okay
hello and welcome to the december
trembexly bexley treatment public
gardens commission i'd like to call the
meeting to order and to call the role so
larry hellman here
barb giller is alternate
alan bowden as ex-officio
molly o'donnell ex-officio
sheila straub
linda zubnik not here yet celeste
williams here jim wilson here
uh grant archer and jordan cavallaro
staff
mayor kessler president um
andrews yes
dave wakeman here jim wilson here we
have stay ourselves well maybe twice
maybe twice as brilliant twice as
brilliant
yeah
we have a quorum we are going to table
the approval of the minutes of november
17 2021 as we had some technical
difficulties
and go on to our announcements of small
victories
uh trees for bexley update ellen
as a
recent base we are
at 29 000
our new volunteer um gardening group
that's helped out at jeffrey mansion
closed out the season with 535 volunteer
hours
so we're pleased about that
yes
also the last meeting larry hellman
suggested that we send a note to
residents on passing talking about the
tree program that we just finished and
so that letter is in process and will
come from the mayor the community
foundation and the tree commission
and mayor i think you had a city council
meeting last night did the
kindness part get funding
good okay so
elena is that something we can start on
this winter uh yes we're in the process
of talking with a landscape architect
and so they're reaching out to the um
mason and we're hoping maybe sometime in
january february that we'll be able to
get going okay
we can do that started to order things
and things are slowly coming in so we're
moving forward right right
and then last but not least um our arbor
day planning committee for april 29th
2022 had their kickoff meeting we have
um the same committee as last year plus
a couple new members if anybody'd like
to join us let me know
anything else under
announcements or small victories or
comments
yes
i think the money trees on main street
are fabulous grant thanks for
picking that up
many comments from people
uh does anybody else have anything that
they'd like to add about the lights on
the trees
i think to thank the baxley community
foundation for a grant that made it
possible
do we think they might be up year round
um i don't i think we've been told it's
not great for the trees okay
okay
the thing is you forget about it
right
but it'll be it'll be beyond the
christmas season we can do it through
the winter yeah okay i think we had said
through february or march
hey any other comments or announcements
if not our resident comment is going to
be
moved to five o'clock when he was
available to come and so
we will move on to review of landscape
applications
before we start that i just wanted to
mention to our friends in the audience
that we have
very simple rules but rules that we are
uh like to follow our meetings are
videotaped so you'll be able to see a
transcription of this meeting in a few
days as commission members we do not
comment nor discuss findings of other
commissions nor do we comment on
subjects under review
as a commission we will not be party to
negative or disparaging comments about
city staff elected city officials city
employees city consultants or other tree
commission members
and the communists today should be
germane to the subject
if we have any sort of what we call
emotional uprising we'll take a little
recess other than that we're good to go
elena would you like to present the
first landscape application already so
the first landscape application is 407
north view drive i believe kevin is here
hi kevin come on up to the podium
we may need to kevin we may need to push
that out a little bit give yourself some
room i think can we ben can we pull up
the plans
um under the application so this is um a
new build if you recall last month we
reviewed the removal of the elm
by the driveway and that was approved by
the tree commission um the plan that
we're going to be looking at nope that
is not what we're looking at so we want
to look at 407 north
yeah
perfect
already
so this is a a new build um i will let
kevin walk us through
the plan and then i can provide any
comments after that so kevin where would
you like to start do you want to start
with the site plan or would you
okay
so this was a
two lots that had a single home in
between them so the lots were split and
the existing home is going to be removed
and the left side of the
two properties is going to be the new
residence
so the
one of the biggest issues was the
running the driveway up on the left side
there was an existing tree down by the
street that was determined could be
removed for the
driveway which is going to be
remain at 12 foot wide all the way up to
the
bay of the garage
and the
apron of the driveway is going to tie
into the existing drain inlet which i
think was an issue of uh not having to
mess with that or change it in any way
and also the
brick detail that runs in the front
there will be protected and or replaced
as needed
um new build by three pillar homes
they've got a between a concrete or
paver walk right now the homeowner's
looking at the paver option that as you
see on the plan there
pavers would be
significant to the neighborhood either
match the
you know closely resembled to the pavers
that are on the
curb or but most likely just be using a
clay or red clay paver
and the
homeowner would like to put a fence
around the back corner so coming off of
the back corner of the garage
tying into an existing fence that is in
along the back property and then running
on the north side of their property and
returning back to the house at the back
corner
and basically at this point it's going
to be all side in the back with the
landscaping up against the front
and as requested we've added a
additional shade tree
in the front yard
for removing the one shade tree and then
all other trees are going to be
protected and remain as are on the
shown on the plot plan
and then we just got a general
landscaping around the front a very
formal
layout
working with the clay paver walkway
providing open space with lawn and
plantings that would accent the home
and
provide good color and actually
bringing in a couple of new trees on
either side of the house as well
excellent fenn can we go to the
renderings
i think so yes
that would be the the front of the house
with the paper walkway and the formal
landscape layout with the additional
tree in the front yard
and
the existing trees off to the right
there which are actually pretty good
size and those will be remain and stay
protected
and then the current street trees will
be
remain as is as well
i think there's one if there's a couple
more there that shows the backyard how
the fence ties in existing willow that
will remain and then new landscaping
that is up against the the foundation of
the rear of the house
and then i think this one here just
shows some screening along the driveway
to screen off the garage bay doors once
again the 12 foot driveway
running up
all the way up to the bays before it
extends out and gets a little bit wider
maintain that 12 foot all the way up the
side of the property
and the last one just shows the
be the north side of the house where the
fence ties in on the rear corner and
landscaping off any utilities
gas electric ac units all those would be
screened off and
with the with the new plantings up
against the house
excellent and ben could you go to the
other exhibits just so the okay not that
one
all right so this one just shows the um
existing trees to remain um
and just the one removal of the elm at
the corner but pretty much everything
else all the the
large
trees on the lot that are going to be
part of this property are staying as is
um
kevin does have a note on his plan to um
for the tree protection for the city of
bexley as well as noting that
northview does have a brick curb um and
so just there's a note on there for the
contractors to know that those brick
herbs need to be protected
and if there's any damage they will need
to be replaced
and then i don't know if there are
any other
that's the existing structure that's
going to be removed
and then that's that's those are some of
the images that we looked at last week
when we were looking at the removal of
the elm
thank you kevin so um i think that for
for my report um i appreciate you
replacing the elm tree um that we had
asked so we can try to maintain the um
the canopy um within bexley i appreciate
you noting to protect the existing trees
and the brick and i think that overall
the plant selection is appropriate to
the home and to the site um and it would
really make the building look beautiful
um and so with that i can
send it back to you susan okay all right
thank you thanks kevin thanks elena are
there questions of the tree commission
or ex official members or alternates for
kevin mr wilson i'm just
trying to understand when the lot split
is the commitment to main whoever buys
that lot to maintain the trees that go
with the split lot or is that going to
be a subsequent decision those trees may
go
i believe
i mean we have talked to the
i think the lot is as as it's being sold
i think it would be you know up for
debate as to when they build a new
structure there what's going to happen
with that lot
but at this point for the construction
of this home they're going to be
protected
yeah i have the same concern um
and
maybe we could have some kind of a
condition that
because we're making a decision about
that other lot
that maybe we can't deliver in terms of
where the driveway is going to go and
whether we face the same issues
and so those one or two of those trees
could be at risk
and i'm wondering if we could have a
condition to where if either one of
those trees
does have to be removed that you would
then come back and plant a tree in the
far right of your lot
uh to replace that tree
uh if that happens so that again we're
not going backwards in terms of the
total trees that are on the lot
wouldn't that fall on the new lot owner
if the retreat is being removed that
they would be right now
the lot doesn't have a new owner right
now right right now the lot of you you
folks
so that's the
uh and and
we would have the the very the the way
that the driveways could orient we could
lose one or two trees on that lot and
we're all about tree preservation
are all the are these trees viable on
the northern lot
yeah they're beautiful trees okay all
right so it's not a we're not talking
about a condition of health yeah you
know other comments i have a comment uh
yes yes i am um thinking about i'm
curious about the willow tree and how
