the April 17th meeting of the Tre public
Gard P to order and will call the
role Sheila strob here Jim Wilson
Celeste Williams here Mary mcmun here
Susan quintens here Linda znik here Dave
Wakeman absent uh Barb Giller welcome
back and Barb would you uh fill in for
Dave wakman okay um Elena Andrews here
mayor Kessler Grant Archer
good good so uh Troy Markham is not with
us today he had an overload of uh city
meetings I understand so we have excused
him for the day and Grant is Spencer
coming okay and Spencer's not coming so
we have a quorum and can move
ahead uh I'd like to have a motion for
approval the minutes of March 20th 2024
sent by email no moved okay so let's see
you want to move first and with celest
you the second second second okay are
there any questions discussion items
concerns
erors right motion been made and
seconded that we approve the minutes of
March 20th 2024 is emailed all those in
favor say I I all those oppos same sign
motion carries do we have any additions
to the
agenda I didn't see on the agenda the uh
beex and Bloom update that's true why
don't we put that under in announcements
and small
victories perfect okay any other
omissions or additions is it possible to
talk about the pots on Main Street and
Drexel I think we could do that under
maybe others uh maybe mayor and grants
reports okay that'd be
appropriate anything else um is it
possible to add to the agenda um about
how to plant trees and shrubs I think
that we have that under um new business
the discussion on approved planting
standard for trees number a some of that
I think when it was at least when I was
downloaded got a little confusing but
it's there and then there's uh that's
information on the American elm but
we'll get to that okay let's start then
with announcements small victories and
comments Mary mcbn you have the first
two items rooted in Bexley lecture
Series has finished
so would you like to give us all an
update sure make sure your microphone's
on and close to you we hosted three
wonderful programs this year with over
200 who attended in person and a 100 who
watched us as the program was live
streamed in January Morton arboretums Dr
Andrea Brennan spoke with us about the
arbet program February brought us
Benjamin vote a native plant Landscape
designer uh and award-winning author and
an OSU grat and in March we welcomed um
uh well-known Rick dark uh he's a former
plant cator at Longwood and he's also an
award-winning photographer and
co-authored a book with Doug talami um I
just want to say that I'm very grateful
for um all the support I received for
these and the help um I received from
not only Susan but some others who
aren't in the room and also um grateful
for the financial support from yard
Barbers and the beex Community
Foundation so we're working forward
we're looking forward to working with
the library again next year and one
thing about these programs um is that
they occur during the day and that many
of the people who attend arrive early so
that they can come to Bexley and enjoy
lunch at some of our great little local
restaurants um and I move on to the
community garden well why we ask if
there are any questions about that they
come early and have lunch but then they
also eat all the free cookies that are
available in the back of the room I I
under planned I ran out of cookies so so
any questions about
the okay um and then on to the Community
Gardens um we're very excited that we
have four new beds at the South and one
new raised giving Garden at North along
with four other new plots there so thank
you to the mayor and Elena and Grant for
your all your hard work to get that done
we're very appreciative the gardens
continue to be popular we now have a
weight list of 16 at North and 10 at
South um the it'll drop once we get the
new beds um filled with soil um we have
sent out a survey to all the gardeners
with mostly positive feedback we're
working to address areas where
improvements can be made one area that
is always contentious is weeding we are
working to provide training to those who
have requested assistance with
identifying weeds and we're also working
to improve our Communications to those
who don't follow the garden rules and
maintain their pass and plots um just to
you know be more proactive and friendly
that's my report okay so are there
questions for Mary there's a question
for Grant there's a question for Grant
from Mary I just want to confirm that
all the new furniture for North has been
put out or will be put out in the near
future uh they're still in boxes so
we'll get to them when we can but the
tables just the picnic tables right and
benches that's all we have right now
okay just are you saying they need to be
put together yes ah
I can get Jeff Herman if you
want okay any other questions about
Community
Gardens all right so uh let's go on to
mul volcano communication and
enforcement plan uh Spencer was going to
lead that for us so mayor Grant Elena
not sure who would like to do the
unveiling getting that was will be the
next step so for those of you in the
audience um I'm sure you're aware that
over mulching is a concern across the
country and a big concern in Vexy and um
a year and a half or so ago the city
council passed an ordinance about too
much
mulching and we've worked on how to
