The New Castle City Tree Commission Meeting took place on April 4, 2005 at 5:30 p.m. in the City of New Castle’s Town Hall.
Members Present: Chip Patterson, Chairperson
Susan Keyser
Irv Thatcher
C. H. Gebhart
Fran Peden
Mark Miller
Matt White
Member Absent: Lillian Shue
Chairperson Chip Patterson called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m.
Report of Commission Members
Irv Thatcher – Reported that the trees on the Battery have been trimmed out; everything else looks good. There is one tree on 5th Street near the library that will be taken down and one on Buttonwood Road that will also be taken down.
C.H. Gebhart – It is his understanding the City has received a donation to replace the trees on the park. Is that correct? Mr. Thatcher informed that is correct. He plans on removing the trees needing to be removed in the next two weeks to early May. Grinding is stumps will also be done.
Fran Peden – The tree on Moore’s Lane has been removed.
Susan Keyser – The Octavio people want two shade trees and I need to discuss this with Matt. She feels a smaller tree would be fine. The Chair asked that she add Richard Hearn to her list for tree planting. He is at 931 Gray Street and a sycamore fell down at that address about 5-6 months ago. Apparently someone spoke to him about replacing the tree and doing sidewalk repairs. That was something that Jim Weldin was involved with. The Chair wasn’t sure what conversation took place, but suggested Ms. Keyser speak with him about replacing the tree.
Mr. Thatcher inquired whether Mr. Hearn is the owner of the property or living there since we do want to deal with the homeowner. It appears the homeowner lives next door. Ms. Keyser reported she sent an email to Mr. White concerning Josephine Moore of 4th Street to see what type of tree she wants. She reported that the list she provided to Mr. White contained three bi-color oaks that will be dedicated to Clay, Mr. Huber and Mr. Foraker. It was not specified where they would be planted. Bi-color oaks were selected by Mr. White because they are appropriate for this climate and are disease resistant. The Chair asked who was going to do the planting and was informed that Bob Sloan, Mr. Huber’s ex-son in law, would be doing the work. Discussion took place about placement of trees and Mr. Thatcher explained that planting trees in a row makes it easier to mow around rather than having the trees scattered. Ms. Keyser said she has added Josephine Moore to the list and will follow up with the Octavio’s and Mr. Hearn.
Mr. Gebhart asked if we allow a plaque to be put in for memorial trees. The Chair informed a plaque can’t be nailed to the tree and the Tree Commission cannot guarantee the plaque won’t be stolen or damaged and are not responsible for the plaque. Most people are fine with this.
Ms. Keyser reported she has tried to follow up on an issue raised earlier about treatment of ash trees for disease. She has not been able to speak with the person about this work. The Chair presented a contract submitted for the work. It was sent on 3/30/05. After a brief discussion about the contract, Ms. Keyser made a motion to accept the $525 proposal to treat 20 +/- young ash trees, which have shown signs of infestation. Mr. Miller seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
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Matt White – Contract for treatment of pin oak trees with scale insects at Battery Park.
Mr. White expressed concerns about residents who might be hypersensitive to the spray. He asked the Chair to ask the contractor how he has dealt with this issue in the past and to clarify who is responsible, the contractor or us. Also, timing of spraying is an issue because there are no non-peak park hours. People are at the park as early at 6 a.m. He suggested the contractor bring large signs to post on the walk. Mr. Miller made a motion to go forward with the spraying.
Mr. White seconded and the motion was passed unanimously. Mr. White informed that four willow oaks and three bi-color dedication trees have been ordered from Forest View. He has prepared a brief description of each site and faxed same to Bob Sloan who will do the planting. A timeframe for planting will be provided as soon as Mr. White speaks with Mr. Sloan. He should be receiving a quote on labor this week and will request a check for Forest View and one for us at that time. He further reported he had spoken with Frank DiSabatino. We told him we would try to get to him last fall, but we did not. He bought his own tree and it is in the City right of way. He has another property in Washington Park and would like to plant our tree at that location. There were no issues raised about this. The Chair suggested if Mr. DiSabatino wishes to maintain ownership of the tree it would be better to put it behind the sidewalk and donate the tree. He would maintain liability and responsibility for the tree. Mr. White said he would be fine with that arrangement.
