pous e
let us call the February 19th 2025
meeting of the Bexley tree and public
gardens commission to order and call the
role Charlie
flower Mary mcmun is absent Sheila strob
here Susan quinten's here Celeste
Williams Jim Wilson is not available
Linda subik or we have a quorum um
alternates Audrey young and Barb Giller
are not available today Ellen Bowen and
Larry Helman ex officio will not be with
us um mayor Kesler is coming every other
month and this is the other uh Matt
Kingler is in the lobby Grant
Archer good rette freedlander staff
consultant here hey we have a
forum um and we don't have any
alternates available to appoint to take
place of the members so we are a healthy
hearty group of
five so be ready to chat so I
security so I'm looking for approval of
the minutes of December 18th 2024 and
January 15 2025 as
email second all right so get your
microphones close I move that we approve
them thank you Celeste is there a second
second okay thank you Sheila is are
there any questions any discussion no
a motions made and seconded that we
approve the minuts of December 18th 2024
and January 15th 2025 as emailed all
those in favor say I I all those opposed
same sign motion carries um do we have
any additions to the
agenda no we have none then we will move
forward uh we have no review of
landscape applications um we'll be
reviewing the police station landscape
plan it's my understanding in March so I
haven't seen that I think Grant you've
seen the preliminary drawing with
that so it will be I don't know if it's
been submitted and when Matt arrives
perhaps he could tell us obviously we
have no resident comments for today so
let's look at announcements and small
victories I wanted to report on Mary's
rooted and Bexley series she's had two
programs first one had 80 to 90 people
the last one had 70 to 80 yeah and the
two coming up are Zoe schlanger on March
5th she wrote a book called The Light
eaters which uh was the New York Times
bestseller and it's my understanding not
having read the book that it's talks a
little bit about plants the same way the
hidden life of trees book talks about
trees as communicating with each other
through the undergrown root system have
you read the book Charlie no I've heard
about it though you have heard about it
okay and then our our AR author is Amy
Stewart she wrote a book called the tree
collectors I have it here and I'll pass
it down there is one interesting thing
about this and I don't know if our Urban
Forester knows this do you know this
grant we'll give it a shot okay here we
go so this book is um profiles of about
50 different people who collect uniqu
unique aspects of trees it could be a
cross-section of a tree and and if you
correct plct cross-sections you might
have in your collection
104,000 so you have that or you might
have someone just says cherry trees or
you might be called what is called the
collector's collector and the person
that's a collector collector's collector
happens to live in Aurora Ohio Mary
called him he's going to come down his
name is Ben Asen and he and Grant are
colle is that is that right that is
correct so how how are you happy
birthday happy birthday you so tell us a
little bit about how you and Ben Aspen
know each other uh so out of college I
had to do an
internship and he was the the urban
Forester for Canal Winchester at the
time and I did an internship under him
at Canal Winchester but he was he was a
contract Urban Forester he wasn't a
fulltime so yeah I worked for Canal
Winchester he was the contract Urban
Forest so he's going to come down and
it's Mary's hope to have him to lunch
and to invite you so I hope you're
available that day yeah we'll make it
work make it work yeah I see him at our
arborous meetings quite often
so so um his quote is if I was finished
my life would be over I think I'll never
stop planting trees so so anyway I'll
pass this down so you could just have a
little bit of a sense of it and then the
night of the 23rd Amy also wrote this
book called the drunken botanist which
as you might guess talks about you know
where some of the flavors for alcohol if
anybody's ever drunk alcohol comes from
and it's going to be a fundraiser at um
David hogy who lives at 107 North
Ashburn raised money for the Bexley
Public Library author series at the
Bexley Community Foundation so there you
go let's see
Sunday huh it's not April 23rd Sunday
this Sunday February 2 February 23rd is
a new reception at Jeffrey Mansion and
if anybody would like to come and talk
to the new residents about trees I think
we'll just focus on mulch I how to
properly mulch a tree um you're welcome
to join us uh we're going to have one
table for tree Commission on mulch and
we'll get to that and then one table
that's half Bexley and Bloom and half 3
Darkness so 3: to
4:30 and then and what do we think about
moving our March meeting from March 19th
to March
26th because you probably are affected
by spring break yeah I won't be here you
won't be here right and Audrey wouldn't
be
here probably right around then well
you're probably not
here so I'm always here you're thank
goodness and celest for you I prefer
that we defer one more week okay great
so the 26 works for you then okay it is
then I'm going to suggest that we have a
motion to move our meeting I'm going to
motion that we move our meeting to March
26 all those in favor or we need a
second I'll second the motion any
discussion motions been made in second
we move our March meeting for March 19th
2025 to March 26 2025 all those in favor
say I I all those post same sign okay
having said that um Natalie who works
for the mayor had said there's going to
be a land use strategy meeting at 5:30
so it may well be that we only have 90
minutes for our meeting which I'm sure
would cause you know probably people to
panic reolution right a re so my my
spring break is the
26th so I'll have V okay okay because
he's supposed to come I guess twice a
year I don't know if that's in tandem
with you grant or just but it out it'll
work out it'll work out okay to miss the
tree Commission meeting but we'll figure
it
out well so I will ask you though Grant
if you're not here that if we have a
chance to send you the final landscape
plan for the police station that if you
have any comments on it that you share
those with us okay and then we can you
know ask Spencer to read those okay and
Professor Markham celebrates a
birthday yay how about that we won't ask
you how old you are but we can ask you
if you remember your favorite birthday
ever can you remember any birthday
previous to this I I don't really recall
things very well in general so like when
you ask me my favorite Christmas or my
favorite
birthday I really draw a blank for the
most part I they're all good yeah
they're I mean they've all been pretty
good and uh yeah I don't know well can
you remember what age you fell in love
with
trees yeah I do remember that I mean you
know uh I was fortunate enough to be a
grad student in the Plant Pathology
Department and um and so I was
surrounded by faculty there that were
pretty good and Dr Landon rhods was one
of my mentors and advisors and he uh
made me his teaching assistant for uh
for it was like a forest pathology
course or something and so uh every week
we would take the students out and walk
around like Sharon Woods or something
and we would look for trees and we would
look for Woodland fungi as well which
was also kind of fun and you know to me
that sort of dynamic learning is like
made a very you know
formative impression on me and that's
how I try and teach now as as well and I
just think you have to kind of be very
interested naturally interested and
cultivate an interest and and go where
things are you know as opposed to
looking at pictures and and all of that
so yeah that was for me yeah well in
honor of your birthday oh no I have
special things oh
my they different
labels yes
labels are related to
wow to trees holy
cow I gonna open these right here right
now I the good news isant said we're not
on video oh yeah look at this all right
red tree Cabernet
Avon I definitely like those kind of
trees I've got a card here and uh
R roll yeah it's kind of fun too oh oh
it's a oh my root one Cabernet as well
oh I you guys you definitely kind of
have me pegged as far as uh I don't know
you may like white but it's just too
bad I am a huge fan of red wine so thank
you very much that is really awesome
that is so nice of you conratulations
we're lucky to have had you as our leaz
on for these years these years so do you
have a professorial tutorial I I do and
I I just also wanted to mention March
19th that date moving works for me I
actually have Natalie Kohl's who is
Bexley resident coming to talk to my
students on March 19th I think uh
representing the Obama Foundation uh to
talk about philanthropy and volunteer
services and opportunities so that's
kind of works out well for me as well
great uh since it is my birthday I
thought I would talk about my birth a
little bit in a scientific way but then
you know Susan you know Susan I thought
would be more interesting is to talk
about my conception in a scientific way
well go there we go and um is this rated
Troy this is listen biology
is biology now so my genetic makeup and
Charlie's genetic makeup and Grant's
genetic makeup is a little different
than the rest of your makeup and you
probably know maybe what that is right
but if not I'm passing out a clue to you
which is upon conception those pairs of
chromosomes that got together for for me
was a X chromosome and a y chromosome
the other 22 pairs are all sort of you
know various whatever but the the X and
the Y chromosome we call them the sex
chromosomes and they determine whether
you're going to be male or
female and uh you may of course already
know that but I bet you don't know
several key things about those uh X and
Y chromosomes and if you if now you're
cheating because you're looking at the
paper but if I were to ask you to
visualize the X and Y chromosomes you
know you might have kind of an idea in
your head what they look like maybe you
think they look like an and a y but they
don't uh they the only reason
chromosomes look like an X in the first
place is there are two kind of worm
chromosomes that are attached by a
central mirror when they are duplicated
so one comes from the mom one comes from
the father and they whatever chromosomes
themselves look like little worms or