share that with people and so I it was
decided that we would have um a mulch
volcano door hanger so Grant the mayor
do you want to tell us a little bit
about this so these are going to be used
um in instances where you guys observe
the multi canos um but also we're
passing it out with all of the mulch
deliveries
boosters athletic boosters dist so that
would be Pro and um this is a uh I don't
know that
well and I think there was also
discussion that if when any of the city
Arbor are driving around and they see a
a strong offending property that they'd
be able to go and have them in their
trucks and just go up and leave it at
people's doors as a subtle way to let
them
know beyond that we also have the
ordinates so there's a there's a piece
of
asking asking the uh the property owners
to
ask me to cure the issue or the first
time we fix it and then future ones have
a fine Associated I think we need
to and I was there a second part to that
about being in touch with the
contractors for
being contract they are
bed first time it's not a they don't get
the GRE period good okay so are there
any questions about this could you
repeat that please the first time they
get notified in a
second thank
you I think
that Jim nodded so he he has a better
memory than I do probably Jim what is
the we warn residents and we find
contractors and I think the fine
escalates if they are repeat violators I
think because they are required to be
registered they are they are they are
educated as part of that
registration so first offense is a fine
okay thank
you question can you talk into the
microphone Linda thank you how do the
contractors know to be registered I mean
you see a truck around town um no I'm so
we've I've asked the building department
to reach out to the landscape
landscapers that we just know are active
in the city so them on this um and there
will be obviously there will be
contractors that come in from outside
and I think they would need to get
registered if they are if if we have
like
a the smith brothers from Granville that
never come to Bexley and you know it's
the first time that we've seen
them forming the mulch the vulcanization
of mulch entries and I think that we
would have you know the ability to
educate them and ask them to get
registered and then um our our
enforcement would not be rigorous the
first time with that instance is there a
way to also ask the residents if they
when they hire somebody to know that
they landscapers registered is that
um like i' probably have to a Bexley
blast issue
yeah no I don't want to Fig out a turn
because I think we have started doing
some of this but maybe we haven't so
education is GNA be an important piece
of
okay and I I think that for the benefit
of the minutes and maybe people here we
should explain why you don't put volcano
mes but it does to the trees well I'm
thinking that David and Andy and
Alistair know that Angela I would guess
you yeah okay well then just for for for
a general for General YouTube we could
say that Grant do you want to say that H
yeah so mul volcano uh up up around the
trunk of the tree causes rot and uh also
so extra rooting which weakens the wood
so it it's prone to storm damage falling
over things like that it holds moisture
against the tree where it shouldn't
be we start a mulch volcano
hotline you want to be the Personnel for
the
h I'll be
behind well maybe um I know it's not
fair to ask the mayor and Grant to talk
about this one I think at least my
understanding was Spencer or Emily or
Megan was kind of leading the charge but
maybe in may we could have a more throw
report on the communication of this to
the
residents um but I would point out May
maybe this was said and I just didn't
hear but this QR code gives you a link
to more information so it may not be a
telephone hotline but it is access to
more information that can be updated on
the website
okay any other
questions so well we appreciate the city
moving the ball down the field and uh
hopefully we'll get to the goal line so
go team go right
I it's our
department okay I I'd like to I know
that we sound especially Mary and I
sound very vigorous about this and I may
add in my own absence and of not
understanding how to do this I am one of
those people that would probably have
these on my door and I'm part of the
tree commission but over a long period
of time I've been over mulish and I
didn't realize it and it takes years if
to me lot of care to get it back so this
is not about policing it's about trying
to really take care of your trees over a
long period of time it's not just the
one time keeping the mulge off the well
Grant I think you were saying that about
we talked about coming in with an
airspade and taking the things off and
you were mentioning that you can't fix
it all in one big correct I mean that
would be all we did for the next 10
years so but yeah it's it's a long
process
so okay other questions are we allowed
as tree commission members to have more
than one and maybe share them around the
neighborhood or is that not our role
sure are they going on all door knobs
they're just just fenders just defend so
and I as we're talking through this and
I'm looking
at this is sort of the we have gotten
these in so that we can begin
okay new for our residents even though
we
communicated we're still trying to get a
