HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-1207 Tree MIN
Ashland Tree Commission
Minutes, December 7h 2000
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 5:15pm by Chair Rich
Whitall. Additional commissioners in attendance included Dan Moore,
January Jennings and Greg Covey. Parks liaison Donn Todt and staff Robbin
Pearce also attended.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes for September were approved as submitted.
Welcome Guests: Brian Holley was in attendance.
Old Business
A. Tree Ordinance - John McLaughlin will have the revisions completed in
January. Commissioners asked that he present an update as to
options for proceeding. After that presentation the commissioners
will decide on a public hearing format.
B, Recommended Street Tree List - Bryan Nelson will be off work for a
couple of months and will work on the List at home. At the January
meeting commissioners will come prepared to discuss cover options
for the List. Staff will bring a variety of photo options from Terry
Skibby and other that might be considered.
C. Project Updates: 1)Calle - Donn T odt reported no planting has taken
place yet. The work will continue and planting begin after Christmas.
Parks Department will complete the work. 2)Siskiyou Boulevard-
January Jennings reported the first set of meetings has been
concensus building so that each point of view is valued. Her goal is
preservation of canopy. She listed the three main options: the least
impacting of the trees is bike paths on both sides with smaller
median or two different layouts of wide sidewalks including bikepaths
with trees in the center. She is concerned about cost of maintenance
and impact on the view corridor. January will continue to do her
research. Her next committee meeting is January 4th. Input to her
from the other commissioners included: maintaining as many healthy
trees as possible, maintaining the historical integrity of the view
corridor. January will discuss these issues with Paula Brown, Public
Works Director and let the commissioners know what the timeline will
be. The public input workshop will be in January. 3)Library -{Greg
, -
Covey andj Brian Holley both reported the Library is distributing a
handout which includes many fallacies. Colin Swales has rebutted the
handout, Discussion included whether or not the Commission should
respond and if so in what format. Rich Whitall moved that a formal
response be drafted to the Friends of the Library about the
inaccuracies in the handout and inviting them to discuss the issues,
possibly taking measures to correct the inaccuracies publicly. The
motion was passed unanimously. It was felt that the point needed to
be made the Tree Commission did approve the plan for the library, if
there are misrepresentations they should be pointed out and if there
is a debate or discussion going on it should be about the facts.
4)Parking on Gresham Street - Staff reported the five options were
presented and the attendees were allowed to give their opinions and
discuss there concerns. No consensus was reached at this meeting.
Nothing more has been heard on this topic. 5)Elks - Donn T odt
reported the we still need to find a way to ensure City projects are
discussed with the appropriate Commissions. The Elks project is
being planted. The bioswale was designed and installed by Engineering
and then worked by Parks Department. This will include the plantings,
D. Goal Review - It was decided that item 2 had been completed and
could be removed from the list. The general consensus was that if
more things were completed Tree Commission would have more of a
presence. Goals were revised and reorganized to be submitted for
approval at the next meeting. Staff was asked to review goals in
revision with both Planning and Council liaisons and ask for renewed
commitment.
New Business
A. Arbor Week Activities - This item was tabled until January]
B. Other - There were no additional items,
Adjournment - Meeting adjourned at 7:20pm