whatever and the X chromosome looks like
an X if that is the case the Y
chromosome however does not look like
the X chromosome there is one key
difference and if if now you can look at
that sheet can you tell me what strikes
you about the Y
chromosome yes oh my goodness right what
was it so much shorter than the ex
chromosome that explains a lot yes
Sheila I'm here to tell
you there is no uh there is no what do
you call it equal representation for the
SE is in biology we have to tell it like
it is and the X chromosome is a big
beautiful chromosome full of genes all
these different pieces of information
the Y chromosome is a very small and
let's just say it's not a scientific
term but junky
chromosome it is so much entropy thank
you when the X chromosome it's got so
much mutations and and it's cost pieces
over time so instead of being the same
size as the X the white chromosome is
this little it's got very little
information in it now it does have some
key information and I hopefully don't
have to describe that to all of you you
probably already know some of that but
what happens with the Y chromosome why
is it getting worse and worse over time
every time you make a copy of the Y
chromosome to pass on to uh your son it
would be a son only it wouldn't be a a
water um there are mistakes that are
made and so you miss some things it's
like making a copy a Xerox copy of stuff
you know whatever and so uh that can't
be helped now the same thing happens
with the X chromosome too but the X
chromosome does not uh retain most of
these problems because when meiosis
happens and those chromosomes get
together to create sperm and egg cells
they enter a phase called metaphase
where they line up with each other and
when they line up with each other
something amazing happens they start
swapping little pieces of the
chromosomes back and forth they start
repairing each other but you know what
chromosome does not ever get repaired
the Y chromosome because there's never
another Y chromosome for it to match up
with so if you have a female you'd get
those X chromosomes next to each other
and they fix each other but if you have
a Mayo you get an X chromosome and a y
chromosome they don't have any
corresponding parts to each other and so
over time the Y chromosome has
deteriorated into this pathetic very
very sad little uh chromosome now it's
still there it still works everything's
G on you know just fine but we do have
to say that probably at some point in
the future the Y chromosome will cease
to to to function effectively we will
probably either um it will be nonviable
we will cease to produce we we will
cease to produce males at some point
probably uh and so because there is no
getting better for the Y chromosome
there is only getting worse and worse
and worse and so uh that's something
that you know we kind of look at and say
oh you know that's something that
changes over time and has not been
helped by by Evolution and by uh sexual
reproduction everything else kind of
there are mechanisms in there to kind of
make things a little bit fitter but not
for the Y
chromosome that's
yeah yeah so I was gonna say how how
does this intersect with a happy
birthday for you oh I don't
know I I would never I would never
assume that it would you know yeah it's
just something that I think is kind of
interesting that that most people don't
realize you probably already know that
the X chromosome is um much more uh
prominent in some of these genetic um
what manifestations whatever because you
you probably know color blindness for
example is much more prominent in men
than women and that's because it's on
that X chromosome and so if you're uh if
you're a woman you have two X
chromosomes if there are some uh
recessive genes like for color blindness
on your X chromosome well you've got
another X chromosome then that we'll fix
that we'll you know take over for that
but if you're male you get that one
chromosome and uh they will say things
like uh color blindness uh male pattern
baldness those sorts of things tend to
look for the maternal males in the
family because that means that X
chromosome is being expressed nothing on
the Y chromosome for
that so who would like to ask Troy
questions about this
phenomena don't be afraid
you want to know what's on the you want
to know what's on the X chromosome
sure a lot of it has to do and again I'm
sorry not to be politically correct but
a lot of it has to do with um with with
mental acuity with mental development
with you know and and so those are the
sorts of things that we will often see
again expressed as genetic diseases or
genetic uh passed on through uh Y
chromosomes to m and so it's a lot some
of those uh will be a lot more common in
males because again if you've got the
two copies of the X sometimes that will
help uh fix
things your mind open mind scientific
mind going forward are we going to end
that more test to
babies there are Believe It or Not There
are
some rodents I think I think there are
some rodents who have lost the Y
chromosome and species that have lost
the Y chromosome and the thing that will
kind of uh there's there's
um they have not lost the ability to
reproduce they have then the X
chromosome has been able to take on
extra duties to continue sexual
reproduction and so what we find out if
you are a fan of biology like I am is
you find out over time Evolution uh and
natural selection
genetics finds ways of of you know fix
fixing things or changing things or
surviving probably surviving survival
and reproduction are the mechanisms you
know the ultimate mechanisms of genetic
uh um
recombination and we do find uh we do
find that genetics are able to do
various recombinations they're able to
do extra Duty and things like that so
perhaps in the future Maybe will'll just
be populations of women who find ways to
reproduce I don't
know it's going to be a
while not in our life time yeah not
today no it's going to be uh probably
hundreds of thousands of years before
that Y chromosome becomes whatever yeah
so when you share this with your
students what is their what are their
thoughts oh they love it especially the
the girls who the women you always talk
about men being uh uh extinct and we
talk about that Y chromosome how you
know you know how it doesn't really have
that much on
it so pretty soon your class is gonna be
100% women
tro so do we have any questions for
Troy no hard to know where to begin
right sorry so I just thought it was
sort of interesting I've got a couple of
things more this is what Dev from the
plants this week I've got some some more
plant type stuff and I do want to
mention that I I have been spending the
last six weeks uh getting acclimated in
my new job and one of the things that I
hope to bring to you guys at some point
is maybe a um maybe a a Cooperative
project with with my students and your
group or the sure tro that everybody
knows about your new job at was oh I'm
sorry so I am now uh in charge of the a
Scholars Program right Ohio so I have uh
60 freshmen and 60 sophomores uh and my
cohort and we focus on community
involvement we focus on community
service we focus on
education um and uh I am just kind of
like an extra advisor or a mentor to
those students um and one thing that we
do as I mentioned Natalie Kohl's who
will come speak to us on March 19th I
try and get um community service Comm
Community uh projects like involved we
get involved with those we get educated
with those and so one of the things that
you were talking about last time I was
here in the meeting was you know sort of
projects and things that might be
interesting and worthwhile and so I've
been kind of brainstorming that and I
thought you know maybe the Bexley
Bloomers or the tree commission or some
group would be interested in doing a
combined effort with some of my students
and and we could do you know some sort
of um heart of culture Al Landscaping
type project or maybe something over at
Franklin Park Conservatory uh together
and it might be kind of fun you
know there's always inv face of
honeysuckle remov something like that
too actually that would that wouldn't be
that wouldn't be a bad uh project as
well you know uh we are just constantly
um the students and I are constantly
looking for a variety of different
Community involvement projects and so
when I have 120 students generally I'm
getting about 15 on various projects
whatever they're more interested in but
I just thought that might be kind of fun
and interesting for some of them to be
involved with as well so I'll be kind of
brainstorming that either for spring or
maybe fall next next year and I'll I'll
bring something to you if if you think
that that might be something you would
be interested in the ratio of women and
men um it's not connected to the biology
lesson that I just gave you but is about
95% female I uh and and and I I am not
sure um historically the cohort is
education Majors although it's not
limited to education majors and our
education program at Ohio State is um is
predominantly female as well so I
suppose that that is probably the root
of why that is but oh careful
yep all bunch of healthy ex chromosomes
Shayla good m mat you may have missed
the most exciting part of the meeting
Troy's birthday yeah Troy's birthday X
and Y chromosomes the failure of the Y
chromosome to repair itself the
potential evolution of an all female
environment yeah we talked a lot about
uh sexual reproduction and now there's a
quiz
sophomore how does pyy and plants play
into that so that's that that's a great
question so explain what pyy is then
like a instantaneous duplication of
chromosomes right like American elm is a
diploid tetraploid exoid all of these
things so you can't cross
it deployed with the tetraploid very
successfully and humans are diploid you
have a male and a a paternal and a
maternal chromosome so diploid too um
but as Charlie's mentioning plants and
especially wheat plants become like they
have an ability to instead of um
retaining that um that diploid nature to
just add chromosomes so they be instead
of two they will have four or eight or
even 16 sets of chromosomes in there uh
and it is uh it's just one of those
things about biology that I think is
pretty amazing I don't know a lot about
how that works except for it does allow
plants uniquely I think uniquely to be
um to probably have uh survival and
reproductive characteristics you know