full list of all the three landscape
professionals make sure they're follow
and
education we're welcome to have more of
these I want to make sure that we have
all the important information on the
site that this links to so that needs it
added before we start passing it around
and then the MCH distribution is 27 is
that right no I think it's this weekend
it's Saturday yeah have we we will have
that information by
Saturday and you're welcome to have more
to pass
around hey we love to see you bet
I don't know he may have to go at
midnight I'm not
yeah okay um let's go on to land use
strategy update Jim
Wilson so with direction from the mayor
and our new development director land
new strategy is moving along I think the
most important thing for the tree
commission is the 21st of June mayor um
there is going to be an opportunity for
a workshop with the city's commissions I
think it's from 9: to noon roughly
um at least that's what my calendar said
but I put put it in wrong um so
hopefully everyone can if you're
available make yourself uh part of that
conversation um just to give you uh a
thumbnail we've sort of divided into
different working groups perhaps the
most uh one of most interest to this
group is the residential working group
um where trees are an obvious issue but
there's also an East and West Main
Street group a Livingston Avenue Group
North Cassidy group uh partnership
group um there must be some other group
but there's a lot of groups and each of
them will have some information on sort
of what they've identified on a
preliminary basis as to their priorities
for land use in the city over the next
decade and this is a great opportunity
for folks on the commission and the
other commissions to give input into
that process
so I was reading I'm apologized I was
reading my text rather than listening to
you for part of that so if you could
just reiterate whom uh who will be
presenting well I'm not sure we've
exactly designed the Pres part but the
invitees are the three commissions or
the other boards G be invited mayor um
these yeah
those invites expect them to go out next
week or two we Ser
final okay was there anything else about
land you strategy coverage no it's I
mean it's U there's lots of work to be
done but lots of great citizen input and
you know I think it's premature at this
point to give any sense of what the most
important priorities will be but I will
say that everyone in the group is
working diligently to collect
information and have good conversation
about what the city's priority should be
okay so anything for Jim on land
strategy for June 21st okay Barb welcome
back and do you have some updates on
fundraising for Bexley and Bloom Bexley
and Bloom uh the letter went out just
after spring break which would be just
this year just after Easter and uh so
far we have
$9,300 uh but last year we had about2
more and we really think that's mainly
because of the the timing you know so I
think we're right on task and uh we'll
be ready to give the money away okay
sounds good so anything for Barb okay um
I had a a text from Charlie flower who
uh said sorry I can't be with you today
um looks like there's some great stuff
on the agenda and I love the MCH volcano
education roll out much need also love
the use of the Jefferson Elms a unique
triploid American elm so of course we're
not always as well versus we'd like to
be in what a triploid is and why a
triploid would be important to a
Jefferson Elm so of course I had to
Google it Grant so there is some
information
here
yeah so I don't know if you
can okay hold that up or not
yeah
so is that good
enough or maybe someone would like to
talk about a trip
void do anybody aliser would you like to
talk about a trip
void okay um so Alistar if you could
just identify yourself and say
green yeah I'm Alis Reynolds the
regional Urban Forester with
ODNR so triploids are extra chromosomes
in the cells of the plant so I believe
they typically have like 49
chromosomes and so being a tripid it has
even more I think it has like 69 total
chromosomes so what those extra
chromosomes do I think it differs uh to
you know uh by what kind of plant it is
and what those chromosomes are for what
alal are dominant uh but yeah it just
means that they have extra chromosomes
in their cells so as I was reading the
extra chromosomes are what they have
identified as perhaps the reason why the
Jefferson Elms did not get Dutch Elm and
also it has improved the strength of
their branching that's right so so your
regular American Elms that we see today
they have a v-shaped uh branching angle
uh these uh Jeffersonian Elms they have
a u shape and the U shape is
biomechanically stronger than that
vshape like uh you think of like calorie
pair and they have that very tight
v-shaped Branch angle and they break all
the time and when they break they take a
massive chunk of the stem with them and
so the these American Elms they have a
u-shape instead of a vshape which makes
them much stronger than your regular
American Els and also they uh have shown
very good disease resistance um so the
jeoni and Elm comes from the National
Mall in Washington DC where they have a
monoculture of American Elms and all of
their American Elms died except for this
one tree and so cuting have been taken
from this tree because I believe it's