established it is and i want to know if
elena also looked at i know you looked
at that and what you thought about the
tree root system and if the house is
getting too close to that willow tree
on the
on the uh southwest side of the house
i i think that that in terms of where
the impact is going to be i mean if you
notice that you know more than three
quarters of where the canopy of that
willow is is going to be not impacted by
the um excavation for the new materials
so i don't i mean the tree might have a
little bit of shock but grant you know
step in if you think that i'm wrong but
i don't think that that tree would be
adversely affected particularly if it's
protected at his tree
at a strip line
right
and if it
you know causes damage to the foundation
of the house then that would be
their issue at ours
other questions yeah
just to clarify
um
some of the
trees that you are being
protective of are go are on the lot
that's gonna eventually be sold is that
correct
three
four of the trees are on the
exhibit the the lot next to us that is
not on this new build site but we are
still protecting them during the
construction right they want to they're
as of now they're on a separate lot
okay well i mean i would i i would think
that i think i sort of agree with you
that when the lot sold
i don't think that you should have that
responsibility of replacing a tree i
mean whoever buys the lot i think it
would go under that whole application
process
so
uh mr wilson or mr hellman do you have
uh
well right now they're under there there
are a lot of instances where we have
um
two lots but they're they've been
treated as a single ownership
as as this lot
so i don't think we can confer something
on a future buyer
i think now we have an owner who has an
application and so i think we need to
talk about the trees as they are and not
just pass the responsibility on to some
unknown owner
in the future
yeah i guess i i would echo what larry
says um and maybe to say a little bit
more
um it seems to me we have two choices if
we care about maintaining the same level
of trees one would be to put a a a
requirement that if the lot sold they
put a covenant into the sale of the lot
that preserves those trees because those
are three of the four trees were being
told are being saved the alternative is
to put a requirement in that they plant
a new tree which is what larry suggested
which seems way less onerous
than
limiting the use of that lot by
requiring that those trees stay in place
but to give credit for preserving those
trees when we're in fact not preserving
them when the lot sold doesn't to me
make any sense right right
okay any other comments i just want to
note that when and if that lot is sold
in a new build comes in that it would
have to come before the tree commission
for review just like this exact same
process
um and so that could be at that point
that you know that we would decide
whether or not those trees would come up
yeah the only issue with that is that we
could then not have a tree planted on
the lot to the left because that
opportunity will have come and gone
right
so and there also seems to be space in
the in the north
well in the top left corner top right
corner yeah so the west to the west
northwest right
sometimes in the future when a tree on a
build is coming up for the either zoning
or whatever commission it goes to
is there an opportunity that we would
ask that they
realign the plan so that it doesn't
affect the trees i mean because
sometimes we get a you know a
requirement that they want to take stuff
down and when they could have
had a better location for the proposed
building
i mean i i think it's always tricky to
look forward and suggest a course of
action that may have come and gone by
the time we know about it so i mean
that's at least that's been our
experience today
miss job did you have anything to say or
were you you're just nodding
yeah confirming thank you okay
i think it's a wonderful plan i just
want to applaud you for putting so much
landscaping in
a lot of nice greenery thank you
so are there is there any other
discussion i just want to clarify so at
those two lots have been as one lot and
the
previous home was more in the middle the
previous home was definitely in the
middle of the the new lot line and you
had two titles for that space is that
correct no yes there's two separate lots
now correct it's too certain now and
that wasn't them okay wasn't that
okay does
someone want to if there's nothing
well
seeking from the applicant some
sense of how you wish to resolve that
issue
i guess i
completely
believe that the new lot owner would
have to make an application to do
whatever building that they want to do
and if they remove a tree i'm i
completely agree with having to replace
it but it should be on that new lot
owner and based on how they build their
home
can we put back up the display that
shows the existing house
let me turn off the lights here
yeah you don't we do not have
exhibits that show the width
visually the width of that second lot
i guess i'm
wondering
why the resistance you've got a big yard
lots of spots to put a tree
i'm kind of i'm trying to understand the
resistance to uh to planting
a tree
407.
i don't have a resistance to planting a
tree i mean we obviously added trees to
the new landscaping we've got three new
trees that are incorporated on the new
plan
i think it's more just uh
you know what are we going to plant and
how if we don't know what's going to
happen with the lot next door and we're
kind of guessing that we're just putting
another tree in
just in case
and it's like you know where do we put
it how do we you know what size do we
put in
i just i look at it as it's a completely
separate lot
totally separate from this application
for what we're trying to apply for for
the new landscaping
uh except again and maybe that's just a
difference in philosophy there's an
existing house on those two lots in the
middle of those two lots these trees
that are planted there now were planted
in relation to that house
and so all of your responsibility shifts
away
when that lot is cut off and then uh the
the the burden of of the additional tree
requirement could be resolved now but
you're you're not wishing to deal with
that you're wishing to say it all
belongs on the second line
that's the way i view it yes but it
doesn't mean that we can't add another
tree if we can come to an agreement with
the you know with the owner that wants
to add another tree
i mean it's certainly an option but i
guess i look at it as a separate lot
that would be a separate application
at the time would be dealt with with new
trees then would you will be willing to
enter into a covenant that those trees
would be saved on that lot on the second
law
since it's their responsibility coming
but we don't know who that's going to be
so
right now you're the owner so could a
covenant be established that
that preserves those two trees that's
not my decision unfortunately i'm i'm
not the owner of the lot so i can't make
that decision okay mr wilson so so my
view on this is
if it's a separate lot then then the
owner doesn't get any credit for
preserving those trees and so our
condition for approval ought to be to
plan a new tree now you can't take
credit for saving three trees but say
that
that that's a separate lot so
from my perspective it's either
you we've approved this with a
requirement now that you plant another
tree
or
we approve it with the condition that if
the lot sold you either restrict
the removal of the trees or plant
another tree okay
so if there's no other comments
why don't we have a motion and then we
will
see how
the commission members feel
so
mr wilson you want to go ahead and so i
i would move that we approve
as presented with the addition that
a condition be placed on this that if
the lot is sold the second lot that the
owner either
put a restriction in the sale of that
lot that requires the preservation of
these three trees
or plants a new tree
in the backyard at an appropriate
location
is there a second to that
okay is there some discussion
okay uh jordan are you in a position
that you can read back that motion to us
i can't see her
does that actually reflect your comments
no i don't think that's quite it i think
the condition is in the event of the
sale of the lot either that the the
existing owner place a condition on the
sale that the trees not be removed or
plant a new tree in
the uh
the lot that we're talking about the
backyard okay and if if i could amend
that motion a new tray
its size and location also subject to
the approval of our staff uh
landscape consultant
that's acceptable okay so
okay so we have a motion that has been
reiterated and
i and amended and i think we need to
ask if the applicant
yeah let me if i could just take a
minute the owner's over here and i can
just talk to him real quick sure
i know your owner well
planting a tree would be the easiest
thing to do
okay um
would you want kevin to hear it or can
we move with him
yeah
we've dealt with mr lula
well maybe they were
is
yes
yeah yes kevin do you have any uh thing
you'd like to share
yeah so
the the issue of adding a tree is it i
guess i want to clarify when you say
adding a tree is it on the lot that i
have presented here or the vacant lot
and where are you looking for a tree to
be added
so
not knowing whether those trees need to
be removed at all and as far as i mean i
guess just to understand
you guys are talking about getting
credit for the trees and we're not
trying to claim credit for saving those
trees we're saving them because we want
to it's you know we need to have to
whatever
but
to add another tree you know you don't
know which one's going to be removed and
those are pretty sizable trees so what
is a comparable replacement tree that
you're looking for in regards to you
know we would do a two and a half inch
calipers pretty normal nursery stock for
a 40 inch tree i mean is that
no it'd be uh i think
between
we don't believe in planting oversized
trees because they don't do well no i
agree with that 100 and i guess that's
why i'm asking that question i think is
you know we wouldn't be able to do
2-inch 2-inch
2-3 if we're lucky so if we're talking
about putting a two to two and a half
inch caliper shade tree on the existing
lot
the homeowner is okay with doing that i
i don't you know i think it's if that's
what's required uh you know or
being asked but i guess what i'd also
like to state is that the lot that's
being sold is a whole separate lot and
you know
that's going to be under under a whole
different application see i think we