that heard it was like related to
stressful events yeah more Ploy more
kind of stressful environments and if
you can imagine like being a plant and
instead of a person and having extra
chromosomes to create different proteins
different characteristics different
abilities now all of a sudden as a plant
you're able to maybe survive drought or
more likely maybe to survive
pathogens uh you know to have these
different characteristics and so it is
pretty interesting uh that is something
also that I think as uh We've um we've
started to uh um create our own
varieties of plants you know more suited
for us for our consumption and things
like that that's become a little more
and more common as well with those sort
of um human uh artificially induced you
know or whatever as opposed to Natural
Selection you know artificial selection
you know where we select for flavor and
size and things like that that comes
into
play okay well happy birthday Troy
Markham and X and Y chromosomes so on we
go is there any are there any other
announcements or small
victories no well then we'll go on to
staff reports Grant you want to give us
a little overview of what's happening in
your world yeah sure uh so the crews are
currently working on stumps and removals
what we do in the winter time um how's
that going it's going well I mean it's
it's great to have the guys are just you
know that want to go out and work in
this weather without questions asked so
it's kind of nice we might be moving a
little slower than if it was warm out
but at least we're getting it done uh
which brings me to the the Fair Avenue
project we are currently removing the
trees on the Fair Avenue project that's
the Bexley beautification
fund uh fundraiser for fall 2025 so we
have started that process we are waiting
for a design which I believe that design
will come here for approval and uh we'll
start working on that you want to talk a
little bit about the focus on the
species for uh so it'll be
Oaks um mainly
uh we're going to try to get at least
one of every species that's available
here in the state of Ohio on Fair Avenue
so that is our goal it's called what and
I'm not sure I'm saying it right maybe
Charlie you know maybe Grant you know
where to see him okay yeah I mean like
Arbor but all Oaks
so that'll be kind of a unique aspect of
the arbor what was the name you said
please I'm sorry it's like q u e r c e t
e t m it's close I'll recognize it when
I see it maybe
maybe go ahead Grant
um the Arbor Day Giveaway the mayor and
I have been working on that um some of
the things we're kind of processing is
uh city of the Franklin Park and Soil
and Water Conservancy has what's called
Community backyards so these residents
from multiple cities in Columbus have to
either take an online course and quiz or
they can have an in-person
Workshop their choice then they get a
certificate at the end of it which you
know that way we're providing education
to Residents and then something we can
Implement into bexley's our uh tree
giveaway is if they have that
certificate they can present it to us
and then we can you know depending on
the funds that are available the tree
species that we select uh we could uh
offer through either yard Barbers or
Oakland Nursery to have it planted in
their in their yard so those are some of
the concepts that we're going through
right now so what do people think about
that so the online course you've taken
the course I have I have I've planted uh
trees in my yard on this course right
now this course gives you $50 rebate but
we could you know um we could do we
could do whatever we want with you know
the whatever funds we have so Grant you
had uh some thoughts about the cost of a
tree if if uh the resident works with
yard Barbers or Oakland and what it
would cost for them to plant correct I
mean you know if you're going with all
Oaks those are more expensive uh so that
way if we have a $5,000 Grant that's
going to limit the number of trees we
can plant if we go with another a
cheaper species like a maple or
something then you know um we can plant
more trees so that's really up to
whatever tree commission decides is the
act the adequate tree species and this
program does Prov provide a list of
native trees that can be planted uh so
we can always just you know uh use that
list as well um or you know I've heard
in other meetings that we don't really
care what tree they're planting as long
as they're planting a tree so we can
give a larger dollar amount for
something that's native versus something
that's more ornamental so I mean we can
really play with whatever we want to do
with this this program so this different
than like the Franklin County Soil and
Water Conservation districts so is that
oh it's the same thing that same thing
but beex we're I'm thinking about
piggybacking off of it and providing
more money than the
$50 uh but this might you know entail a
conversation with Franklin Soil and
Water about
it um and then communication with Bexley
residents saying hey we'll offer more
money um to help plant a tree so how
when you took the course how long was it
and did you feel it was educational it
has been years since I've taking that
class um yeah I I definitely did I mean
I think for someone who's just trying to
plant a tree in their yard it's
definitely I think it's more uh you know
based off that that Spectrum than
someone who kind of knows Primary Care
correct I've done the rain barrel test
from yeah in it's like recent
yeah yeah they'll give you 100 bucks
towards a rain barrel or a treee and you
know maybe we can have one of the the
classes you know the workshops here
right just for Bexley residents so I
mean it's just you know it's people like
that
idea well yeah we can we can you know
we'll get it on our Bexley blast and and
I wouldn't teach it no if that's what
you're asking
no but uh it sounds like they have
speakers already lined up for this class
so we would just have them move see if
we can get a date here in Bexley Lo
so do people like that idea of trying it
we do you know we've tried various kind
of of uh methods to get trees planted
and we're still looking for one that
works for the city for the trees and for
us and for the Community Foundation
which gives the money
so we feel that this is worth a try why
don't you see if you can get a date and
um a time and we can work with the
community found foundation and see if
they're willing to give funds to offset
the planting of the trees yeah I I also
think that fall I mean this might be too
early for a spring project but a fall
planting would go just as well and you
can celebrate Arbor Day any time of year
it doesn't have to be April 29th the
last Friday of April so right okay so
well why don't we work on on both sides
yeah well if it's a fall project it I
mean it gives the um beex the
beautification fund time to look at how
much Mone they want to
donate so correct me from Mar the
activity would be physically putting the
trees in the hole or would it be like
listening to a Spiel of how to plant a
tree so you would listen you would come
here and listen productively learn how
to plant a tree you would listen and
then you would get a certificate okay
and then you know we would say here's
$400 you can pick from this selection of
trees or could we do the training on
Fair and we could like plant the trees
on be instead of like pay somebody to
plant the trees and we could just like
do the actual task if the tree
commission would like to do that
sure so so are you thinking in addition
to tree commission City residents who
want to learn how to plant a tree yeah
so okay so yeah I mean I would think
that it could be either right City
residents want to learn how to plant a
tree and that could dovetail as their
training and we could like plant trees
for the city it seems like a great way
to kill Co mingle yeah but if that's
like too much Logistics totally makes
sense to well I think we just I think we
just have to make a timeline figure it
out and you know I mean it's it's uh
what say uh instruction planting funds
and then after care right right yeah and
we can provide a watering bag you know
um we have all kind of door hangers that
can be provided I brought some pamphlets
that are the ISA hands out that we could
buy in bulk and
um proper mulching techniques insect and
disease and new tree plantings so yeah
and that's you know all the information
you need right there so and I think it's
it's you know the problem that our
program probably isn't working out as
well as we think it should is the lack
of Education that the residents have so
I think that's the next step if we want
to have a successful program is
educating the people that are really
interested in it and holding them
accountable like you knew better or you
know whatever so okay well why don't we
keep working away on the details of this
and then look at a fall planting um
Grant likes fall plantings we all like
fall plantings you know two seasons of
water the fall rains and the spring
rains yep or the winter rains I guess
right snows any rain any rain yeah uh
anything else Grant no I believe that's
it any questions for Grant
so Grant have you seen any damage on the
trees from the cold
spells um or damage on trees from the
drought l oh yeah yeah and what are you
seeing a lot of the
Evergreens I mean you can't walk down
any Street and not see a dead Evergreen
mostly Ary is what I've been saying lot
you know there's a lot of the large
Pines on North Cassidy that have passed
that are oranging out uh a lot of spruce
a lot I mean yeah so you know lot
taxes so
yeah thankfully most of it's on
residential property and I don't have to
worry about it code
enforcement I'm humanizing them um are
they because of the
the fire is not the fire that came
through last spring taxes there's the
boxwood light and then Hemlock uh has an
insect that's eating it but no I think
that you know um any large Evergreen
that was somewhat stressed or or you
know the drought really just finished it
off are we back to um the average of
rainfall now I I don't know that
answer hoping I mean I'm hoping that
there's some ability to
recoup well the problem is the rain all
comes at once and a very small portion
of the Rin actually gets soaked up into
the soil there's a lot of
runoff I know that any other questions
for
Grant then Mr Matt Kingler welcome
thanks thanks for having me so we I I
made up questions for you okay so since
