The New Castle City’s Tree Commission Meeting took place on October 3, 2005 at
5:30 p.m. in the City of New Castle’s Town Hall.
Members Present: Chip Patterson, Chairman
Erv Thatcher
Susan Keyser
Lillian Shue
Chandler Gebhart
Fran Peden
Matt White
Member Absent: Mark Miller
The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. by Chairman Patterson. The Chair informed he has not reviewed the minutes from the last meeting; therefore, we will move on with the agenda.
Report of Commission Members
Irv Thatcher – Two small maple trees (one at Ennio’s at Tremont and one at 9th and Clayton Street) – The Chair said the one at Ennio’s has been ordered removed. He added that
Bob Rizzardi went to take out the two small trees at 902 Clayton Street. Mr. Thatcher also reported a large swamp maple that is dead at the top on the southeast corner of 9th and Clayton needs to be looked at. The Chair will have it looked at.
Lillian Shue – One of the cherry trees on 15 West 4th Street looks dead. It has been in decline and dropped its leaves. We planted two trees there the year before last and the other tree looks sick. Ms. Keyser asked John McMillan to look at these trees. Ms. Shue said he looked at one of her cherry trees and cut out some of the top roots entwined around the base of the tree. Her other cherry tree is fine.
Susan Keyser – To date she has 10 trees on her list. They want a tree to replace the sycamore at 607 Tremont Street. (She read the list of trees to the group.) The Chair suggested we check with Ennio about replacing the tree that is being removed. She suggested we talk to him since he already has two large trees there. Also, does he want a tree for his mother’s house? The Chair asked her to check with Ralph Calvarese at 904 Gray Street about some of the pines we lost due to the new townhouses; three more have died. Does he want replacements? Mr. Gebhart was asked if he wanted a replacement tree. He will leave this decision to the Tree Commission. If the Commission decides not to plant a replacement he would like to fix the sidewalk. Ms. Keyser suggested putting in another tree. She asked if the Library has any objections to putting in a tree near the curb. Mr. Gebhart said he couldn’t speak for the Library or Trustees without speaking with them. Mr. Gebhart will approach the Board of Trustees at their meeting tomorrow evening about putting in two trees (one between the in and out of the parking lot and one on the corner). He advised the Library is in the process of an expansion process and the parking lot is going through some redesign. Trucks going in and out of the parking lot may damage the tree. He suggested holding off on this for now. He will look at the plans and if it makes sense to ask the Trustees, he will do so. Bartlett has treated our elms. They estimated $3,900, which we approved at our last meeting.
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October 3, 2005
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We expected it to be less since we were removing two of the trees on the list. After giving him the go ahead with the elm treatment, he followed with another estimate that wasn’t our original figure. We expected the figure to be less than $3,900 and for it to be pro-rated for the DVH. They agreed to prorate, but the rate has now increased to $4,100. She advised them we weren’t paying. We don’t have a signed contract with Bartlett to date. He is now measuring the ash trees. We approved up to $3,000, but she feels the figure will be higher. (Lengthy discussion took place about the type of treatment for ash trees being recommended at this time. She has been informed this is a disease that runs in a 7-year cycle and with the number of complaints being received, it was felt treatment should be administered this year.) Mr. White disputed the suggestion by Mr. McMillan of Bartlett that the ash trees need to be treated now to better absorb the chemicals. He feels it would be better to treat in the Spring. The Chair suggested doing more research into the product being used in light of Mr. White’s concerns. He further asked Mr. White to provide his findings to Ms. Keyser.
Tree Planting – Ms. Keyser had hopes of asking Bartlett to do the tree planting. Who else can we trust to pick the trees, transport them and plant them? Mr. White trusts Bob Sloan and Tom Huber is good also. He feels Mr. Sloan would do this on a time and material basis. He would charge $50 per hour, which is very reasonable. He feels it would be good to have one person handling everything so they understand the quality we are looking for rather than to reeducate a contractor when we want to plant. Mr. White will speak with Mr. Huber. The Chair asked if we should hold off on our fall planting because of the drought. Mr. White said regardless of the variety of the tree, buds are now set. The Chair instructed to go forward with the planting. (Discussion took place about the process involved with tree planting.)