removed the motion
uh and then approve the application with
the condition of
are we removing the motion
i am agreeable to do so yes
okay
um
so why don't we vote on removing motion
okay okay motion has been made to remove
the motion that is on the floor all
those in favor say aye
aye all those opposed same sign
any abstaining okay motion carries
all right um mayor is there any
explanation that you would like to share
with us about
the ordinance for new builds that might
be helpful in this discussion well i
think this is a little bit complicated
because that just so happens that you're
dealing with an owner that also owns the
adjacent property but the the ability to
split and sell separately has already
been granted by the city uh through the
city's process
so
i just for for the future as you think
about this um you do have all the same
same rights and controls as the board
when when and if a new a new build gets
proposed for the north fly
so you have the ability to look at any
trees that might be removed how to
replace those
and the spirit of i think that ordinance
as it was proposed was to give tree
commission the ability to preserve
if able within the zoning uh
trees and if not able to be able to find
ways to do infill so i think if you can
imagine a scenario where the separate
lot had already been sold which could
have easily happened in the past month
or two
and the existing homeowner has no
control over that i just think it's it's
it's important to understand you have
controls down the road with with a lot
in a situation like this with the north
lot
and
i'm not the attorney here but you might
consider that the appropriate venue in
the future might be
the uh
the new application the new applicant
the new application and then keeping
them accountable to just their life
but
just a thought
well thank you for
doing a little refresher for us on that
ordinance so
um we now have the question before us so
i will take a motion however a
commission member would like to phrase
it
hello try okay
i move we approve the application
condition
of a two to two and a half incher
caliber tree uh placed
in the rear yard at the owner's
preference
okay is there a second to that
second in fact you can't
oh that's right i'm sorry okay
is there a second to that
second okay is there any discussion
okay
then we are going to have the motion the
motion has been made and seconded that
we approve the plan as presented with
the addition of a two two and a half
inch caliber
tree to be planted on the west side
northwest side
on the
north side west side
north north side okay all those in favor
say aye
aye all those opposed same sign
in the abstentions okay motion carries
thank you very much kevin for coming
today appreciate you being here
beautiful yeah okay let's go on to 2807
del mar and dan rosselbeck elena do you
want to teed this up for us
yes
hi dan
um all right come up here make sure the
green light is on dan
all right 2807 del mar can we pull up
ben the document for that so this is um
right on del mar um kind of past the
service score well i guess it's towards
the service garage um
awesome
and so um dan was in the process of
doing um some right-of-way work actually
couldn't you go to yeah no no no
yeah this one um was in the process of
doing some um improvements to the bed in
front of the building that you can kind
of see where it bumps out a little bit
the city stopped it because it's
actually in the right-of-way the
right-of-way there's a 60-foot
right-of-way on del mar it's about maybe
three to five feet off of the front edge
of the building
and he is proposing to do a kind of a
decorative concrete concrete edge along
of the bed line there and um and then
put a decorative gravel in the front
because that area basically
um gets you know with the turning radius
of the cars coming in with people
driving all around it's just gotten just
very muddy and unkept and the grass was
never really growing successfully
and so he was hoping to just make an
improvement to the building and make it
look a little bit better the intent is
not to actually have parking there um
grant and i also met out on site and
looked that um there's enough space to
potentially have two red sunset maples
installed um you can see to the left of
this image that there's already a tree
there
in that little island and so you know
that we don't have a lot of space to add
trees here but it'd be great to be able
to get some um more street trees in this
area and um dan has pretty much agreed
to that dan i don't know if there's
anything else that you wanted to say
um no i think you covered it well lena
but our goal here is to try to
make that area that 40-foot lot in front
of there's actually four 40-foot lots in
front of that building with a
six-inch sliver on the far west end for
whatever reason there's five lots there
but the one to the east what's in
question and we've struggled for 30
years with a eight-foot strip of grass
as you can imagine on both sides of del
mar without a curve in the sidewalk
people tend to run off in the grass the
grass doesn't grow it was constantly a
two or three foot ditch right along the
edge of the asphalt so in order to make
it look better
where
we added stone and then
what's happened is
to delineate between the stone and the
mulch the stone came up in the mulch and
contaminated the mulch the mulch into
stone and contaminated the stone so
we're trying to create a barrier there
and we decided to put a curb in
and then i think alina had mentioned
that
the board here might want to add some
red sunset maples are they they are
we have the red sunset maples on college
from maine to livingston if you'd like
to
drive and take a look at how they are
doing
maple trees help me grant
the uh
the root system expands quite a bit and
i'm thinking out loud what may prohibit
or
and we may encounter years down the road
i have a water line
i mentioned to alina and i'm just asking
because i don't know i'm not a tree guy
um
the water line is probably two to three
feet from the
east property line
which is quite is still another 10 feet
from that first tree
i don't think i have anything else in
that right away that or the city does
that
the roots system would
create a problem down the road i i don't
believe so now
uh mayor is there any plans to um repave
and develop delmar with the sidewalk and
curb and gutter along the entire length
that would be that would affect this
project so i
i don't know that sidewalk
it's
an option just physically but i think
that in general yeah there will be
improvements it will be curbing at least
and i think we're still a ways away from
del mar being repaved
correct and these trees line up with the
existing city trees
uh
on the property on our property so
if if we were to do any improvements
these trees would still i wouldn't think
be effective
okay good information
oh so any questions for
mr roslovic
could i ask one more question yes sorry
what size trees are we proposing two two
and a half inches two inch trees yeah
okay
no more questions sorry okay
any questions yes molly the existing
magnolia
i don't know how big they are
yeah it looks like it's a sweet bay and
the the dogwood i'm not sure it's it's a
pretty small guy
the pictures indicate that zoom in on
the picture magnolia and both the
dogwood are at the corner to soften the
corners of the building so they look
like they're out quite a bit out of the
way the proposed maples
is that yeah yeah
and then you can see the dogwood there
other questions from mr roslovic
not just
just for the point of of the minutes and
the recording uh just to identify your
name so we've got to
thank dan ross levick
thank you
any questions
okay then i will take a motion
i move that we have approved the request
just submitted
is there a second
second is there any discussion
emotions made and segmented that we
approve the request for 28.00
delmar 2807 delmar as presented all
those in favor say aye aye
aye those opposed same sign any
abstentions motion carries thank you
very much i forgot one thing
my middle name no
can we wait to add the decorative stone
after the trees are planted
to not encourage the cam contamination
of the decorative stone unless you're
comfortable with planting the trees in
the decorative stone and contaminating
with dirt i can do it either way i'm
just trying to make it easier on you so
it doesn't matter um we can wait uh
you know it'll be spring sometime when
we do the end of del mar and stanwood
so i don't have a problem if the
committee doesn't have an issue yeah no
but the the staff the staff will work
with you on on timing of that okay all
right thank you very much for coming
okay
um going on to item c3c st charles west
parking lot um is mr foley presenting
today
hello hello
yes he is presenting today
uh elena would you like to teach us up
again
yeah
uh
for the record let's try it
alrighty so um
many of you have probably seen that
there has been work that's been going on
at st charles um a few months ago
um we had uh approved the parking lot to
the east that was by the chapel with
kind of a new access road um and so this
is now a parking lot that has been
approved to the west
um and you can see
there's a there are plans to have a new
convocation center um you can kind of
see it at the north of the building
they're in the process of kind of
designing that and value engineering it
um and part of this would be you know
kind of again providing additional
parking we're looking primarily at the
area down closer to broad street
where
they are going to have
a row of use
that are immediately adjacent to the
parking
spots and that is by city code we need
to have a 30 inch
tall hedge of evergreens and so that
meets what our screening requirements
are for the parking lot and they do then
have um additional street free
additional trees in the parking lot on
the islands and along the perimeter i
can let bright kind of go over that
a little bit more
ben if you wouldn't mind going to
um just i'm not sure which order all of
these elevations not this one
not that one yet
okay nope okay
um
photos these are just existing photos if
we could just scroll through those for
people to be able to see them
obviously it looks a little bit
different now and then there should be
an elevation maybe it was the last one
no that's just one
maybe i didn't open them all
okay i have a printed copy i can pass
around okay yeah that'd be great
ignore my little sketches while i was
sketching this little
[Music]
i'm just going to give some background
and then i'm going to turn it over to
gary with open nursery to talk
specifically thank you um so two years