this is kind of I don't want to say
Matt's first meeting because he's
certainly been here before but maybe
first meeting where we have them all to
ourselves I thought since he's director
of both building and planning that maybe
a good question would be how you see the
planning process intersect with the work
and the goals of the tree commission or
if you don't see no no yeah I do
definitely um I see it no no different
than the land use strategy commission or
um any other sort of planning that we
have and you know we have a couple other
ones um you know my goal um for you all
to help facilitate what you want to get
done and Implement that with City
policies and whether or not it's
drafting ordinances you know
collaborating with
you um and helping develop policy
um also you know developing strategic
and long-term planning so if you guys
have goals that you want to see and and
you want to do workshops and you want to
get things done and you need me to bring
in outside people basically help be a
facilitator for for you all to meet your
goals um and and bring those you know to
the city Administration and make sure we
can Implement that whether it be
codified or not
um that's how I see my role well maybe
you could talk a little bit about land
use strategy because you think of land
you know we think of trees think of you
know shrubs Green Space and we don't
have any updates on the direction or the
goals Landry strategy so maybe this
would be a good time to think about that
yeah so land use strategy has been going
on for a little over a year right now uh
it's a group of 14 or 16 individuals uh
that have been meeting pretty regularly
uh we've kind of taken a break right now
but um the charge was the the mayor let
me take a step back the the mayor um
initiated the first land use strategy I
think in 2011 or
2012 and um what came of that were uh
were goals for the city and how we can
develop the city better uh one of the
things that came from that was our
grocery store um that was a goal out of
that strategy um that was executed so
things like that with this committee uh
we've been focusing more on um the
commercial districts and what's missing
within the commercial districts and how
we can develop those for the next 10 20
50 and 100 years what are the the goals
and and what what does the city want to
see um in the future in those areas so
we focused mainly on the Ferndale
Mayfield or Southwest Bexley we focused
on what we call Main Street West um
which is essentially like Cassidy um to
Alum Creek and then we have Main Street
East which is kind of you know Cassidy
to Chelsea or Gould um and then we have
we focused a little bit on Parks um not
a whole lot uh but then also um Cassidy
North right so before you go over the
railroad tracks um right now we're in
the um I would say Troy is a part of it
what would you call it the the
rendering slash the document the
document phase yeah so the report yeah
we're we're we're compiling the reporter
Megan Myers working really hard on it um
and she sent us the first draft of it
and so we hope the report will be ready
um I don't know the next two to three
months to be distributed uh to the
public so are there some questions about
that you know one of the things we've
talked about Matt is the we're kind of
overdue for refreshing the Main Street
guidelines and if any of the vision is
in the right of way you know our Main
Street guidelines are from 2002 so Y is
there a parallel universe of refreshing
those while the land use strategy is
still in production stage so it's a
start it's not parallel it's a start to
finish so once we finished the land use
strategy and we have the overarching
kind of theme of where we want to go and
then we'll start the uh Main Street
design guideline refresh so I think that
would be this year then yes yeah I would
anticipate that uh maybe second quarter
this
year hopefully so Matt where are you
getting input from from people of what
the land use strategy should be I mean
people come they want Cassy to be this
thing Main Street to be something else
yeah so we had
probably um the initial you know we had
four public workshops I think public
Workshop yeah City Hall we had some we
went a capital um you know we invited
the public to come and put a Post-It
notes we had different areas set up
where they can speak to um I will say
sort of the experts on the land used um
Commission of those areas you know we
had we we broke off into subgroups and
there were three to four people in each
subgroup that were you know would study
the area they came up with their own
ideas and then we had the public come in
um sort of a Q&A and and and develop
their develop their take their ideas and
develop them to create a report we also
did a market analysis with a guy named
Pete Del Salvo I forget who he was with
um he told us what bexley's missing
um in a in a real estate analysis you
know kind of market
report uh so we incorporated that um
yeah it's been it's been a long fun
process it was a far reach for input too
I mean we had one big meeting with all
the boards and all over there as well a
capital where uh we presented and took
in information the working
groups uh did the public workshops we
also talked to we talked to anybody and
every everybody and Bexley that we felt
had uh either um historical knowledge
had um ideas had you know strong uh we
talked to Architects we talked to
developers we talked to you know anybody
and everybody that and asked them like
you tell us about what you see when you
look at Bexley and and and that sort of
thing so I found it just to be a really
invigorating process you know I I just
love it when you have a whole bunch of
people with ideas and and information
and you know they informing informing
each other about things that are
important was there any
like aesthetic take-home or anything
that like we
could we as the tree commission could
translate from those words of like we
view our vision to be a fully built out
tree canopy or like we just heard like
an
idealistic dog and pony show of a lot of
a lot of you know what what you're
seeing is a lot of desire for for tree
tree can canopy
walkability uh public spaces taking Main
Street and parts of Bexley and making it
more um amable to to walking to
congregating you know that sort of thing
as well I think that's sort of an
overall theme uh that we saw
incorporated into a lot of other stuff
obviously development and and things as
well but that I mean I think I think you
see a lot of probably the things that
that you guys talk about and think about
are expressed in this this document and
and and and some of these ideas I I have
a question and piggybacking what Charlie
was saying is
that given that we like some more space
to plant trees are they thinking about
making other buildings taller are they
thinking about going for height versus
trying to fill in the spaces or like
digging in infrastructure like not
having an above ground like here we en
visioning for a future that is not the
same or like pitched by a management
company from California about Ohio's
Specialties like are we do we not know
what we have and what we can do with it
or do we like like there's like a burnum
plan for like New York City's Central
Park right and that was like developed
in 1800s and like deployed yeah right
like do we have like the vision of like
we want canopy cover to be X we want the
things to be y we want this aesthetic
vision we want trees set so far off of a
street and have this type of coverage
and it's not that we need the answer is
just more of is there an approach that
we can piggy back off that gives us
guidance
to advocate for things or make decisions
or advocate for educational Outreach
opportunities or things like that I mean
what I kind of heard was like sit and
wait figure you know no no that's not
fair Charlie no that's not what we
said was theion involved in visioning I
saw some of the tree commission involved
in in in the public workshops and
everything I think what we do at this
phase is um you know when Matt describes
this as a sequential process it's very
much that way right uh what you'll see
with this document with this is my my
impression of it is like we want all
ideas and we want your idea even if you
think it's going to cost you know $50
million if you think it's still going to
make Bexley better we put it in you know
and we we have some drawings we have
some ideas about things that we think
would be better that doesn't mean that
you know like I you know when you're
saying you know wait you know whatever
there there're definitely the next phase
is you take you know you take these
ideas and then you go well now can we do
a plan what what can we do what how can
we do it and and you sort of come up
with like the process for for you know
putting these into action and obviously
that happens at different timelines it's
dependent upon property becoming
available it's dependent upon funding
it's dependent upon the will too of the
you know when we get feedback from the
tree commission when we get feedback
from the public you know on a lot of
this stuff does that sound fair yeah
yeah that's a fair statement I would say
um this focused you know a large part of
Bexley is residential and this this land
use strategy did not really focus a
whole lot on residential we got into the
only real residential aspect that got
brought up was uh around like accessory
dwelling units and it was more about
um you know are they good for Bexley and
sort of the regulation around that I
would say uh when we get into the Main
Street design guidelines for sure and it
seems like you know that that's
definitely a time where we um we would
look to you all for input to you know
within our commercial districts you know
the Main Street design kind lines we
kind of took that and overlaid it on
Livingston right and there may be
appetite to sort of you know what can we
do on Cassidy as far as design
guidelines when that starts to get
developed so this was more of a
commercial um you know what are the
goals for developing you know what are
we missing what should we shoot for what
should we try to attract um from a from
a real estate standpoint um I would
think um you know because design
guidelines are are crucial for you all
when we say you know we want X number of
trees or want these type of trees or
this type of tree canopy when you when
this property changes hands or you know