Mr. White asked if care of the tree is to be contracted. The Chair said in the case of the homeowner that the Tree Commission will plant the tree, but the homeowner is expected to water the tree for the first two years to help it get established. That is a condition for planting the tree for the homeowner and absorbing the cost of the tree. Mr. White asked about the watering of park-donated trees. Mr. Thatcher said that we water those trees. Ms. Keyser expressed concern about controversy with the City about not maintaining Station Park and that there are trees there that have died there or been damaged by vehicles. She suggested not replacing any trees there at this time. Mr. White agreed. Mr. Thatcher added that the triangular piece nearby belongs to the State of Delaware and the City may not want to do anything there. Ms. Keyser had a conversation with David Skupien about a grant to do a tree survey. URS was given the work. The Chair informed we have seen the hard copy of the survey that was used to generate the insurance letter. When the survey was done it cost $16,000 to do the survey; with $4,000 left over. They never completed the survey of street trees. In order to view the survey on a map-like program there is a piece of software needed that costs $5,000. Jeff Bergstrom wanted the City to use the $4,000 and another $1,000 to buy this software. He says he has his own personal version of the software so why do we want to buy more software. The Chair saw the grant that Jim Weldin put in for the money. URS was supposed to present a map that was compatible with the City’s use. They have produced it in a format that we cannot view without having this software. Mr. White suggested the contract hasn’t been fulfilled by URS. Ms. Keyser said she informed
Mr. Bergstrom if we find a way to get this software, the database is a resource for the Tree
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October 3, 2005
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Commission and she would like a physical location for the software where the Tree Commission could access it easily. She suggested the Municipal Services Commission Office. Mr. Bergstrom wants the location to be in his office. She proposed the Tree Commission consider paying the additional $1,000 to get the software and put it in
Mr. Patterson’s office. (Discussion about maintaining possession of the software took place.) Mr. White suggested the better leverage point is accessibility. Mr. Patterson’s office is on-call during emergencies, outages, and there is someone to get in touch with to use that tool. (Additional discussion about accessibility of the software took place.) The Chair said URS didn’t complete the contract request. They never determined what the public right-of-way was and didn’t classify the trees. The City is waiting for the City Administrator to be selected. City Council will make the determination for the City Administrator. Mr. White added that the Tree Commission already has a $16,000 investment into the project and we can justify having the software. Mr. Gebhart suggested including any databases belong to the Tree Commission in the new tree ordinance. The Chair said the ordinance continues to keep control of trees with the Tree Commission while Ms. Seneschal’s version was to give control to the forester, but we propose the forester work with the Tree Commission. Mr. White asked if we should vote to address City Council on this issue to get them in the loop until a City Administrator is named to at least have our request placed on the agenda for City Council or the new City Administrator so we can get this tool. The Chair will speak with
Bill (Blest) about this.
Fran Peden – There is a tree near Dave near the curb that is dead. He wasn’t sure if it was our responsibility or not. The Chair will take a look at the tree.
Chandler Gebhart – He will speak with the Trustees about the possibility of them still being interested in funding a forester at $5,000. (Brief discussion about future requests for funding took place. The Chair said in the past they went to the State on behalf of the Trustees and set plans and received grants to use that didn’t cost the City.)
Matt White – 904 Gray Street is an ongoing expenditure for us. Did we ever find out whether the lines and grades were kept up there or changed? The Chair said he has a letter from
Jim Weldin that the City of New Castle would not allow anything to be built without a permit, but that isn’t taking place. He added there is a lines and grades ordinance on the books.
Mr. White asked if we should reestablish a planting now versus three years from now and get another set of trees moving along. Ms. Keyser will ask the homeowner if he wants to replace the pines that are being taken down. The Chair informed that some homeowners do not want replacements and we don’t forcibly plant trees.
Chairman’s Report
Tree Ordinance – Status is that we have changed City Solicitors from Cliff Hearn to
Jerry Kavanaugh. Mr. Kavanaugh has asked Mr. Hearn to provide him with his records. He doesn’t want to provide any opinion until he looks at the records. He helped us the original ordinance. The Chair will have a meeting with Mr. Kavanaugh on Wednesday (10/5) and will talk to him about this.
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October 3, 2005
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Old Business
933 Gray Street – The Chair said a sycamore tree root that ran directly to the foundation of the house and the sidewalk was raised. The opinion of the arborist was that if the root was cut the tree would be compromised and in order to make the sidewalk comply with the City code the tree would have to be removed. In the settlement between the homeowners, a letter from the real estate agent and home inspector talking about foundation problems, we agreed to remove the sycamore tree since no other option appeared evident. The homeowner will restore the sidewalk, we will grind and remove the tree, and they would leave a 16th square foot planting space for a new tree to be planted and also donate $350 to help offset the replacement tree cost.
Adjournment – The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Debbie Turner
Stenographer