ago saint charles set out to to start
master planning the facilities
um
initially we had thought about putting
the convocation center what is now the
convocation center on the east side of
the building we had come in for the east
parking lot and we had received some
resistance from the neighbors about that
at that time and that has driven the
plan to to submit
for the overall master plan which has
now been approved by the building and
zoning
bzap folks um
i i'd also like to mention in that time
that we
have repaired that relationship with the
neighbors
um and in fact recently mrs parker who
is one of the neighbors her husband was
one of the most opposed recently sent an
email to jim uh explaining how happy she
is with the landscaping that was uh
installed on the east parking lot so
we're feeling very good about that
what came along with moving the building
from the east side to the west side was
well the only place we could put it was
on our existing parking lot outside the
existing gym
which precipitated this new parking lot
that is here
again that was approved by the by bzap
and one of the conditions was the
screening and bringing that screening to
you guys which we're here for today
um
we are also in the process and have
gotten uh
approval with conditions from arb for
the convocation center itself one of the
conditions of that would be to come back
to you guys for the landscaping for that
we're not quite ready for that yet we're
still in the design phase of that so we
will be coming back for that
but there are kind of three main
purposes for the
uh the landscape plan that we're
presenting today
it's to screen the parking which is the
requirement um in that regard i'll talk
in just a second about the mounting
that's in place as well uh it's also to
frame the main building you can see that
the the landscaping and the the tilt of
the plan
allows you as you come in to start to
see the main historic building of st
charles and then also
as neighbors in bexley we wanted to
provide a nice gateway as you come down
broad street into bexley so that was
kind of the the three criteria we set
forth for ourselves
um i wanted to to just quickly address a
couple of the comments on the staff
report um
the uh to help reinforce the mounting
that is in the parking lot is three feet
tall
gary was far enough to go out and do
that but the great news is you can see
from that inside the parking lot and
outside
it really does provide screening even
before the landscaping has been provided
so i wanted to make sure i answered that
question specifically
uh
one of the questions also is any plant
material proposal on the west side of
the parking lot no new plant materials
is proposed there that is where the um
the levy is for the creek and there is
plant material existing on there that
will stay in place as well as on top of
the levee
we did provide the elevations and we
provided the botanical names wanted to
to clarify that no irrigation will be
provided
and with that i think i can have gary
here to talk specifically about uh
climate species of trees and landscapes
mr houston yes would you like to come up
again to you know
[Music]
my name is gary houston and i'm with
oakland nursery thank you
um
what we proposed is to add
a tree
kind of uh preserve along the front
of saint charles on that side
with some oaks and some tulip trees
um some flowering crab apples and
a couple different species and then
we're going to surround the
parking lot of course with dense shoes
on the left side
you're looking at the plan
is really where the opening is
in our embankment that comes down we're
going to put some norway spruce
on that left side as you're looking at
it to help screen the parking lot right
at the bridge area
if when you look at the drawings
i took two sets of photographs one is
from walking down the sidewalk at wolf
park
looking toward the parking lot and the
other set of drawings is looking from
the parking lot towards walk park
now there's a couple where you see a big
red van
that van completely disappears if you're
standing on the parking lot side
as it goes across
um and it's not it's one of the expanded
ones with extra tall roof on it so there
is quite a bit of height when you're
standing at the parking lot it's around
roughly five feet
in places at the parking lot
the top of the mountain
so
are any of the species that you're
putting in
a different than you have planted on
saint charles property before and the
reason i'm asking as you know bexley is
a municipal arboretum so we sometimes
try and grow the varieties when we can
and if there's anything well i don't
want to say unusual but just uh that's
come on that's been available that
you've
thinking of that'd be great proposing to
put some white oaks and red oaks and we
don't we do not have any of those on the
on the site along with the tulip trees
the tulip trees there's no other tulip
trees on the site
um
right now we do not have any elm trees
on the site either and i'm
adding those to the parking lot they're
an excellent parking lot tree
well i
we have all three of those as street
trees and i think grant they've all done
very well here
tulip
oh yes the tulip tree is a very fast
growing tree so that'll be good and so
is the elements
gary can you describe a little bit in
terms of so the the mound
um
the the dense use that would be just
behind the curb of the parking lot right
and then the hill starts up back behind
that and then our tulip tree is going to
be on the top of the mound and then the
mound comes back down they will be
not necessarily on the top but they'll
be on the
the parking lot side of the top okay and
the crab apples and the oaks will be
more towards the top
okay okay so does the mound basically go
all the way from
the curb of the parking lot over to
almost to where the you know the line of
the street trees are right there within
the right of way does it kind of is it
that is it that wide um well actually
there's a set of lines going through
which
we're somewhat proposing a parking lot
and a
walkway to the wolf park in the future
the mound goes on the right side of that
sidewalk that runs through and then it
continues on the left side
down to
uh right around where the snowdrift crab
apples are on the on the far left
okay so the mound doesn't go the entire
length of the parking lot um not the
entire night just kind of here
um
okay and it goes down it goes down
enough
pretty much for the walk with it and it
continues on the other side okay
aren't there drawings that show the
mounding
it's kind of hard to do this in kind of
pointing and
how do we know what we're approving the
pictures have the mounding in the
mounting is already in existence the
mounting is existing right now okay so
what we see what we drove by where we've
seen today is the actual height of the
mounding and the soil is already put
okay thank you
and the the
the walkway to broad that's a that's a
new addition we've not seen that on the
past planet
it's not been installed yet and that's
not really on anything that's a proposed
idea that we are wanting to connect wolf
park
through the school that was a part of
the bees app application it is a part of
the overall master plan it's not
currently in this space for this parking
lot yeah it's it's not on the plans that
we have here and how does that um
how close is that to the median
it'll connect to the new it'll connect
all the way to the existing
uh sidewalk that comes across there
so it's the diagonal sidewalk that you
see there
wouldn't wouldn't people be better off
just doing the underpass that because
there's no place to cross you certainly
wouldn't want to cross so that was all
discussed in the the bzap
mission meeting and what happens is
um a
special duty there is only use of the
wolf park parking lot in a special event
condition in those conditions st charles
hire special duty officers from bexley
who cross uh the people from wolf park
to that side they actually cross the
entrance to wolf park is basically
across the street from there so the
special duty officers cross them across
there and then they would able to be
walked directly uh or and that was
actually pushed by uh mr sudhi staff
member for bexley to have that that walk
there
and he said that's already been approved
by
as part of the overall master plan
all right thank you thank you
okay um
uh and i i think i heard that there's no
irrigation correct no irrigation
okay are there questions mr wilson yeah
i think this is more a question for
elena and that is the norway spruce at
the west end here are they gonna have
any impact on the viability of what we
planted a few years ago in the entryway
area
no i don't think so no those are those
are beyond um kind of where the where
they have a little bit of an outline you
can kind of see that's pretty much where
our bed is and so that i believe is in a
grassy area that's behind kind of the
existing bed correct
and then all of the
the information that we did
is located right here
yeah i guess mike maybe to
maybe you've answered my question but
just to make sure
my question is like is it going to
create any shading that's going to
change the dynamics in those beds that's
going to make what we planted less
viable no
no
right are there any other questions for
mr houston one additional question just
in terms of what the plans are uh i'm
presuming there is a
uh both a quantity and a sizing
list of the material that's being
proposed for the record
we have the size we don't have the
installation side or is this the
installation size yes
yeah yeah we do have that okay okay we
do have that the quantity and the size
and and they are actually installing um
good sizes i mean 20 foot tall trees a
10 foot tall um
norway spruce 10 foot tall
snow drift crab apples
and then 5 foot diameter used so
great we'll have
it'll have impact when it goes in and my
only other
uh my only other comment would be um
maybe down the road here once this is in
play uh we can talk about ways that this
gets it's already kind of automatically
in our arboretum uh but how your campus
then gets known as a kind of a piece of
the arboretum and uh that would be a
wonderful thing to like capital and and
so forth so i mean just to be able to
to
make that part of what and that may
involve the the right to come back later
on on the city's behalf and label some
of the trees and so forth just as a as
part of what the arboretum
process we have taken great pride in
donated trees for individuals that have
passed and things like that and as we've
gone we've added different species
around the campus
to help improve that