Mr. Miller – I am saddened to learn of the death of John Tidwell. Mr. Tidwell for many years was a member of the Tree Commission and was a great friend of trees. He was very instrumental with everything done in the park; he was a hero, like Mr. Huber. I will be attending his wake this evening. C.H. asked if another memorial tree could be planted in the park this Spring in honor of Mr. Tidwell or is our plate full? He felt it would be a nice gesture for
Mr. Miller to be able to inform the family this evening that we have approved this planting.
C.H. made a motion to plant a memorial tree in honor of Mr. Tidwell; Ms. Keyser seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously. We will decide where, when and species of tree at a later date. Discussion then took place about the sidewalk work being done at 32 West 4th Street. The stumps have been removed successfully. Mr. White wants to see as much ground up root system taken out as possible. The grindings contain a lot of moisture and it breaks down quickly allowing for settling of the bricks. The sub-base should be sand, which is the most tree-friendly material. Using crush and run becomes hard and does not allow water to permeate. Mr. Miller said the contractor used crush and run and is now putting the bricks back in place. The Chair said he wants to work with homeowners doing sidewalk repairs to use contractors who use techniques the Tree Commission thinks are best to preserve trees. Ms. Keyser reminded the group that our version of the tree ordinance that did not get adopted does contain language addressing a permeable layer sub-base.
Chairman’s Report
Tree Workshop Discussion – The Chair reported there have been three tree workshop meetings and he has attended all three. Various members of the Tree Commission also attended some of the meetings. The City Planner tried to find common ground between the Tree Commission’s proposed ordinance and the staff’s version of the ordinance and solicited public opinion at all three meetings. She is now going to report to the next Council and look for direction on a path forward. For those who are not aware, Mr. Weldin is leaving the City and will be gone by early July. I had tried to bring this situation to everyone’s attention at the public meetings. I expressed to Jackie Seneschal (City Planner) that including language specifying positions could cause problems when the positions are not filled. She acknowledged that was a problem. The
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new Council will be faced with some major challenges, some of them financial. We will wait to hear from them where they want to go in pursuing a new ordinance. The longer we go without an ordinance in place the more damage could happen to trees and issues like sidewalks go
unresolved. From my conversation with Ms. Seneschal I felt a lot of the issues we brought up in our ordinance she looked favorably on.
New Business
Ms. Keyser alerted everyone of a “Meet the Candidates” night on 4/7/05 at the George Read Middle School. Jeffrey Davis, candidate, added that each candidate will have five minutes to introduce themselves and inform why they are running for office. There will be “luck of the draw” questions posed to each candidate. Each candidate will receive five minutes to close and I don’t believe they are allowing open questions.
Mr. Thatcher asked if any trees would be planted in the Dobbinsville area of Route 9. He has approached the Trustees about taking posts out this spring to make it look nicer and putting trees in on both sides would be nice. The Chair informed we didn’t get all the grant money we wanted. We have been taken out of the loop concerning grants. We don’t get applications any more and grant monies are applied for by the City. Mr. Thatcher added that manpower in his department is down considerably, but the amount of work is increasing and asked the candidates in the audience to take this into consideration. The Heritage Trail is part of the work his department is charged with.
(Candidates were then given an opportunity to address the Commission.)
David June, candidate, informed the Heritage Trail project is a State project. People in the Stockton and Wilmington Manor areas are not in favor of it. He said he has two Conectiv poles in his yard that he would like to have removed. One is dry rotted and has fallen down. He also reported that a neighbor’s trees that have fallen onto his property. What course of action can be taken? The Chair informed the poles are toxic and no one wants responsibility for disposal of them. As for the trees, it is an issue between neighbors. Unless there is a threat to public safety the Tree Commission will not get involved. That is a matter to be resolved between neighbors.
Mr. Davis had nothing to report.
Adjournment
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting, seconded and passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m.
