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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-09-10 - Agendas CITY OF a e evl jq AGENDA Y ARKANS Urban Forestry Advisory Board September 10, 2014 4:00 p.m. City Administration Building 1 113 W. Mountain I Room 111 [REVISED — 9/10/14] Members: Amy Jones; Sarah King; Kathy Launder; Malcolm LeVois; Sue Madison, Vice Chair; Don Steinkraus, Chair City Staff: Ken Eastin, Urban Forester; Derek Linn, Urban Forester; Alison Jumper, Park Planning Superintendent 1. Call to Order Don Steinkraus, Chair 2. Approval of Minutes Don Steinkraus, Chair 3. Native or Invasive Plant Presentation Kathy Launder 4. Invasive Plant Tools Report Sue Madison, Vice Chair and Don Steinkraus, Chair 5. Celebration of Trees October 18, 2014: Town Center Plaza, Downtown Square Derek Linn 6. Members and Attendance 7. Other Business or Announcements 8. Adjourn Mailing Address: 113 W. Mountain Street www.fayetteville-ar.gov Fayetteville,AR 72701 CITY OF a e evl jq MINUTES Y ARKANS Urban Forestry Advisory Board August 13, 2014 4:OOPM City Administration Building 1 113 W. Mountain I Room 111 Members: Amy Jones; Sarah King; Kathy Launder; Malcolm LeVois; Sue Madison, Vice Chair; Don Steinkraus, Chair City Staff: Ken Eastin, Urban Forester; Derek Linn, Urban Forester 1. Call to Order: 4:03pm I Don Steinkraus, Chair 2. In Attendance: Amy Jones, Kathy Launder, Malcolm LeVois, Sue Madison, Don Steinkraus Absent: Sarah King Staff: Ken Eastin, Derek Linn Guests: Jeremy Williams; Dot Neely 3. Approval of Minutes: LeVois made a correction that Tropical Soda Apple is an herbaceous perennial, not a woody plant as noted at the previous meeting. LeVois motioned to approve the minutes with the suggested corrections. Madison seconded it. The motion passed with a 5-0-0 voice vote. 4. Native or Invasive Plant Presentation — Don Steinkraus Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) Madison discussed weed wrenches while staff and Don worked to set up the powerpoint presentation. Madison said Aubrey Shepherd has a weed wrench and that someone is borrowing Nancy Varvil's weed wrench, through Tom Dureka. She said the Weed Wrench is no longer made, but other brands are making similar products. She suggested that per her son-in- law, it appears the Weed Wrench patent has expired, so that it may be possible for someone to legally fabricate a similar one. Madison's wrench is a Puller Bear ($140), but she said it is very heavy, and she had to add a base to it for leverage. Steinkraus shared the following details about Tupelo: - Native to U.S. - Nyssa genus; related to dogwood - 4 species of Nyssa are in U.S. - Very tolerant of wet soils and flooding; can grow in standing water Mailing Address: 113 W. Mountain Street www.fayetteville-ar.gov Fayetteville,AR 72701 Tupelo, MS is named for the tree Ogeechee produces very valuable honey"Tupelo Honey' (Van Morrison) N. sylvatica: upland species, found in Northwest Arkansas Flowers attractive to honeybees Fruits are edible to birds Offered at tree giveaway 2013 Excellent fall color (local example photos from West Fork, AR) Host plant of"The Hebrew", native moth Reasons to plant: 0 one of the most beautiful fall trees; o excellent food source for birds o relatively pest free o flowers beneficial to honey bees o excellent tree to diversify tree plantings 5. Celebration of Trees– Ken Eastin Linn noted that Blackgum, pawpaw, persimmon, bur oak, dogwood, and hazelnut were suggested at the previous meeting. Jones suggested Yellowwood and Fringetree. Steinkraus said 2 paw paws are required for fruit production. Launder said she has some paw paws in an understory area, and they're not doing well. Serviceberry Madison suggested native, tree form, viburnums and Halesia. Jones wondered if the board would need to give away 2 trees for folks that chose paw paw. She suggested Witch Hazel as a good native shrub. Madison suggested native azaleas and Pecan. Linn said that Mountain Azalea can be found in north Arkansas. Eastin suggested Buckeye, and said staff would soon identify a date for the event. Madison made a motion to approve the tentative list of plants for staff to seek availability and quotes on potential plants for the giveaway. LeVois seconded it, and the motion passed with a 5-0-0 voice vote. Steinkraus encouraged nut producing trees—both for wildlife and for children. 