and give the family members a peace of
mind that something's there for their
families perfect okay nothing nothing
better for a campus than maturing trees
and mature trees
and a variety of trees
something to come through and wipe out
the whole thing like that like the ash
or something like that right we want
something that's going to be established
a long period of time okay so thank you
mr houston mr foley you can you can sit
if you'd like and then we can discuss
we can discuss yes so there's no
irrigation and of course and what is
your guarantee
typically
for your placements um our guarantee
typically is one year on everything now
with saint charles
we're there
it's at infinitum
okay so um
you know was suggested at our last
meeting that uh once the applicants
present it's good time for them to get a
little downtime and for us to discuss as
a body
and so elena i'd be
interested in hearing your staff
comments if there's anything that you
haven't already presented so i think
that i appreciate the the size of the
trees that are being installed i think
the variety will all do well there um
you know i think that
you know it's trying to get a better
plan for the mound as well with the
topography so we can see it but i think
if we go out and we can actually just
look at that it doesn't appear that the
mounting is going to affect any of the
existing trees that are there because
the
it starts to beyond the root the drip
line of the trees and so it's not like
we're going to be suffocating them
my one comment i think i wanted to share
with the committee is that since this is
part of an overall master plan and we're
only looking at kind of the south end or
the yeah the south end of this parking
lot is as the convocation center moves
forward um and that additional kind of
you know driveway moves and everything
that i think would be helpful for the
tree commission to see a landscape plan
that's associated with that to make sure
that everything is just kind of united
and tied in um and i imagine that would
happen but i just want to bring that up
to the commission members to sort of
you know
i don't know if that should be a
condition or something to be aware of
that when we move forward i think it'd
be helpful to see the future landscape
plans okay other comments on the plan
um
are they the same species are they i
mean
are they mixed combination of
red oaks and white oaks which are a
little bit different species the leaves
are different
red oak and what white
white oak fredo can fight over okay
okay
they seem close together to me but i
could be wrong i'm not sure on the scale
is
your scale is accurate correct yeah
somewhat we might
we can expand it down the mound a little
bit more it doesn't it might look
compacter we can spread it out a little
bit more maybe
in the other discussion
any other
questions are there any concerns about
planting close to the mounds without an
irrigation system as the water runs off
eleanor is that a concern no i mean i
think if you have gator bags on the
trees when they're installed that it
should be it should be okay i mean trees
are planted on slopes and so i think it
should be okay because i knew we had
some issues right
any other questions mr foley is there's
lighting on the uh islands correct uh
there is a lighting plan that was
submitted as part of the bee zap and um
yeah there is lighting i can't remember
if they're in the are they in the
islands
okay and i guess that that was approved
as part of that
type into the same polls that we used on
the east side okay so that's our juices
just
seeing that's already been taken care of
as we said we don't comment uh celeste
hi and i would like to add a question
please uh will the soil be amended there
i it looks
sort of the soil that's existing there
within the um
islands may not be as sustainable as it
they visually look like right now
there's a lot of rock
mr houston do you want to address that
um there's plans to add top soil around
the planting beds you know be around the
taxes and around the trees
um the whole
island will be
somewhat mounted but it's not going to
be
10 inches of soil all the way across now
so you're not planning to put extra soil
in necessarily
mostly top dressing
top dressing
okay around the plant material it
concerns me but is that that will be
your responsibility in the future is
that a concern for you elena
uh no i mean i think it's you know if
it's part of the approved plan if the
trees are not healthy and they die then
saint charles will have to replace them
okay
okay any other questions comments
concerns discussions mr straub
okay
i'll take a motion
emotion that we accept the plan as
proposed
okay is there a second to that
okay okay is there a discussion
okay
no no discussion okay
yeah we did have a second right and i
was asking for the same discussion is
there any discussion they haven't missed
any hands okay
motion is made and seconded that we
approved the plan for the west parking
lot saint charles has presented all
those in favor say aye
aye all those opposed same sign
any abstentions motion carries thank you
very much for coming
thank you
okay mayor you we we talked in our
planning meeting that the mayor only has
one thing on his agenda today the
livingston avenue study
drama drawing so
we're pleased got his attention on one
big topic here we are here we are today
hold on one second madam president adam
madame chair as i pull up
i'm in my
city council mode here
do we have a revised one you know uh no
no we do i i do need to mention thanks
to jim wilson for alerting me to the
fact that there's a city council meeting
tonight at 6.
so
yes and by the way when they scheduled
that we did make them aware there was a
meeting here good good so they can have
it at six but not at
5 59. good luck when the crowd starts
gathering yeah well
we'll welcome them but no they can't
have our reese's that's all we can say
okay
okay so you tell us when you're ready um
this is a a document that's
probably gonna be a little bit different
tomorrow or no friday when it gets
presented to the steering committee for
um
livingston avenue but i wanted to just
kind of give you an idea of what's being
talked about
uh as
as this plan progresses um we have some
renderings of
what a narrowed median
equipped
residential portion of livingston might
look like
based on some earlier uh concepts of the
plan and i'm not going to go into any
granular detail with this this is just a
broad brush this is looking pretty
right here wouldn't you say i was gonna
so
before anyone starts picking it apart
too much because
big questions here i i do want to be
clear like the steering committee needs
to look at this it's very much a draft
but i just wanted to get you get you a
feel of what's going on
i sense excitement
so
the the so far we've talked a lot about
traffic and traffic movement and we'll
be delving into now the uh
streetscape and public spaces and
pedestrian realm in the planning process
um talking about
uh things such as well this is a little
less exciting pavement markings uh
within uh so maybe some creative
treatments of crosswalks
um the types of plant material that
might find their ways within median the
type of curbing
that might occur and this is this part
is specific to commercial areas and
medians and commercial areas are very
much a distant
theory because it would rely on
circulation streets behind
both the north and south side
street
one thing that is
clear so far that's been emerging that
would
be able to i think
roll out earlier is the idea of
pedestrian space in the commercial area
and kind of building up more of a
structured commercial area with some of
the
classic details that we see on main
street
in the instance of the bexley side that
would require additional
right-of-way we're aware of that
the columbus side has pretty ample
right-of-way but for them it would
require
funding and will
but the idea of this all along was that
we would have some unified standards
that we could both we could both
jurisdictions could roll out on both
sides of the street so there would be
uh
well unification so that there would be
it would both sides would speak to each
other
so there's a lot of detail here that i
know that i'm throwing past you very
quickly
and i'll be able to get you a more
concrete draft as time moves on
but we'll be getting into streetscape
furnishings
um you know getting specific with what
the bike racks might look like what the
lighting might look like
and we've already made some comments
back to them for example this these are
not our standards for bike racks then we
might want to uh incorporate those and
look at some other options
screening of parking which is a big
issue especially on our side um well on
both sides um screening up parking and
having some standards around that having
some concepts for public art
um
this isn't in here yet but one of the
ideas that i floated uh
that might
people might hate or they might love i
don't know
is uh one of the things that we see on
livingston avenue
uh that's a very regrettable uh
condition
i'm sure susan will agree with me on
this is
these looming power lines on both sides
of the street so not only do we have in
one side of the street we have both
they are front and center there's no
sort of screening at all of them
um it is incredibly expensive as we talk
about to relocate especially without an
alley and that's another thing that this
talks about is finding a way to build an
alley on the north side and south side
um so in the interim is there something
a little more whimsical that could be
done with those power poles and
earlier nbj had talked about putting
flower planters on them which is a
possibility
and we talked about
there are some really interesting
examples of turning them into canvases
for public art
where you can actually paint them and
kind of give them this like unique
artistic flair so just an idea
could look awful it could look great i
think it could look really cool if you
google power pole art
you'll see what i'm talking about
so it was interesting um i think the
city of columbus and
ohio state and lane avenue when lane
avenue was remodeled were able to bury
their lines through some kind of
consortium deal i'm going to suggest a
deal so maybe we can look for a deal
so mayor as you're scrolling through
these of course you know everybody's
excited because this is like a
um a utopia yeah
yes
for throwing us candy but is there a a
priority decision-making tree that this
gets decided now and then and then
something else is something else so you
mean funded and installed no yeah i mean