you have to adhere to design guidelines
if you're changing your property you
know that's where we can really you know
hey you know you got to plant these type
trees or these type of shrubs or you got
to do this XYZ um this land use strategy
was more of a sort of the 30 ,000 square
foot view of of different commercial
districts and how how we see them sort
of developing in the future and I think
that's probably going to be a key next
component too right is you're going to
take some of these ideas and visions and
tell you're going to tell us you know
how would these best be done or are they
able to be done or or whatever now from
our perspective like I said we took
ideas in this plan we took ideas for
private property that's not available at
this point we took ideas in this for
like property of the school district
right now understanding that they're
doing a a facilities plan and you know
so they're not that timing you know is
not there for them to be able to say
well we'll cooperate with you with some
school properties for instance like that
we still put them in the plan though
because you know like at least My
Philosophy was if we think that
something could be good we might as well
put it in there and then two or three
years from now if the school can come
back to us or if private property
becomes available or something like that
then we're we're not we're not not
looking at those possibilities right now
we are including all those possibilities
as well but as Matt says this is like
this is like the the you know what did
you call it the 30,000 3,000 yeah it's
it's the large how high do you fly over
Bey I know whatever
yeah other questions for Matt and Troy
we got them both here Now's the Time
don't go home with your questions
unanswered I um I'm hopeful that with
all of your planning and budgeting that
North Cassidy really is a good Focus
because that is the weak link and um be
in that that we're developing by the
railroad tracks and taking it out to
Seventh Avenue or 7th Street it will be
so great to come in and have some
development that's attractive and um um
a pleasing aspect because it's it it's
calling out for it well on that note the
one you will see an application next
month for the Community Builders uh
projects they did U they were granted
their
variances
um um for their projects at 2300
Livingston and 420 North Cassidy and
they submitted their application last
week for the tree public garden
commission for both of those projects so
they will be in front of you uh next
month and that 420 North Cassidy is in
the C mixed use commercial
y yeah I was just say we moved our
meeting to the 26th okay I saw you were
gonna vote on that I didn't I was ask
you okay so it's because of you'd be
gone Monette not Grant not Grant he's
gonna have Spencer come but Charlie and
Adra so and we need to work that through
with land use strategy because Natalie
said that land use strategy was also
that night beginning at
5:30 so I don't know if they are their
meetings
videotaped they need land
strategy it's landu strategy it landu
strategy is taped isn't it it's not okay
so that's that's good because that means
that maybe that other room would be
suitable of course our our meetings
aren't taped either right now or they
Grant no they're recorded they're
recorded and then yeah I think the
recording okay anything else for
Matt NOP he's been on the job now six
months eight months yeah holy moly we're
gonna have an anniversary pretty soon as
still got all your
hair it time G fast man sort
of on the day on the day okay nothing
more for mat then okay um Monette hello
welcome back we're glad to see you and I
think you have some information for us
right I do okay so this is in paper form
it's well it's in paper form it's it's
guided through paper form okay take a
copy pass along there are three
different one for each file uh one one
the all three documents on
the and then pass the
yeah good thing we
don't so similar to one yeah the whole
pile similar to the last time I
presented progress I've created three
separate sheets that helps me categorize
the applications
I I would like to just share an update
about Monette um before she before she
starts because we haven't seen her since
she changed job she was you know design
and sales with Hidden Creek and now
she's combined to partner with an old
friend of the tree commission Mark
sheber and was working with him as a
co-partner so
uh you know as many of you know Mark was
a founding member of the tree of public
gardens commission so it's fun to think
that in a way we' come back to full
circle to Mark yes it's kind of Full
Circle for me as well I was a consultant
with Mark before I worked for Hidden
Creek when I was still independent so we
missed working for with each other and
determined that I'd come on as an
associate partner so excited for the
next few years it'll be fun good stuff
yeah okay you want to start yes okay
so you have three different sheets in
front of you the top the top sheet is
our comprehensive residential project
list and you can slightly see that
they're colored anything with a green
tint to it mean it's means it's been
installed and approved within the last
year and a half there are still
several uh projects on this list that
are marked in either yellow or red which
means yellow yellow means it's either
still under construction or there are
questions about the installation that
are pending red means it's affirmed that
it was not installed according to the
approved plan so this comprehensive list
has 41 projects on it and as I started
to move through these lists last year it
was easier for me to pull the green
approved projects out of the list unless
we'd like to review any of those today
I'd be happy
to um if you look at your second sheet
that is our pending and not approved
list of residential projects which back
the back of the list the the second
piece of paper here here okay so it's
got yellows and reds on it right and a
little bit larger print there's 16
projects in the residential realm that
are left pending for one reason or
another anything that is marked red has
been determined that it's not installed
according to the approved plan the r
page oh you're
missing
it like like so like 235
n yes is that that be read yes correct
that's the correct
sheet so there are six divisions in this
fing all them apply to us oh you have
all of the extras I didn't know how many
people would be here
today so there are three so you get the
three sheets that are in one
division so the good news is is we're
down to 16 projects left to be approved
on the residential list currently and at
this point I see this as a revolving
process on the residential side
a revolving process well as as we
approve projects take them off the list
We'll add projects onto the list okay
you know you know um I don't know which
comes I don't which comes first the
review of this or as we look at those
and we see that they are not in
compliance what the process then is
Monet for
um the information trail that goes from
you to the to Matt probably to the code
enforcement to the resident if you can
you lead us through that a little bit
and then that I think that would inform
our discussion and what are you going to
do about this yes question most
definitely well the process is still a
work in progress but as of right now as
I reach out to applicants online with
any questions what if I see something
upon my installation that that I have
questions about or I see that is not in
in compliance with what was approved
I'll reach out to the applicant and I
give the applicant some time to either
make modifications or respond back to me
and a certain percentage of that time I
don't hear back from the applicants and
those are typically the ones that are
lingering in yellow and then once it
gets to a certain point where I've
deemed them just non non-responsive I'm
passing them over to Code Compliance and
Code Compliance to the red the ones the
the applicants that are read on the list
they have been sent a letter
from Code Compliance that states that
they're not in compliance and they have
until April of this year to modify
or or repair what is wrong and so you
can see in the final install review
column here it's I kind of put a little
note about what is not in
compliance and I do not know exactly
what happens after a
but I know that I've flagged my calendar
to
reinspect and then if I don't see
anything I may go back to Code
Compliance and find out what the next
phase
is
um when they're not in comp have you
seen any Trends and and I don't even
know exactly what I'm asking but have
you seen like uh plantings in front of
fences seem to be a problem they they
aren't install called or um trees that
were promised in the front yard aren't
there or Street trees haven't been
planted do you see any overall arching
theme in the
non-compliance no
theme um just generally a a willing to
comply and a willing not to willingness
not to comply there's there there are
two camps there there are the camps who
are very proud and want to comply you
know at at the drop of a hat and then
the others that don't understand it I
think I think that's starting to enforce
that Code Compliance is going to help
with that and I do notice that as I'm
getting into the Code Compliance that
the the new builds with building permits
are much easier to to go after than the
fence projects or the RightWay projects
so right well because there is that
occupancy you know you have to get a
certificate of occupancies and I think
that's always been a little bit of the
the threat or Hammer correct technically
if you look at the top of this list the
oldest applications are at the top and
the first one is from Bexley Public
Library which I'm I did not start this
list I'm not sure why it's on the
residential list so that's I mean I'm
not sure if it should be on this list if
it should get moved to the commercial
but last I knew it hasn't been completed
and that and technically applications
are good for one year of approval so if
it's over one year the question is what
do we do with it after
that I think that's that would be a good
question to uh for you to talk to Matt
about and then bring us back some
recommendations how does that sound to a
city council person that sound
good yeah I was going to
say yeah I mean as we know code
enforcement's always always a challenge
