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Agendas and Minutes

Tree Management Advisory Committee (View All)

Tree Commission Regular Meeting

Agenda
Thursday, November 03, 2016

TREE COMMISSION MINUTES

November 3, 2016

CALL TO ORDER
Chair Christopher John called the meeting to order at 6:04p.m. in the Siskiyou Room of the Community Development and Engineering Services Building located at 51 Winburn Way.

Commissioners Present:	Council Liaison:
Maureen Batistella	Carol Voisin
Mike Oxendine
Russell Neff	Parks Liaison:
Christopher John	Peter Baughman
Casey Roland
Asa Cates	Staff Present:
	Cory Darrow, Assistant Planner
Commissioners Absent:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
John/Oxendine m/s to approve the minutes of the October 6, 2016 Tree Commission meeting. Voice Vote: All Ayes. Motion passed unanimously.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & LIAISON REPORTS
City Council Liaison –

The City Hall discussion is coming back to City Council meeting on Dec 20^th.
The Schaeffer case on Morton Street has been settled.

The removal of trees at Lithia Way/Pioneer beautification project has been moved to Dec 20^th meeting. Tree Commission encouraged to attend.
Council will review removing public art from Chapter 18 on Nov 15^th at 7PM.
Winter shelter for the homeless has been approved for Tue/Thurs evenings (Pioneer Hall) and Sunday may be added as well.
Council considered and passed motion to purchase land necessary for the Washington Street extension. It’s been offered at $60,000 over the appraised value and would cost a total of $331,000. This is an 800 foot street that comes out on Tolman Creek Rd and will come to a cost of about 2 million dollars. Council wanted to rush this through without public notice as they don’t want the property owner to change their mind.
Electricity will increase 7% for rates and 1.50 for the base charge to eventually reach 14.00. This is called cost of service for the operations of the electric department and the Council will have to vote on this.

Parks & Recreation Liaison –

Garfield Park bid came in at $817,000 made by Vitus Construction.
Tree City report will be finished soon and given to Darrow. The deadline is in December.

Community Development Liaison –

Darrow looked into the questions on Leland Cypress Trees and announced that they do not require a permit for removal. They are considered a shrub.
Call for presentations for the annual Urban and Forestry Conference in June 2017 in Portland, Oregon. If anyone would like to submit a proposal Darrow has additional information on this. Darrow will look into funding for this.
Monday Nov 14^th at the OSU extension in Central Point there are some seminars available to attend.
Darrow discussed approval criteria for the night’s meeting.

PUBLIC FORUM
There was no one in the audience wishing to speak.

John read aloud the procedures for public hearings.

TYPE I REVIEWS

PLANNING ACTION: PA-2016-01890
SUBJECT PROPERTY: 662 South Mountain Avenue
APPLICANT:                Amy Gunter/Rogue Planning & Development Services
DESCRIPTION:           This is a request to remove four non-hazardous Pondarosa Pine trees greater than 18-inches in diameter at breast height on a vacant property located at 662 South Mountain Avenue. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION: Single-Family Residential; ZONING: R-1-7.5; ASSESSOR’S MAP: 39 1E 16 AA TAX LOT: 9001.

John recused himself from the discussion due to conflict of interest.

Darrow gave the staff report for PA-2016-01842.

Amy Gunter of Rogue Planning and Development Services, 1424 S. Ivy Street in Medford addressed the Commission regarding this request.

Oxendine/Cates m/s to deny application with the recommendation that the applicant mark the trees on site and submit the following information for subsequent review: updated tree inventory and tree protection plan, a shadow plan of the development, as well as an ingress and egress plan. Voice Vote: All AYES; Commissioners Batistella, Neff, Oxendine, Cates. NAYS; Commissioner Roland. Motion carries.

PLANNING ACTION: PA-2016-01990
SUBJECT PROPERTY: 435 Lori Lane
APPLICANT:                Dermot and Sally O’Brien
DESCRIPTION:           This is a request to remove one multi-stemmed, approximately 100-year old potentially hazardous Almond tree from the Lori Lane Cottages hotel property. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION: Employment; ZONING: E-1;
ASSESSOR’S MAP: 39 1E 05 DA TAX LOT: 2801.

There was no conflict of interest or ex parte contact.

Darrow gave the staff report for PA-2016-01990.

Dermot O’Brien, owner of 435 Lori Lane in Ashland, addressed the Commission regarding this request.

Roland/Oxendine m/s to deny application on the basis that it does not meet the criteria for a hazard tree and they recommend the applicant submit an ISA risk assessment form and a mitigation plan from an arborist. It was recommended that Code Enforcement look into the vandalism of the tree and levy fines where appropriate. Voice Vote: All AYES; Commissioners Batistella, Roland, Oxendine, John, Neff, Cates. Motion carries.