i mean just yeah well or or what what
happens next so
the
what happens with this is the steering
committee's looking at this there's this
this document's going to get tweaked and
these exhibits are going to get kind of
honed a little bit it's then going to go
to a public workshop
to get more feedback ultimately
these sorts of guidelines will be part
of the livingston avenue study that will
be adopted by both the city of columbus
and bexley okay and so our intent is to
get moving on
um right-of-way improvements
um and this will really incorp this this
will uh
you know
we will incorporate this into our
right-of-way proof this will inform our
right-of-way improvements the word that
i was looking for
as we go forward okay
and one thing i think to add is um when
we're looking at these these are
intended as guidelines and so they're
not standards and they're not actually
designs
so um
columbus is is trying to be very careful
in terms of as we're moving forward
we're trying to basically hone in a
direction for when projects come move
forward we have this to fall back on
that people can look at and then we can
kind of design it um and so i think that
with working with the city trying to get
you know understanding of you know the
benches and the trash cans and
everything because there's a possibility
that bexley might move faster
than um columbus might on some of these
areas do you think that's possible yeah
well i mean to be fair columbus is oh
this is looking at re-striping
and resurfacing so columbus is budgeted
in order to accommodate that free
striping to resurface through stripe
looking between james and the creek
maybe it's allen creek drive uh
next year so that's that that narrowing
process is gonna occur sooner right
that's amazing wow yeah it's exciting
i guess we didn't do well enough on the
cassidy avenue playing larry to
bring it up a little faster columbus
assesses on these
pedestrians that he charged
there's ways
[Music]
interesting
so i
i mean it has to just be
exciting as all get out to be working on
this and a lot of work left to do but
yeah it's very exciting
so any questions for the mayor on this
i just maybe just
can't resist um since to some degree we
are all um
representatives of the the city and
people ask us questions and so forth uh
and boy there's a lot of concern out
there about livingston avenue and what's
going on and what its future could be
and i think it's important to the degree
that we're able to be ambassadors for uh
what is a real strong sense of making it
better
and
if the first line improvements and then
i presume that's uh
still online
is the traffic calming of the street the
narrowing of the the the traffic diet
they call it uh and putting that down to
a to basically a three-lane section
um
that'll be a major change to that street
uh and a major show of commitment to
everybody uh that we're serious about
this
um
you know the pictures look great that's
the long time it'll be a while for a lot
of that kind of happens
uh but to put your stake in the ground
and to do the four degrees of difference
and say no we're heading on a new path
we're serious about this street uh
that's coming so to the degree that you
in your various things and people
thought well livingston's awful almost
that the other you can pass that along
to folks and turn them into believers
yeah so
it would be great any time that you want
to update us on this to let us know
because it's you know it's kind of like
the lat last frontier
needs a little tending thank you very
much
yeah
yeah that's crazy
okay so we are going to move on to a
request from resident from mr george
fisher tabith at 828 vernon road
and um if can we call that up i think we
should have some images from that
uh mr tavit if you'd like to announce
yourself and your address and i'll turn
off the lights and grant maybe you could
set this up for us
sure okay let's get the lights off
because otherwise you can't see there
okay here we go
well good evening
my name is george chavette 828 vernon
road
and um
yeah i spoke with mr archer about
relocating a tree in order to
accommodate a landscaping investment we
would like to make to our front yard and
um
i guess the process is for you guys to
consider that
um i get i said relocate what we'd
really like to do is
remove that one and then replace um with
another tree in kind located
um just a couple more feet to the north
which will allow us to accommodate a
lead walk
um that would align with uh an
architecture an architectural feature on
the front of our house
yeah you can see a little bay window
there
um that we're trying to um highlight
with a new landscaping plan
grant you want to you know give us the
uh more more the details about the
planting and the
yeah so
to
the
to the left of the existing tree he has
his downspout and to the right of the
existing tree is his
water line and then the uh
existing
lead walk
he
we can't really go to the right
we have a large oak tree there
which the maple would not do well
growing underneath
and then uh
you know he has the downspout to the
left
which you can kind of see the hole in
the curb
yeah
um
so he is willing to relocate his
downspout
somewhere else out front
and we would basically be planting a new
tree in that location
correct it's a maple um
yeah three to four inches
i measured it at three three
transplant
no we're not we with the underground
utilities you can't really transplant a
tree safely
but no anything that gets done to this
tree my recommendation would be done by
the homeowner
and so mr chavin you would be willing to
remove the tree and buy a new tree and
plant it
you're thinking four to five feet
north
all right
so let me understand away from the lead
away from the lead walk
so right where the the existing
downspout is roughly
right here
yeah okay
so what's to the right of the sidewalk
right up there i think that's the old
right yeah there's a large oak and the
canopy uh covers most of that area is
seven all these expenses
is that a driveway that's immediately on
the left side of the picture or what is
that no that is landscaping
what is this here
a stone gravel i believe with the larger
stone on the tree line in the tree line
yes
not a stone lawn it's a tree line
you're asking the wrong person
all right elena would you do that please
yes thank you
um
so grant it would be helpful what what
is your recommendation on mr tavis uh
question
um
you know i might i
bring it to you guys is it feasible yes
i mean
by removing this tree and planting
another one two inches or so i think
you're not really losing canopy
for that long um
it's feasible so
um so you don't have an issue with it i
don't have an issue with that now
and
yes what is the tree to the south of the
tree we're talking about what is the
tree here to the left is another maples
which is north
and then the south is an oak what will
be the footage separating
there yeah it doesn't really look
when you're on site there is room
canopies will eventually grow into one
another but
again that's you know
and um i'm i'm assuming that there'd be
a guarantee a guarantee on this tree
how old is this tree the present one
three to five years
uh possibly yeah okay
i is there
is there an actual landscape plan i i'm
concerned by this i mean that tree
that's a good tree it's a healthy tree
this is exactly what we do
and uh it specifically was located to
not bother any of the utilities and to
be and the sidewalk went straight to the
front door which they kind of mostly do
and now we've got a plan to relocate the
sidewalk
and uh change the tree and i guess i'm
i'm a little unclear
as to
what that new plan is whether there's a
plan and and why it's happening and
necessitates this tree to disappear
so mr tabbitt is there at last sure and
my opponent i had a funeral to attend at
the last minute yesterday i had hoped to
email up
a sketch we have at this point of a plan
um i do have a hard copy that i could
share if anybody's interested but
the sort of the situation i'm in is we
have initial an initial concept as i
said we want to
realign the walkway with that um feature
on the front of our house the bay window
we also want to be able to create a
sidewalk that goes around or a path that
goes around the side of the house as
part of this landscape plan
the the situation as the homeowner is
before i make an investment in a formal
plan
with a landscape design firm i'd kind of
like to
know that i have the ability to move
this tree and and move forward with that
plan
um
we bought this house from
um is 82 and i really wouldn't i'd
prefer
her to be able to have a
an approach to the house that isn't so
complicated and where she can exit her
vehicle
and and um
move directly you know across the lead
walk to the sidewalk
specifically they got a really healthy
good looking one
okay
other comments or questions yes
i appreciate your coming here but by the
same token i think that we do have code
problems on i don't think that people
are really allowed to put us uh a
sidewalk between
within the right-of-way
yes they are i spoke with kathy and it
is um within president's right to have a
lead walk
in the right way okay
what about the grass or the gravel then
no but that's
that's that's the other property
i'll address that with the code
enforcement yeah i'll we'll
work on that next time yeah okay that's
all right well i apologize for
overstepping that but i i tend to go
with larry i'm just
uh the tree is far enough from the house
i don't understand the impact that would
make by the few the few inches but
that's i i don't have a plan i don't see
what your perspective your future is in
is what you have i'm sorry what you have
planned and so it's hard for me to base
this decision on something that we don't
have in existence okay this is nick yeah
question um so if you're looking for a
more easy way for someone to access
uh you know from the curb if you had
that whatever your walkway is obviously
level and wide enough so that someone
could come up either with if it
necessitates a walker or
you know something
to line it up really with your front
door as opposed to your window you know
what i mean
so i guess and you know
um i don't know if it's possible to um
i have a little sketch i don't know if
that's something we could get up on the
screen in any way or you could certainly
hand it around yeah could we look i mean
i think if he's here is is it is it to
scale i mean is it is it to scale yes it
is okay so it's an actual plan the um
i mean what we want to do is make a
pretty significant investment in um
improving the appearance of the house
we'd be putting in
