The New Castle City’s Tree Commission Meeting took place on June 6, 2005 at
5:35 p.m. in the City of New Castle’s Town Hall.
Members Present: Chip Patterson, Chairman
Erv Thatcher
Susan Keyser
Mark Miller
Lillian Shue
Fran Peden
Members Absent: Matt White
The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. by Chairman Patterson.
Report of Commission Members --
Erv Thatcher – There are two trees in Dobbinsville in the alley that we want to trim up. There is also one on the side of the library that we were going to take down, but each time we went to the site a vehicle was obstructing access. There is a tree on Bull Hill and at another location in town that have their tops cut off. One is across from 423 Delaware Street. Ms. Keyser said it is a three-year old Sycamore tree. She suggested the Tree Commission should speak with the current property owner to learn what happened. Mr. Thatcher further reported that one of the Chestnut trees in front of the middle school also died. Ms. Keyser said that the Western Gateway Project is going to remove and replace a lot of those trees. He said that the burlap on a tree at 138 East Third Street is choking the tree and needs to be removed. Chairperson Patterson said that he and Ms. Keyser looked at this tree and the complaint was that those two trees were planted at the same time. One is doing well and the other is not doing as well. Mr. Miller added that two Chinese elms planted not very far from one another are experiencing the same fate.
Mark Miller – He looked at Mrs. Torbert’s tree and also looked at Chandler Gebhart’s concern. He expressed concern over the number of dead trees in the area. Three or four of these trees are in the historic area and are going to require removal.
Lillian Shue – Sally Monigle spoke with her about having her ash tree removed; it is dead. Ms. Keyser added that this is the same tree that she called about last year. It was treated in the Fall and Spring last year for bores. It may have some kind of problem, but it is not dead. Ms. Shue reported that an ash tree at 18 West 4th Street doesn’t look right and should be looked at. At her property at 17 West 4th Street there are two cherry trees that were put in 6-7 years ago where one is doing well while the other is not producing. Lastly, she received a request from 37 West 5th Street to plant a small cherry tree.
Fran Peden – There is a sycamore at the Battery that does not look good. It has dead leaves on it. The weeping cherry on Dave D’Angelo’s property died. Does the Tree Commission want to replace the tree or not? Ms. Keyser suggested learning why the cherry tree died first.
Susan Keyser – Ms. Keyser believes we need to do maintenance of tree planting. We need to make a list of trees that are not performing and check them all for burlap. We have a lot of pruning that needs to be done also. Chairperson Patterson asked her which planting she believed the burlap goes back to. She informed the burlap is one of the ones that were done last Fall. We have a lot of juvenile trees, about 120 over the past 5-6 years that need to be shaped, trimmed up and pruned. We can look for burlap while we are doing that. She has a
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June 6, 2005
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call in to Bartlett about ash trees; there is a yellow blister on the leaves. Hopefully it can be treated chemically. She said we need to put on the removal list the tree in front of the Gebharts. Chairperson Patterson said he wrote an email to Mr. Carlson and copied
Mr. Gebhart. Ms. Keyer feels strongly that this tree needs to be removed now due to its diseased condition. The tree across the street from this building is dead and the tree at the New Castle Sailing Club has a huge fungus growing from the bottom of the tree.
Mr. Miller commented that at the WILMAPCO session the consultant from Washington said we should have a tree specialist at every tree planting. We have not done this in the past.
Ms. Keyser informed we had hired Russ Carlson for that purpose. Chairperson Patterson added that Mr. Carlson didn’t follow through as trees were planted.
Chairperson Patterson formulated the list of trees needing immediate attention. They are as follows:
423 Delaware Street – Removal
138 East 3rd Street – Maintenance
18 West 4th Street – Maintenance
Lillian’s Cherry Tree – Maintenance
Sycamore at Battery – Mr. Thatcher will look into to determine whether we or the Trustees will take care of.
Dave DiAngelo’s – Removal
Gebharts on 6th Street – Removal
New Castle Sailing Club – Removal
Mr. Miller will email addresses of other concerns.
Chairman Patterson asked if any of these trees pose a safety problem at the present time.
Ms. Keyer expressed concern bout the Gebhart tree and the tree at the New Castle Sailing Club.
Ms. Keyser made a motion to accept the trees at 423 Delaware, DiAngelo’s, Gebhart, and New Castle Sailing Club as needing immediate attention; Mr. Miller seconded the motion which unanimously.