and always tricky right so having
something that you and Matt and the code
enforcement you know felt was doable and
would give us the results we want I
think that would be important to bring
back so I do I mean I should mention i'
i' as a lot of these older projects were
on here mostly from 2022 and 2021 mainly
because of covid so could be projects
got pushed a lot of a lot of the status
of these projects when I started was
they're still under construction not
complete yet because contractor didn't
have the materials or project got
installed and so we there was a there
was a bit of leniency
so if you look when we get down to the
end of the list here we're already in
2023 so that would have been the tail
end of when I started so those would
have been fresh applications but I mean
all in all I think it's not a bad list
as far as length
goes it's for residents we haven't
gotten okay so there are are there any
questions are any of you looking at um
something that Monette has listed and
our Wonder have a question about Arbor
VY or fence plantings or oak trees or
whatever it is just have a question
about how many people are in Code
Enforcement I mean it's got to be code
enforcement for plants and for
everything I mean it's I it seems very
um loose and it doesn't seem like I mean
you can send a letter and say please do
this please do that and then there's got
to be at some point that just you know
how tolerant can you be it's but I i'
have always you know I'd have to uh
commend the mayor because I think that
he has um initiated proceedings where
the non-compliant people have gone to
mayor's court now I don't know how many
of those and Grant maybe you have more
insight on that about going to mayor's
court but I do know that some of the
ones who didn't plan according
accordingly have gone to mayor's
court and and maybe as we talk about
process Monet maybe it would be helpful
when those kind of actions happen for us
to know about it so we have so everybody
has confidence in the
process one of the one of the things I
know Matt's working on is I'm the she
the data that you're seeing on the
sheets now is in an Excel format he and
I are going to be sharing this on Google
Docs and he's going to be implementing
this into the city's Viewpoint system so
he can run reports from it and then have
not notifications sent out from there so
he's actively working on it which is
pretty exciting right I mean I know that
he's really you know ramped up the the
computer capabilities of reporting and
reports I have a question for manette is
there some way that a person or a a
resident who has had applied and
realized that they are getting behind
that they can um ask for an extension
that way that they we know that they
have full intention to comply absolutely
absolutely I mean case in point 2730
East Broad he's been he's been here you
know back and forth within the city a
few times and he had not he had
requested approval to not complete his
entire plan because he decided he went
to install his garage and so he was
granted he reached out to staff a year
and a half or two years ago and was
granted approval to hold off on the
process so that's been hanging on my
inspection report until he's completed
with his construction case in point so
now I just got word that construction is
near or or is complete on the garage and
so it's time for me to go look at the
inspection it's we're pretty nice and
just keep records about those sorts of
things within the
system is there is that evident though
to people who are first applying saying
I we approve of this and if you need an
extension please let us know versus
being on the bad list typically that was
handled from the staff consultant okay I
think since that's position is I don't
know if how what what the status of the
position is currently so it's kind of in
limbo but what what's happening right
now is um applicants are reaching out
into their Viewpoint application into
the permit online so it's a messaging
system back in line back and forth and
so Matt generally gets the any inquiries
from the from the applicants and he can
respond to it okay
that might be something worth bringing
up yes that would be that's more
friendly neighbor friendly agreed thank
you so any questions on the
residential
no okay do you want to go on to
commercial then Monette sure commercial
will be short as I'm just now finishing
up with a residential and getting that
done I've been working over the winter
to do it um so I rolling into the
commercial list now and I've had I
haven't had time yet to drive around and
look what I usually will do is first
drive around and get a general sense of
projects are complete or of how what
what status they
are and I also do know that there are
some there have been some requests to
possibly look at certain applications
first before others and I thought maybe
I would open the floor today to see if
there are any of those
uh well we have a interesting situation
at Catalina's because we approved the
Catalina's plan last um summer and one
of the additions to the plan um really
through ellena's suggestion was to plant
there was room in the front to plant a
London Plane Street tree which was
welcome especially at that end of your
uh commercial district and when I drove
by a couple weeks ago not only is
they're not a tree in but um
a concrete pad two concrete pads and two
bike racks are there instead so that's a
conversation you're going to need to
have with the city yeah back and that
and um if you you drive from Cassidy
East to gou there are probably maybe you
know this there probably half a dozen of
these concrete pads and bike racks put
in and I'd say half of them which should
be three or four are in places where
Street trees should be okay
so we don't want to be in conflict with
the people we're working with but we do
have a we have a challenge here that
right um the tree wasn't put in and the
space has been usurped so we need to
find a resolution for that maybe as I'm
looking at the inspections I can make
suggestions on alternative spaces for
trees or or maybe we just rectify the
situation in a different way right
okay so that would be one that I would
say um I'd like to have you know brought
to everybody's attention thank you and
Grant did you know about that you know
about I know the city council
pushing I don't know I
wouldn't would you say that's a grant
would you or uh Troy would you say
that's a priority that bike racks are a
higher priority than Street trees oh no
I would not say that but I I I know that
we are probably looking to put in bike
racks and encourage uh bike traffic so
there may be a conflict there with some
of those spaces but I'm not aware of
that so it's definitely not a city
council decision to uh to place trees or
bike racks I know that
that would be Administration okay all
right well we just need to
figure we need to what we need to figure
out the trail
okay other
questions as things begin to fall out I
will finaly some residential
applications and move on to the
commercial applications and I should be
able to have a nice updated list for you
in the next few
months so again my question would be as
you're looking at um commercial the same
question as residential are there for
those that haven't been approved or
they've been completed but not approved
are you noticing Trends or issues that
we should be aware of when we're
reviewing plans and then make as um you
know items for them to take into
consideration uh what comes to mind the
first thing that comes to mind is
especially since climate wise we're
going to be going through possibly more
extended droughts in the summertime and
if these commercial properties
are PL having plantings and sea of
concrete and asphalt then and they don't
have irrigation and especially don't
know I mean I know talking to different
arborist that I work with over the
summer and the drought that we had a lot
of people didn't understand or or were
not told that they needed to turn on
their irrigation systems for longer in
order to get deeper watering and and I
mean I noticed on a lot of commercial
properties especially taxes starting to
to to lose and do we want to do we want
to consider pushing for
irrigation well as Grant would tell you
and as we know there's a difference
between having irrigation installed and
having the managers turn it
on and I I think we have found that
those have if we're going to if we're
going to suggest irrigation and a lot of
these that there has to be that second
part right that has to be turned on
maybe it's inspected by a plumber I mean
I don't I don't know what to make sure
it's turned on and on some regular
system Grant I you know I don't know if
you've seen other communities where that
works if they have you know enforced
guidelines I I have not I mean that's
you know these they like catalinas they
move in they're not really they don't
care about the landscape or the
irrigation they're there to make pancake
balls so that that's that's there's a
disconnect there
now um having some kind of landscape
company that is hired that is maintains
all of Main Street and then all of the
businesses share into that that cost
would be a one way to fix it but um like
a like a sid a special improvement
district right
yeah one note is that um irrigation
technology has taken another leap where
they're able to inst install monitoring
boxes that instead of having to pay a
technician to come out to each property
walk the property find the Box locate
the box if it's not in a locked shed
somewhere finding the manager to find
the shed to get in the to get the key to
the shed to get in and
yada yada they can now sit at a computer
and monitor all of their systems from
the computer so that they know if
there's a drought coming on they can
extend all of their systems of all their
properties all along Main Street from
one place so it's it's much like some
more expensive materials it's an upfront
cost but it's Savings in the long run
I right
right seems like probably like some
feedback from code enforcement on stuff
like that might be you know I mean you
might it might just be something like
that to communicate it with the other
thing is I think unfortunately a lot of
times you know if you're not someone
who's attuned to this like probably most
I was say most of us but not true here
but most people outside this circle are
you you may not really understand that
you're you're PLS are in danger until