a paver walkway we'd be adding at least
two trees to the front significantly
expanding the flower beds
um i think
the the relief we're requesting from the
city is simply to be able to
replace the existing tree which is only
three inches caliper
it's only a three to five year old tree
with a tree of the same species just
located a little further to the north
and what i think that allows
to occur for the neighborhood is a
significant improvement to the
appearance of the house
a more sophisticated landscape
i'm not i guess i struggle a little bit
with
um how that
does anything adverse to the city or the
neighborhood since we're replacing the
tree with something of the same species
um really
almost of the same size
um in which um
mr archery i mean he feels like it's a
it's a feasible right right it's it's a
commission of opinions as you might
guess so and when we all have our own um
are there other questions you know the
other side
i'm a little confused because you said
that you're going to want to move it to
the north which is where the oak is
which is no that's the oak is south
the poor the ground
[Music]
sure
i think that's an excellent suggestion
sheila i i think it would be helpful for
you mr tabit definitely helpful for us i
think we could have a more
um
a productive conversation
instead of uh you know talking about
what could what will be we will have a
plan in front
and i think tabling you know the
decision on this would be would
be helpful to all of us
applicant and and to us
if you're putting trees there i don't
know how far back behind the sidewalk is
our
right away there i mean about one foot
yeah
it's not enough to plant a tree
yeah
so um
we are meeting let's see the 19th
of january okay uh four to six
and you would be earlier on the agenda
four fifteen four twenty okay and so um
mrs uh andrews will be in touch with you
about getting your application submitted
and then we'll work with you on staff
comments so it's i mean at this point
it's all right if it's still a pretty
preliminary sketch like i said investing
in
a
elaborate detailed plan is it's a big
expense it's right it is do this and i i
think mrs andrews will be the one that
will be able to
um
help you with that and let you know if
it's appropriate
in an appropriate stage to present to us
comment to make it uh i think one of the
reasons why we are more sensitive to
this is because recently we have had
some requests for the tree commission to
to move some trees and we don't want it
to seem to to keep on rolling that
people keep on coming would more people
come
and ask for
a change in their landscaping
we do part of our purpose is to protect
the trees and the more that we practice
that we will move something or allow
someone to move something the lesser
chance there is a survival of the trees
okay thank you okay i'd like a motion to
table on mr tablet's request so moved
okay is there second
second okay
emotions invade and seconded that we
tabled mr tebbett's request
for the removal and installation of a
maple tree at 828 south vernon
um until january 19th 2022 all those in
favor say aye aye aye suppose same sign
any abstentions commotion carries thank
you thank you mr tabit
and um
uh i think miss andrews has your email
address and she'll be in touch with you
about the application okay
all right elena on to nac if you have
any staff comments
uh nope
okay right
all right then we'll go on to it we'll
go right on to grant i think the only
small thing is that um small victories i
did reach out to dick o'donnell finally
and i'm trying to set up a meeting for
next week okay good good but i reached
out to him today so okay well hey you
know that's what meetings are all about
so grant i think you're up
yeah so uh to go through some of the
grant proposals three
approvals from bexley beautification
fund
main street lights on the trees i think
everybody has seen those
yes
and and they come at some expense so
yeah i don't remember what the expense
was eleven thousand dollars thousand
dollars
is is that right grant we bought the
lights yeah so yeah so this year is the
purchase of the lights and installation
of the lights and then
then they'll remove the lights so next
year it won't be as expensive because we
won't have to purchase the lights
do they because it's less expensive
cut them off
wow
interesting okay go on please grant
um the second
grant
that we asked for that was approved was
the arbor day tree giveaway
uh where i think we are going to do less
this year um i think we're going to do
60.
we asked for 50. we had some comments
about doing 60 which is no big deal so i
think we're going to do 60. and i think
you already selected it i think what the
title for the tree giveaway this year is
going to be seeing red because you chose
correct
um red oaks
uh red maples and
uh red cherries right so that's great
and curl yeah
yeah
and then the third grant approval was
the jeffrey mansion landscape
improvements
which is the circle area there in front
of jeffrey mentioned
great
stump removals we're still working on
stumps along with uh park cleanup leaf
removal
and
that's all i got really okay questions
for grant
any other feedback on the casa cam tree
planting
uh no no
met with the two residents yeah they
seem to be happy with
what eleanor and i proposed half happy
is the right word yeah
satisfied satisfied okay all right
and elena as a resident of cassingham
does it feel any different to you
driving the street
not yet yeah okay not yet i mean you can
see i mean i think what's interesting is
that um you do notice the crab apples
i mean i think even with them being as
small as they are you actually do notice
a little bit more of the rhythm
um you know i i don't have an issue i
know there have been a couple of
complaints about the berries but you
know people love flowering trees but
then they hate the fruit and you can't
have one without the other um but i i
think it looks great i mean when i'm
walking my dog it looks fantastic good
good
thank you grant
and i i think the turnaround on that
casting ham project was remarkable so
it's good all right uh
under old business jim wilson you're up
for two topics here presentation and
naming rights
and then
um the urban tree canopy assessment
assignments which i have a feeling has
been underperformed by your fellow
commission members so let's start with
the good stuff first that you were in
charge of
um so you may remember a ways back in
the summer
there was discussion about a naming
rights committee that included
representatives from our commission from
um
uh parks and recs from the bexley
foundation um
and uh it's worked um mostly on
modifying a policy that molly brought us
from the city of columbus
and so susan distributed to you the
current draft of that policy
i would tell you that
very recently i received an email from
the mayor indicating that it's been
reviewed by the city attorney and so
there may be some i'm sure minor changes
to the policy
but
i think probably for today the
discussion should not be
micro edits to the policy but whether
conceptually the policy seems
appropriate to us and so in that regard
what i would highlight about the policy
is
that it creates a process for
naming of features and it impacts us
when it's in the right-of-way or in
those parks that we have jurisdiction
over the process
would be
for what i would call major features
that an application with the criteria
that are listed in here would be
presented first to
um this naming board which would consist
of the folks that are identified here um
you know the mayor the president of city
council
the chair of our commission the chair
parks and rec
chair of bexley historical society
the director parks and rec and the chair
of the community foundation
they would then make a recommendation
and it would come back to us if it's a
if it's a feature within our
jurisdiction for approval
and then any plaques or anything would
follow fall under the policy that all of
you i'm sure vividly remember that we
adopted like eight years ago and have
had little occasion to use um well when
someone wanted to and you sent it to
them right they ran away they did
so that's sort of the overall structure
of the process the exception to that is
for what we call minor features like
benches and trees
um that essentially there could would be
a staff process to approve
that rather than bringing it to this
naming board and then through us um
so that's the gist of the policy i think
the conversation today is does that make
sense and um if so
then i think um we can wait to get the
the city attorney's more detailed
comments and perhaps
have a final
well i
the mayor might be able to clarify
whether this is going to ultimately go
to city council for approval or
whether that's been decided but at least
in terms of whatever recommendation we
would make we'd probably do in january
yeah so i think that's that's kind of
part of mark mark and i just
this this as we looked at it closer the
process piece of it which is not what
you're really talking about but like the
where it fits within our process is
slightly different from columbus's and
so we need to do a little bit more
native tweaking but
we'd like to probably set up a call with
you just to talk through that it's
nothing nothing major i always enjoy a
call
any any discussion any points to jim any
insights
that
for the first round review
uh
does that occur
what what is required to be submitted
in order for it to be reviewed um how
far down the design process or the
conceptual process or
in name only or what what's the what's
that sense well
the policy sort of lays out what needs
to be submitted but it's not so much the
design the premise here is that the
project is
separately approved and this is a this
is dealing with the request
either because of a donor who
significantly contributed to this or
because we want to recognize a citizen
of bexley who's made significant
contributions to the community you by
naming something after them so it's
really the criteria that the board would
initially consider really has more to do
with the appropriateness of putting the
name on it rather than the design of the
project or anything like that
does that answer your question like so
it's it's that's the it's a gate
all the design decisions still
fall within um because otherwise you
know it gets tricky otherwise and right
yeah all the design this is this is
really intended to prevent a number of
things to be named after larry hellman
yeah
that that'd be down there on the other
side where the hawthorns are
[Laughter]
any other comments
i mean this is really a great leap