Mr. Thatcher suggested forming a list of trees to be looked at. The cherry tree at 913 Clayton Street is half dead and Sally Monigle’s tree should be on that list. This list will be distributed to members before the next meeting.
Sally Monigle reported the bark around the base of her white ash tree on Harmony is dead. She had arborist John McMillan look at the tree, but has not received any report from him to date. The other ash tree on Second Street has little yellow spots on the leaves that need treatment. This is a large tree and she was advised the Tree Commission has a policy of not spraying large trees. Ms. Keyser will speak with Mr. McMillan about this tree and others in the city.
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Chairperson Patterson informed that financially we are in good shape to do maintenance. We haven’t had as many tree plantings as trees coming down. Ms. Keyser wants to concentrate on developing a list and finding someone who practices some of the pruning techniques. Chairperson Patterson reminded the group that we have found people in the past who we have relied on and gotten decent work and prices from, then we followed Jim Weldin’s advise of dealing with Evergreen and generally bad service. Our decision was we were so disappointed that we were going to look for good quality trees on our own, but then we need people to do the planting. This last planting was very disorganized. Discussion followed about why the planting was disorganized. Mr. Miller suggested going back to a bidding process in which the successful bidder would have the full responsibility of planting trees. We do not have to select the lowest bidder. Chairperson Patterson believes there is room for a forester position to deal with the day-to-day problems associated with these issues. Discussion followed about the bidding process and vendors. It was decided to make contact with Bartlett’s, Bob Sloan and a third business.
Mr. Miller expressed Ms. Keyser’s concern to spend money on all the new trees we have planted. He feels this should be a priority. Ms. Keyser will get the list, get the spec sheet then send out a package to each contractor.
Chairman’s Report
- Draft Tree Ordinance – Chairperson Patterson informed that copies of the draft tree ordinance had been distributed to members for their review away from this meeting. President Bill Blest reported he received the draft tree ordinance on 5/11/05 and it will be on the Council’s agenda on 6/14/05. He sent it to the Tree Commission for review. He is requesting the Tree Commission’s review of this document as soon as possible. We are going through our budget meetings this month and it would be good to know what the Tree Commission is looking for in the way of a forester. Chairperson Patterson said that the Trustees had given us $5,000 for a forester, and then we had to give the money back because the City started to go in a different direction. We lost that funding and it wouldn’t have cost the City anything. It isn’t known whether the Trustees would consider doing this again. He believes there are still problems with the proposed ordinance. The things we disagreed to with Jim Weldon’s proposed ordinance are still incorporated in this draft. Discussion followed about the tree ordinance meetings conducted by Jackie Seneschal and the Tree Commission’s involvement in presenting a product for Council to review. Mr. Blest informed Ms. Seneschal that he feels that the Tree Commission needs to review this document. Mr. Miller suggested we reconstitute a history of events leading to this draft for Mr. Blest and the rest of Council for their review. He further thanked Mr. Blest for being responsive.
- Additional Plantings – Chairperson Patterson reported that the list includes DiAlessandro at 607 Tremont Street (second tree). He believes the Ferguson tree on Fourth Street was replaced. Ms. Keyser will check with Mr. White. Cannon on Seventh Street, Brown on Chestnut Street, Miller on Fourth Street, Octavio on Seventh Street (second tree), and the cherry at 37 West Fifth Street. Should we hold off until the fall? The consensus was to defer to the fall planting.
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- Bob Sloan Request by St. Peters – St. Peters wants to put in six dogwoods in front of the church from the corner going up to the parking lot. It is the same species we planted on Sixth Street. The church will secure the trees and have Mr. Sloan put them in if we are in agreement. This goes against our policy of letting people put their own trees in. Do we put the trees in for them or do we allow them to put them in with the understanding that these are city trees, that the church does not own the trees. Mr. Miller reminded the group that the Tree Commission has tried to persuade the church to plant trees for a long time. He doesn’t see any major problems concerning jurisdiction of the trees as long as it is explained to Father Fiore and the parish council. The cost would be approximately $1,250 between the trees and their planting. Ms. Keyser suggested having the church write the Tree Commission a check and we put the trees in for them. They would tell us where they want them planted, we will use our spec and our planning guide and we will have the same person handle the job. It will be a good trial run to see how that person operates. Everyone was in agreement.
New Business -- Council President Blest informed that the City is advertising for a City Administrator. The consensus on Council is that the position is needed.
Adjournment – A motion for adjournment was made, seconded and passed. The meeting was adjourned at 7 p.m.
