October 20, 2023 Tree Board Meeting Part 2

Detailed briefing

Tree Advisory Board Meeting — October 20, 2023 ATTENDEES: Dana Mulder, Jamie Melton, Gail Brown, and student board member Ali were recorded as present during roll call. • The board initially could not hold an official meeting because it lacked a quorum. Members limited the early conversation to updates and non-deliberative discussion until additional attendees arrived and the meeting was called to order. • The board approved the prior meeting minutes after a motion and second. The transcript does not state a vote count. • Members resumed work on the citywide street-tree plan, which divides the city into neighborhoods and corridors for site visits, inventories, priority rankings, and planting recommendations. The stated goal is to identify priority planting locations rather than choose locations only when donations or money become available. • Dana agreed to fill in the planning table using decisions from previous meeting minutes and share it at the next Tree Board meeting. Members said they were waiting on the final neighborhood-street work before completing that portion in November. • The board identified a future discussion about resident objections to street trees. Members noted that notices may help residents understand the planting and encourage watering or care, while sidewalk-free areas such as Layton Park can make city right-of-way boundaries less obvious. • Staff explained differing maintenance responsibilities: trees planted by the city in its right-of-way are the city’s responsibility, while a person who requests a tree on city property is responsible for maintaining it. A claim that many recently planted city trees had died was raised, but staff said they did not know the source and said the city had not lost all such trees. • In the West Bluff/M-119 discussion, members said MDOT controls the right-of-way. Staff said MDOT has given the city more latitude on the north side but does not want work on the south side because of concerns about disturbing the bluff. Members began identifying open areas on the north side; no final recommendation appears in the transcript. Worth watching: • Completion of the street-tree plan table and remaining neighborhood-street review. • Whether the board adopts guidance on resident objections to street trees. • Whether MDOT constraints allow any West Bluff planting recommendations. Upcoming: The board planned to continue the street-tree plan and related policy discussion at its next Tree Board meeting; no meeting date is stated. Why it matters: The plan could guide future tree planting toward canopy, traffic-calming, environmental, and maintenance priorities.

No open public follow-ups are linked to this meeting yet.