forward jim to have something in place
and thanks to molly for giving us the
framework and jim for you know sticking
through the committee and we'll see what
uh mark and the mayor come back with but
i think it's especially appropriate to
have this
in our tool chest as
we get ready to do installations in
different parts of the city for parks so
that'd be good all good stuff
so now that's the that's the good stuff
that um we can all be affirmative about
the less the more challenging one is how
are we coming on our urban tree canopy
assessment assignments mr wilson um not
to pick out a particular holiday but all
i want for christmas is responses to my
tree canopy survey um so um and i would
just point out that over the holidays
all of us find times where we need to
get away from our families
and this is a perfect excuse
so i'm hoping that maybe everyone could
commit that by the first week of january
you will get me your responses so that i
can then compile them and bring back in
january um which is already sounding
like a very full meeting um yes um some
recommendations as to how we proceed
some sort of highlight which i know that
larry had a a really good one that he
pointed out a month or two ago but let's
sort of
hope for january that we can hone our
focus and really move forward with it i
think that that should be our number one
new year's resolution yeah okay
questions
okay i mean i've got all my written
stuff but not in electronic form so
electronic would be really helpful if
you don't mind
i have to get a 12 year old to help me
with this all right
so and i'm going to ask ellen if she
will look at the form and send you the
information she found on cambridge
massachusetts because she was looking at
that for arbor day and it's really quite
wonderful they have a volunteer group
grant called forest friends
and the forest friends apply to adopt a
tree that's just been planted and then
to water it and to weed it and to mulch
it which i thought was really
interesting
not that we want to do that but just
just sharing
yeah it is really a very good um
website yeah yeah it's it's fun
so anything else under old business you
send it off no well then let's go on to
our year in review and i think the
mayor's pulled that up um if we
if we oh yeah that's it that's it it's a
lot i decided instead of
relying on our memories about everything
that we have relying on our memories of
everything we have done this year maybe
i just go back through the agendas and
look to see
and um
so many of the
of the things that we did are
are
let's see we're we're new this year
we're new ideas um
and i think uh we're well received our
arbor day celebration which we've kind
of highlighted the fairy garden
installation
the bexley bloomers
the planet geo survey joining huggsy but
then you know some that have
you know probably more like or other
types of significance would be
jim's um human rights policy group and
working on leveraging our excuse me
canopy study
reviving the bexley landmark tree
program
things like the little libraries
installed the south cassingham tree
planting
reviewing and approving landscape
installations for havenwood dgb kindness
park commonwealth i mean that's all
all good stuff
and maybe maybe there are other things
that we did that you were part of that
should be on this list
you know the one thing i look at number
seven they are the right-of-way
coordinator
i can see the
work that he's done because i see the
trees being protected on a lot of
remodels and builds
and i think maybe in january february
it'd be great if we had him come to our
meeting
is that a good idea
is that right does he report to you
grant i mean is that the he does he
reports to andy but uh he could like
schedule him in to come to here okay
that'd be great if you could do that in
january
so i don't know if anybody had a
favorite
um
activity or a favorite review process
that we went through this year that's
memorable or
you know some particular aspect of our
work we did that they
have found some great joy in but i think
when you look at the list it's
significant
and it's something to be proud of i have
to say that one of the things i'm most
excited about
is the loyalty of this commission i mean
the same people come to make the same
good decisions month after month and i
think that's a real a real strength of
the commission
so anything else under your review
this is maybe off the mark but the uh on
my other half my ar b hat uh continuing
to put together
um
guidance in terms of how to look at
houses how to think about them and it's
and and that is so there's a lot of
research going on to see what we can do
to talk about architectural historical
and cultural significance when it comes
to our uh architectural treasures and so
in doing a bunch of that research
um
i probably have been on maybe 10 or 11
different sites
and
prominent and all the sites is the
arboretum part talks about the arboretum
so you look at wikipedia you look at the
the histories you look at all the
various sites that are out there
that's that's a piece that comes right
back up
and it's really neat because that thing
has found its way in terms of just the
common definition
of everyday definition of what bexley's
all about
um
so i
anything we can do to kind of build on
that and add on that uh and for example
uh maybe expanding on that a little bit
beyond arboretum
you know one of the thoughts will be
we'll actually have architectural walks
where you add to where you walk on
certain streets and there's certain
houses that point out to being just
superb examples of a style of
architecture or a point in history or or
so forth so uh all of those things just
adding to the richness of and the
appreciation that people have of what it
means to live here and how special it is
and you know people say i really like it
why are you like well because the trees
and the houses well there's there's a
deeper
deeper set of reasons to why that's
occurring because of the harmony of the
architecture the the order of the trees
and you know getting that level of
appreciation allows a resident to be
able then explain to their kids or
explain to their mom and dad or whoever
else you know why it's such a special
place so i just thought i'd point that
out so well sad listen well i think that
the
fairy garden
because not only because
i was in celeste's garage for a little
bit not not a lot but i learned a lot
believe me that um no because of where
it is
not only was it successful but it drew a
lot of people to that area that
had no clue that it was there
um
just the playground the you know
everything that's there the athletic
fields and uh so in that way i think
that it was um extremely successful as a
community
it's sort of like a community project
and it really
was bigger than what maybe what we
started out to be i thought it was i
thought it worked out just really well
yeah even though these are dead trees
it's a project that's growing celeste
yeah it's all part of the same thing
anything else
i do want to mention that richard sharp
is not able to be with us today today
would have been his last meeting as a
city council liaison he has served twice
with us um and
he sent me an email today saying
how much he appreciated the work we did
and uh how much he loves loves trees and
wishes us the best so we wish the best
for life yeah we wish the best for him
while we're talking about appreciation
this i think is at least
two quarts of scotch
of all the wonderful work that you do
with your guidance for all these years
and keeping us all on track and
motivating it i don't think it's a tree
but uh but you never know you never know
it might be a lot of amarillo
well thank you thank you
it's it's a thrill to look at the work
we've done for 20 years together
together how many of you were on the
original commission molly and linda and
dave
so yeah that's all all good stuff i
appreciate what you do your
follow-through is amazing
i didn't did i put oh yes
one of the most important things we did
last year was the boots on the ground
the walking streets looking at all the
trees i think that was really an
incredible volunteer effort by people
that already do a lot
mayor we couldn't do it without you your
support
we couldn't
and we don't want to try
[Applause]
elena
just fabulous
fabulous we appreciate it
as as i said do you ever wonder what did
they do before i got here
i can tell you i can tell you but it
might take a while might take a while
and grant and grant you
[Applause]
jordan the minutes are always excellent
you do a tremendous job transcribing our
much
probably too lengthy narrative on most
issues but we appreciate the diligence
with what you do it
and are so happy that you're part of our
team
and molly and barb and ellen for serving
in advisory capab capacities again we
appreciate your loyalty to come to come
when there's no benefits except you know
some sparkling water and oreos yeah
scenarios
um we've had a good year i'll look
forward to seeing everybody january 19th
i do know that january february march
people come and go so if you could just
let me know if you're not going to be in
town
and then we're going to
well we've got zoom i'm not sure how the
zoom is working now mayor what are the
rules on zoom and zoom discussions
so anyone who participates via zoom they
aren't technically present in the
meeting so they're okay so quantum
participants so when it comes to uh
conversation and
about something that doesn't require a
vote right it's not an issue but when it
comes to something that requires a vote
the vote can't be taken
and
if it's like if it's a
decision that has a record to it
probably no discussion during that as
well okay
so that trepidaciously because our city
attorney is sitting in the lobby
every word i'm saying okay all right
that's right
even if you just listen
right so if if you that's another point
though if you want if you plan on
zooming please let um natalie know okay
because we she can set up a distinct
link because like today i just set up
one on the fly real quickly but we would
have one then set in advance so you
would know how to log in okay okay okay
thank you all right all right so that's
all good so i wanted to be noted jordan
that we have finished before the magic
hour or six o'clock
to turn this over and i got here early
so i turned everybody's name over here
so you would not be recorded as someone
whom you were not so we could put those
names up now and city council can take
covers thank you for your leadership and
thank you all of you for everything you
do for our city every year we're very
very grateful for you you