PLANNING ACTION:    PA-2016-01848
SUBJECT PROPERTY: 725 Indiana Street
APPLICANT:                Beatrice J. Berry
DESCRIPTION:           This is a request to remove one hazardous Douglas Fir tree from the property at 725 Indiana Street. The tree is located on slopes greater than 25% requiring a Physical and Environmental Constraints Review Permit. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION: Single-Family Residential; ZONING: R-1-7.5; ASSESSOR’S MAP: 39 1E 15 BA TAX LOT: 7600.

There was no conflict of interest or ex parte contact.

Darrow gave the staff report for PA-2016-01848.

Beatrice Berry and Jim Holloway, owners of 725 Indiana in Ashland, addressed the Commission regarding this request.

Roland/John m/s to approve this application with recommendation that a mitigation tree be planted. Voice Vote: All AYES; Commissioners Batistella, Roland, Oxendine, John, Neff, Cates. Motion carries.

PLANNING ACTION: PA-2016-01968
SUBJECT PROPERTY: 175 North Main Street
APPLICANT:                Leigh Madsen
DESCRIPTION:           This is a request to remove four trees on the subject property. The trees to be removed include one 12 inch DBH Blue Spruce, one 9.2 inch DBH Flowering Dogwood, and two Vine Maples (13.7 and 16.2 inches DBH). COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION: Multi-family Residential; ZONING: R-2; ASSESSOR’S MAP: 39 1E 05 DD TAX LOT: 9000.

Above item not on the agenda. See exhibit A for the record, attached (12 pages).

Darrow gave history on the submittal process for this applicant and stated that it was submitted later in the month and there was no time to add this to the agenda. There was no staff report given for this planning action.

Leigh Madsen of 176 Orange Avenue in Ashland. Mr. Madsen discussed the project briefly and asserted the trees proposed for removal are not hazardous but need to be removed to allow better visibility of the building and the stained glass windows that recently went through a renovation costing nearly $100,000.

Cates/Roland m/s to deny this application with the recommendation that an updated tree inventory and mitigation plan is submitted and the Tree Commission is given adequate notice to the application and visit the site. Voice Vote: All AYES; Commissioners Batistella, Roland, Oxendine, John, Neff, Cates. Motion carries.

PLANNING ACTION: PA-2016-01842
SUBJECT PROPERTY: 2855 Ashland Street
APPLICANT:                Secure Storage
DESCRIPTION:           This is a request to remove two potentially unhealthy Birch trees from the front of the Secure Storage property. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION: Employment; ZONING: E-1; ASSESSOR’S MAP: 39 1E 12 TAX LOT: 320.

There was no conflict of interest or ex parte contact.

Darrow gave the staff report for PA-2016-01842

The applicant was not present.

Oxendine/Cates m/s to approve this application with recommendation that mitigation plantings of heritage birch, redbud or paper bark birch be required. All AYES; Commissioners Batistella, Roland, Oxendine, John, Neff, Cates. Motion carries.

PLANNING ACTION: PA-2016-01843
SUBJECT PROPERTY: 119-131 East Hersey
APPLICANT:                Oak View Homeowners Association
DESCRIPTION:           This is a request to remove one potentially hazardous approximately 24” diameter-at-breast-height Cottonwood tree. Approval to remove the tree was previously granted in 2014 however, the approval has since expired. The applicant has proposed to mitigate the removal by planting four new trees on the property. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION: Multi-family Residential; ZONING: R-2; ASSESSOR’S MAP: 39 1E 04 CD TAX LOT: 513.

There was no conflict of interest or ex parte contact.

Darrow gave the staff report for PA-2016-01843.

The applicant was not present.

John/Oxendine m/s to approve this application with the recommendation that staff verify that previous removals were permitted and mitigation was completed as required; if it is found that mitigation was not performed as required, that fines be levied and mitigation occur within 60 days following removal. All AYES; Commissioners Batistella, Roland, Oxendine, John, Neff, Cates. Motion carries.

PLANNING ACTION: PA-2016-01857
SUBJECT PROPERTY: 475 Waterline
APPLICANT:                Stark
DESCRIPTION:           This is a request to remove one non-hazardous Madrone tree from the front yard of 475 Waterline. The tree is located on slopes greater than 25% requiring a Physical and Environmental Constraints Permit. This application also involves a compliance component resulting from the unpermitted removal of three trees from the rear of the property, which were also located on slopes in excess of 25%. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DESIGNATION: Low-density Residential; ZONING: RR-.5; ASSESSOR’S MAP: 39 1E 16 BA TAX LOT: 702.

There was no conflict of interest or ex parte contact.

Darrow gave the staff report for PA-2016-01857

The applicant was not present.

Batistella/Oxendine m/s to deny this application with the recommendation that fines be levied for non-permitted removal and mitigation be required for the removals. All AYES; Commissioners Batistella, Roland, Oxendine, John, Neff, Cates. Motion carries.

DISCUSSION ITEMS
All discussion items deferred until next meeting due to time constraints.

ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.