for their review. Chapman noted that this Commission is missing the Why you Exist section and said a one sentence blurb would be sufficient.
Liaison Reports –No reports
Amy announced that next month the Fire Department will be coming to the meeting and presenting their proposed new ordinance. Amy will get a copy of the ordinance and put it in next month’s packet for review prior to the meeting.
Old Business
Tree Planting & Pruning specifications-Changes could be made regarding the graphics and content anytime up until March. Amy will ask Adam to send the image to Holley who will then edit the picture and get it to Ann.
Tree Grates-options other than metal- The problem with the metal Tree Grates is that it’s difficult to expand the area around the trunk of the tree as it grows. It’s also a nightmare for irrigation as the tree gets bigger. After some research Sager found one company that does recycled plastic grates but they don’t have any removal rings and the diameter size is only a foot. Another issue with the plastic is that it’s not very stable so you have to fill right up to underneath it with gravel. She will continue to keep searching and encouraged the other Commissioners to do the same.
Landscape Professional Ordinance- The purpose of this ordinance was to watch non enforcement at project sites and try to get the Landscape Professionals to be the point person to work with to make sure that conditions of approval are met throughout the construction process. The Commissioners agreed to send this on to Siegel for their review.
Heritage Tee List-There is ordinance language done talking about the Heritage Tree List but that list needs to be finalized. Amy’s list of trees was created a number of years ago. It was suggested that the property owners on that list be contacted and asked if they would like to have their tree designated a Heritage Tree. Sager suggested doing an article for the Back page of the Tidings regarding Heritage Trees and what it really means offering interested citizens the ability to sign up on the website.
Mitigation Resolution progress report- Amy reported that she is done with the report and has passed it on to her supervisors to review and then it will go to the City Attorney. She will report back after hearing from them.
New Items
Amy announced that she is expecting a baby on March 22, 2006 and will be taking maternity leave. Yea!
Tree of the Year Nomination begins-The Nomination form was in the City utility bill and is on the City Website. Citizens have until Tuesday October 2, 2006 to nominate their favorite tree. The Commissioners will review the nominees at the October 5th meeting. The list of nominated trees are reduced usually to 5 and a ballot gets printed in the newspaper and posted on the City Website. Typically the Tree of the Year voting is the last day of October and the winner is announced at the second November City Council meeting.
Ailanthus replacement vote ends-Ginkgo Biloba 77 votes, Sugar Maple 63 votes, Scarlet Oak 27 votes, Zelkova 10 votes and Prospector Elm 2 votes.
Amy received a two day notice that the Oregon Community Trees quarterly meting is September 8, 2006. Because of such late notice she will not be attending.
Current Balance is $750.00. To post the Tree of the Year ballot in the paper will cost approximately $220.00
Tree Commission Goals –Pritchard said that she has spoken with Linda Chesney at
Pritchard left at 9:10 p.m.
Media Outreach – The back page article that Siewert wrote came out in the Friday Edition of the Daily Tidings. The Commissioners acknowledged he did a great job. Sager reminded the Commissioners that she would like to have a list of those who are willing to write a back page article so she could get a backlog going.
Holley handed out a copy of a Letter to the Editor from David Kennedy regarding Trees in
ADJOURNMENT - Commissioner Holley adjourned the meeting at 9:26 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Carolyn Schwendener, Account Clerk