6. Other Business or Announcements 2 Recent experience with SWEPCO tree trimming on private property– Dot Neely, Guest Madison asked if the board will still be having an Ozarks Electric representative come speak. Staff said they would work to have a representative scheduled. Neely said on May 20 she received a tree removal flyer on her door regarding SWEPCO's request for her signature and blessing to cut down 3 trees adjacent to a SWEPCO utility line in her front yard. Neely was encouraged by friends to research her options and ended up contacting Alex Smith, SWEPCO. She said Alan Long suggested also contacting Preston Smith and Jeff Milford. She received a list of City certified pruners from city staff, and got in touch with Jeremy Williams, local arborist. She said overall, she and SWEPCO maintained a reasonable, ongoing dialog. She requested the service easement agreement associated with her property, and Preston told her it was included in the Franchise Agreement with the City. Neely followed up with City Attorney Kit Williams, who told her that is incorrect—that only city-owned properties are included in that franchise agreement. He said the direction to look would be for a service easement agreement on the private property, somewhere back in the history of the property. She continued her research. Neely said on June 20 she received a call from Alex that they were coming that afternoon to cut the trees down. She suggested she was in touch with Uvalde Lindsay, who was planning to visit the site and assess the situation as well. This was followed up with a call by Preston Smith, stressing that the trees needed to come down. Neely repeated her need to allow Senator Lindsay to follow through with his proposal. Neely also said that prior to this Jeremy Williams suggested a pruning prescription to SWEPCO representatives, which was rejected. Neely said the following individuals came to her property the following Monday to consider the situation: Mayor Jordan, Uvalde Lindsay, Jeremy Williams, Alex Smith, Preston Smith, Jeff Milford, Tom Hopwood (Jeffs supervisor). Jeremy wrote up a report summarizing what was agreed upon, and emailed it to the different parties, including Preston. Williams said a week later Preston claimed he did not receive the report, so he re-sent it. July 03 –the tree trimmers arrived and completed the trimming. She said they pruned a little more than what was agreed upon, but in the end, they did grant some concessions. Neely said in the process of raising the bucket truck to trim the trees, gallons of hydraulic fluid were spilled onto the ground in front of her property. She asked for the MSDS sheet, and the Asplundh supervisor said the fluid was biodegradable. She encouraged him to inform Preston Smith of the spill, and said eventually the contaminated soil was removed. She said they disposed of the toxic soil by dumping it into the chipper truck. She eventually received the MSDS sheet for the fluid and found the fluid is a petroleum product manufactured by Exxon. 3 Neely said her family has owned this land for over 40 years, and this was the first time SWEPCO has requested to remove the trees—in the past, maintenance has only involved pruning. The board applauded Neely on her persistence and diplomatic approach. Neely said it has been recommended she put together a pamphlet to help let property owners better understand their options. Neely said she has a friend who is filing an ethics complaint based on her experience with SWEPCO tree planning on her property. Williams said the ethics complaint would be filed through the International Society of Arboriculture. Madison also recommended contacting the Arkansas Public Service Commission. Neely added that the behavior is overly aggressive and the maintenance treatment is extreme—more than necessary. Eastin added that vegetation management is just one division of SWEPCO. He said it might not hurt to comment directly to the company as well. Neely said she is grateful for those who helped her through the situation. She said she found a 1926 record in Washington county records that noted a very general service area that would be maintained—she said it appeared to apply to some of the properties in her area. She said some identified a specific width of the service area, but many do not. Steinkraus said he liked how Neely looked at the economic loss of cutting down the trees: property value; loss of shade; loss of ecosystem benefits; payment to have the stumps ground and limbs removed once cut down. Jones wondered if property owners can hire their own arborist to clear the lines when needed. Williams said it is a gray area, but he believes that the utility provider holds the ultimate power to come back and prune or remove more if they deem the previous work inadequate. Neely suggested handing out right tree, right place literature at Celebration of Trees. 7. Adjournment Time: 5:24pm 8. Submitted by: Derek Linn 4