you know you've reached that point where
all of a sudden you have you know dead
foliage and and things like that as well
so and I know especially like as a
homeowner this last year was especially
bad and you know there's a certain point
where you go well you know I understand
it's dry and hot but it gets dry and hot
during the summer but then there's a
point where all of a sudden you're like
whoa this was you know a kind of
devastating kind of heat or whatever too
so that may be just a need for more
proactive feedback to some of our
commercial Partners I would be surprised
if they were not a little responsive to
our you know requests to keep their
Landscaping looking good might be a
letter from
enforement I think if you know that if
your plant material dies and you have to
replace it you're much better you're
much happier paying a water bill you
know and Susan I think sometimes here
like in our city it's we're kind of a
smaller city were more personal and
sometimes you just get a call from the
mayor that says hey you know noticed
your brushes you know are looking kind
of rough there and that's that kind of
you know does the trick too I want you
want to put that on this to-do
list have to answer
okay what send a
letter um I wanted to I'm thinking about
having May perhaps an incentive program
of some sort to for people to put I'm
it's not a backflow valve what is this
where they the water comes in from the
city and it goes to your lawn directly
and you're not having to pay more a
greater percentage deduct meter deduct
meter thank you can we do something with
that would that be more inspiring for
people or is that too much I don't know
we we had one when we moved into our
house I have not had to put one in I
don't know what they cost but if we
could support a deduct meter what
hold on sorry Sheila just a
minute I want to hear what Sheila has to
say any plumber can install a deduct
meter and um I just most of us who are
couple hundred dollars or but the the
meter is the biggest Chunk on the change
so basically when you put a deduct meter
and you're not paying for sewer right
you're still paying for the water sure
but it's a at a lesser rate well the
water's not at a lesser rate you're just
not pay paying the sewer part of it
right it's after normal water bill yeah
yeah but I don't know that you'd be able
to tell the difference between that how
much what you're actually saving come
sure you just I don't know I don't live
in Bexley but you get one bill and it's
just the water bill whether it's for
irrigation or for in the
house but yeah okay you have to have a
deduct meter and it has to be inspected
every year
and then you had to pay for that too
don't you yeah yeah okay but in the long
run thinking about it GNA live in your
house for 20 years right oh yes right
exactly it's good okay we interrupted
you Mo no good points great points I was
asking for questions if anyone else has
any
more any
others you know I think that you know
the challenge I with commercial is who's
in charge you know a lot of these most
of these
properties and she you know on Main
Street are rented right and the owner is
somewhere else and whether they have
their lease includes uh you know
Landscape Maintenance of landscape right
those are always the issues that
become a little bit you know harder to
work through and find someone to be
responsible by the the homeowners so
good luck with that Monette thank you
that's my challenge this year so when
would you like to come back to see us in
two months three
months well let's say I have some things
that will be outlying until perennials
come in which would be around Mother's
Day so the meeting after Mother's Day in
May or
June let's
see like the e8th ninth 10th something
yeah
yeah we could do may
would that meeting be the 21st probably
yes yeah 74 21st you want to come then
sure
okay any questions any other questions
from that's all I have
okay all right um great then let's go on
to Old
business we've talked about a spring
mulch educational program and Grant
pulled this up on a registration is
required if you work in the tree lawn
which is uh in at least in this section
um between the right of is the right of
ways between the sidewalk and the curb
so do we know anything about the
registration of landscapers or people
working putting multi around
trees we could go get
him okay um because we you know we've
talked around this and around this and
around this and I know that uh the mayor
has also talked about the registration
so I will I will go get him and just ask
him a little bit and be would be good
for him as well so maybe um we could
I'll just tell you a little bit the
Jeffrey Woods Festival this year um is
going to have the typical things of
maple syrup boiling and Wood Chop block
and Grant are you going to be planing
any wood we will be billing we a mill
out there and what
else Chop Chop Milling
andil right and then we've added a few
other kind of things on there to make it
um more interesting for a wider variety
of Ages and um interests in one is going
to be a walk in the woods with the
naturalist uh we look one time at uh the
trees and then one time at the wildlife
and then we were going to have Raptors
but now I've heard the Raptors can't be
in an area where there's fire so oh yeah
so I'm a little bit unclear if we'll
have Raptors maybe something huh I have
information on that okay something there
will be owls there will be
owls oh DNR a a barn owl and a
screeching owl I don't have the correct
names but oh that's two of them or maybe
it's screeching barn owl and another
kind right so just a few more things
some craft some craft projects so that
that'll be happening um and then um
here's a list of some of the things
we're doing for uh discret activities
for Arbor Day and one is uh we are
working on articles for the Bexley times
and that is this grocher right here that
celebrate Arbor Day um things like
Landmark trees you know an ARB the arbor
ROM you know maybe what is Arbor Day uh
Charlie's working on a Q&A
where you know it's like those um
quizzes in the New York Times And The
Wall Street Journal how many Street
trees are in Vex 500 2500 5,000 how many
are there Grant Street trees Street
trees uh trees that we maintain or trees
between the curb and sidewalk I always
say trees would maintain
14,000
wow so so we're working on we're working
on this because um Megan has kindly
given us four pages in here so it's the
good news and the bad news to have for
pages to so we're excited about that um
uh Ellen Bowen is working on bringing in
a documentary movie called Giants Rising
it's a film about 90 minutes on uh some
of the history of the Sequoia in
redwoods in California and the
challenges they're facing right now
it'll be at the Drexel at 6 o' on either
April 15th or 16th we've talked about
the drunken botanist we're having a tour
of the Governor's Residence at 10:30 on
May 7th and now Sheila is going to talk
about and and Grant they're going to
talk about a little
Switcheroo bait and switch changing up
the rec or the tree species for the
landmark tree
dis well we have chosen the oak which
there are many varieties so we're going
to do it the White Oak the White Oak and
I'm just gonna yes confirm that
um so we would ask that all of you be on
the uh task
of notarizing your favorite white oak
tree and nominating it um Grant and I
are going to be putting that in the
Beckley blast beginning in
March um we uh feel this is going to be
exciting um and the oak tree is pretty
legendary um
make a comment Grant tell them how so
there there are many Oaks out there and
you know the challenge is can you find a
white oak versus a red oak and there are
several different White Oaks out there
they don't have to be just a straight
white oak it could be a Bur Oak be any
other Oak so that's that's the challenge
so it's kind of also educating people
the difference between Red Oaks and
White Oaks and then um the massiveness
of what a white o can be
okay so we need to know those
differences ourselves yes is it harder
to deern that in the winter time with no
leaves well it is a little bit harder
Grant you want to get it is I mean
um yeah for there's a lot of character
you can do you know um depending on the
size of the tree you can look at the
buds the bud
scars um the bark typically tends to be
a little wider grayer it's a little
looser a red oak has much tighter more
um a darker collar type bark on the
trunk um young trees are especially hard
because they all kind of look the same
when they're when they're super young
but um the best way is when when leaves
are out um and you can always look for
leaves on the ground so usually Oaks
tend to hold their leaves throughout the
winter they need the next year's uh Leaf
to push out the old leaf
um uh and you're going to be looking for
a more LED style Leaf versus a very
pointy
Leaf
um what's that AC yeah acorns the White
Oak acorns the Caps tend to be very uh
big and cover most of the acorn nut
Where The Red Oaks are
smaller uh in size so yeah there's
there's that's the challenge okay or
grab
you that's a challenge oh send a picture
uh and Bexley you know the burs behind
Jeffrey Mansion out in the field those
are are beautiful and you know the the
Red Oaks or the White Oaks don't tend to
be as tall as the red oak they're more
wider than than a white they wider and
shorter yeah okay um Reds tend to you
know be more uh
upright um so yeah the burs behind
Jeffrey Mansion if I had to pick pick
any okay well you don't know this yet so
can't pick that tree cuz I just told you
you don't know this yet but we are going
to try and take a picture of you with
your favorite white oak so we make a
Jeffrey right yeah without a beard yeah
oh I'll
it sure about that so when would the
White Oaks Leaf out would they be leafed
out it leafed out by April
15 yeah yeah so that's another good
lesson if you go on U's webbsite they
have Growing Degree Days and they will
answer that exact date for you okay
Sheila would you do that for us please I
will do that yes the White Oak Queen yes
so I always wanted to be a queen of
something
so that horrible STM that came
through I forget what year that was oh
the
hurricane we it back sleep right I think
so5 and so ours is a super Survivor o is
not very attractive and you need like
the
after we f
it you have a favorite white oak Charlie
I like Post
Oak Post
where are they posted Southeast Ohio we
have them well I meant in Bexley oh I
don't know where we have any do we have
any Bexley you have a month yeah we do
we might have one or two
yeah where in the Parks uh no I think
they'd be more
residential how about you and White Oaks
onette okay I was excited to have found
a red oak a mature red oak at a c
seeex
are right is one more original than the
other o White Oaks what's that Willow
Oaks Willow Oaks they are White Oaks I
believe
yes is one more original than the other
did one evolve
first I probably you know white Troy
Troy Markham could tell us all this
anyway yeah anyway let's vote on the
White Oak is the landmark tree
destination for this year that's great
make a someone make a motion I would
like to make a motion that for
2025 we use the white oak as our
Landmark tree may I have a second
seconding
discussion go for it nominate the White
Oak as our Landmark tree for 2025 all
those in favor say I I all those CL same
son okay MOA carries all right and then
the Bexley fairy Village will evolve yes
it will evolve we've had two parts of it
out for repair and my having surgeries
and all sorts of things I haven't been
able to work on them but they're nearly
ready to go back but before they do Mr
owl's house is going to make a visit to
the uh Jeffrey Winter
Festival along with
um and along with that for the
festival um Ron Gould has delivered a
lot of slices of Tree
Trunks that have where the crotch of the
tree is so if you cut slice you'll see
the eyes so I have been out there with
my little
chainsaw and working on them to to um to
shape them and we're going going to Ron
will help me because I unfortunately
won't be there I really really want to
be there but Ron's going to help Place
him in the in the wood and make a little
scavenger hunt out of it and I have
prizes for the children who come around
through the other side Little Owls to
take home or leave or leaves feathers
which by the way I need to make an a
clarification since this is on record
that
um The Man Who is bringing the oh I
forget um the person who was in charge
of the the the owls and I can't think
what is yes Joe but I want to make I
want to give him his title which is
Falcon wrist um somehow he had heard
that people that he's going to be giving
out owl feathers and that is not correct
and that is against the law so I'm
making sure by well it's not this way
it's just vocally orally that he is not
doing this and I have loc um I'm getting
mine through Amazon for for the
children's gifts and uh they are they
are responsibly harvested somehow picked
up off the ground I hope and and then I
will have two sheets two different
sheets of paper for children who have
come through or at at the fair um excuse
me at the um at the at the festival one
for
for different uh age children one for
just sort of coloring in and making sure
they understand about the owl eyes the
shape of the owl eyes and another one
will be how to draw an owl for children
who are older and then Mr owl's house
will be there to visit sounds like the
whoohoo of the outside world the hooo so
if you see Ron thank him for
me I always appreciate his help true
thank you Celeste and um then the last
thing is the Bexley Boomers will have
their kickoff on Thursday May
1st um any other old business not we'll
go to new business um there will be a
workshop on February 26 from 6:00 to 7
on the rehab of the Roosevelt medians if
you're here you're welcome to come um
letters have been sent out to the um
residents around the medians uh to
invite them here to so everybody can you
know figure out if this is a more
passive project than a more Dynamic one
if it's just planting or if there's some
installation of you know Park furniture
or a walk through the mediums or nothing
more than uh just spruing up the lawn
and I don't know rehabbing the trees I
guess Grant right yeah are you going to
be there okay good good uh so you're
you're all welcome is there any other
new business question what was the
median Roosevelt median Roosevelt
medians north of of the north okay right
yeah the other thing that I wanted to uh
announce it's not mine announcing it I
think Mary would be announcing it if
she'd be here is that hope Taft who is
one of the head people at the governor's
residence Garden Tour she's in charge of
that she's donating her collection of of
books her her own library to the Bexley
Library
and so of course they're very grateful
for this and it's not going to her
hometown of Springfield so it's really
sweet an announcement of that at The Zo
schlanger uh lecture in on March 5th
that the library will be dedicating an
area to the Hope Taft Library and it's
as you might guess all books about the
environment nature trees yeah native
plants flowers and 200 plus books so I
think it's a great you know it's kind of
a unique aspect of our arbored that we'd
have those so good for us anything else
under new business um our guest has left
yes so yeah I guess it was just
unfortunate so in thinking about the
March meeting with now the Community
Builders landscape plans
the um police station the planting and
maintenance plan that Charlie and Jim
will present those are all big topics so
my suggestion is going to be that
probably the announcements and small
victories and rehash of Arbor Day
activities will be minimized and that
maybe we just start out listing those
three things um as doing it and for
Spencer maybe we can come up with a list
of things that he wants to talk about
that might be pertinent to that Grant or
again he's just now getting back into it
so he's got a lot of work ahead of him
um Grant had mentioned that Spencer had
been in a car accident in
December I should say a pickup truck
accident no he was in his car I was in
his car um yeah it was a while ago it
was a while ago so he's just back at
work now um f fully rehabilitated we
expect so that's good okay any anything
else anything for anyone at any time
anything that you want anybody to pursue
for more information or question
what's the Jeffrey Mansion tree
planting here as date right right so um
uh in in year in past years we have done
an arbay tree planting and in order to
build a little bit more excitement
around it not that watching Grant and
the mayor plant a tree wasn't exciting
and sometimes
humorous but we H uh the mayor is now
working with the Jeffrey Mansion
preschoolers and so they they plant last
year planted three trees all the kids
had a chance to shovel some dirt in took
a video and then posted it on Arbor Day
so yeah so we're always interested in
tree species for Jeffrey um Grant and
the tree commission is not does not
oversee Jeffrey that's parks and wreck
board was just kind of curious like in
regards to the Jeffrey Mansion kind of
Maintenance or whatever they call it
management
for management plan um we could advocate
for some tree planting in the foot you
know that be great
yeah well you could do it right now well
I mean it depends on what detail you
guys want to get into like certainly
like if we want material for natural
restoration you know we don't need
create quality material and I could put
a request in for some of that um and we
could get some pre- treatment
measurements and kind of approach it
like an experiment with like Scott
loon's High School class and whatnot so
I could set that up I'm like a week if
we want um no but would that be for I
mean would that be pertinent to grade
school or to uh preschool kids yeah we
could have preschoolers plant the trees
um tiny trees right be root trees that
we get for 17 cents a piece and plants
well you know I think I think probably
what I should do is put you in touch
with Charlie and Mike because they you
know they run point of that yeah yeah
they run point on that we we facilitate
if there's funding needed and posting
the video and helping make it happen
fine okay so I'll send them a note and
copy you and then I'll turn it all over
to you
okay Susan I have a question do we know
anything more about I guess the mayor
would know about the
Jeffrey plan oh Charlie might know
because he's on that committee I'm not
on it yeah they' I mean I haven't
participated in one of
those meetings recently I think the last
time were you there you weren't the last
one it was like maybe in November or
something like that um they've got some
built space plans that you know which
seem pretty nice I don't know if they've
committed to the shelter and and some of
that stuff but it seems like they've got
some good plans for it um we kind of
outlined um a Jeffrey Park Forest
management plan you know that I loved to
kind of float to the collective um tree
commission at some stage sooner than
later ideally has do you know if it's
been floated past parks and wreck I mean
Mike's been at you know at the meetings
maybe that's the second part of the
email then right and
so yeah I mean it I struggle with it
because they want a functional
management plan in two pages that it
gives them two or three pages that is
like a catchall but you can't do
anything significant in two to three
pages um but for like layout a vision
right um and maybe some techniques to
get to that Vision right but so we we've
got a tentative one you know and i' be
curious what your guys perspective is on
that how we could refine it and or mesh
it with kind of the vision of the
collective by tree BL it should to me
they should dtail like there's no reason
you should have like a tree plan here
and a different tree plan for a
different space so is the tree plan a
vision with um areas let's just say
areas designated that would have large
trees or there's delineated areas where
management would occur to increase
resilience structural Integrity um kind
of you
know make sure there's different cohorts
within the forest as well so not just
large trees but under story trees you
know mid story trees Etc well why don't
we ask Mike if he y would like us to see
it sure sure and he may say no so ready
for that oh totally I just think it's a
good opportunity to engage in the
holistic beex tree conversation right um
natural areas could be treated
differently managed areas makes perfect
sense but the collective goal should be
to maintain canopy maintain resilience
enhance right those aspects all all of
those things all good so um I'm was just
yeah I I would just occurred to me when
uh TR is talking about you know holistic
goal if the city of Bexley do on
here
e
e for