seedless as well and so uh cuting have
been taken and they're grafted on
through a root stock but all the uh all
the Prodigy from those that from those
cuting uh show the same St traits as
being
um triploid is that correct right and uh
also having that u-shaped branching
angle so that's the poor ones poor
chromsome yeah these uh these trees they
have resistance it doesn't mean that
they're immune it means that they are
resistant to the Dutch shm disease yeah
thank you Alis you're very welcome and
so so those that were so the Jefferson
Elm was are two out of the three trees
that the mayor planted with the Jeffrey
Mansion preschoolers a week ago yeah it
was pretty much fun it was pretty much
fun the kids actually knew a lot about
trees yeah
yeah yeah but my favorite comment was
when Mike price was introducing the
mayor and he said to this group of 50
kids do you know who this person is and
this young girl said I think he came to
my birthday
party did you okay well then she re
she y well I knew who it was
I I have a yeah yeah I have a question
for Alistair yeah can they can we try
and
um take that stronger part of the DNA
that is more resistant and then
transplant into another can you graph
you can't graph that in but I mean like
so all those can you advance it to
another species uh so all those Elms are
graphs taken from original cuting from
that Jefferson tree that's still at the
Washington Mall um so I guess if Grant
knew how to graft trees uh it's kind of
an art grafting trees like yeah there's
people who are really good at it and
then others like myself that are
terrible um and so yeah you could
actually graft off those trees you could
but you would want to find another root
stock to put them onto probably another
Elm root
stock I don't think it has to be an Elm
but it would probably be best to be an L
it could be an oak potentially potential
I know like with fruit trees they use
all kinds of stuff yes and even with you
know um yeah they use I mean that
doesn't even have to be the same species
with fruit trees and so yeah I'm not
entirely sure what kind of root stock
you would might want to talk to a
plumbologist about that and they would
know so Celeste I just GNA say let's see
if the trees grow first before we start
messing with them start taking the grant
okay thank you Alice yeah appreciate it
anything else under announ small
victories or
comments um conversations with residents
and visitors that's not for those of you
that are doing applications we're going
on to staff report and Grant
Archer uh yeah so um hopefully I can
stay for a whole meeting we don't
have is there a warning is there a
warning
oh not a
warning well at least you'd be close if
anything came yeah
uh the the spring tree planting so we
did do a spring planting this year we
did 36 Street trees we also did 11 on
Cassidy with 52 taxes infill on North
Cassidy west side that is
complete um maintenance updates dral
Circle I'm still waiting on quotes from
landscapers to rebuild the little Inc
cap walls uh there they're a little too
far gone to power wash and um
remor um so we and we do have a company
coming in and power washing some of the
pillar entryways I'm right now they have
they're at a different job hopefully
they can get here before we plant the
flowers if not it'll have to wait till
call um the tree giveaway raffle is
complete uh Emily has all the names and
we'll be sending out emails to the
winners to let them know that we can
meet them on site and pick a location
for the northern Kapa
uh so that'll be back here next week or
so and that's all I got do you want to
talk about flower pots now for Main
Street Drexel the mayor the current
flower pots were the
clay um pots we get maybe two to three
years out of them they fall apart um so
we decided to remove those off Main
Street and see if we can come up with a
different
solution uh metal ones are extremely
expensive so we're going to have to do
it in you know a couple year to fill in
all 52 of the pots that we had So
currently right now we're doing
10 did you send that to
me is there a profile that you
have um so they're they're basically the
same looking black pots but they're
metal so hopefully we get a longer last
like span out of it so we have 10 up
apparently which will go from Main and
North on Drexel are there any um that
you won't be using that we could
possibly use down at the South Garden no
we don't have any any more that of the
clay
ones 100% success
rate yeah yeah I made sure of it
yeah I have images but um I have those
in my update so I okay sounds good
questions for
Grant on the street trees were those
then planted throughout the city or is
there one particular area that you
reforced uh so we focused on the North
and middle section the spring planting
and focus highly on the south end in the
in the fall okay so of the trees that
Grant was talking about on Cassidy um I
think we're 11 of those the multi-
stemmed Hawthorns and they're they're
large size trees so that looks like
they've been there for a long time so
it's good no more question questions for
Grant okay then mayor I'd like to see if
you'd like to check your time because we
can start on our landscape applications
or move you into the
queue okay okay all right then Ellena do
you and Jim want to take it away yes Jim
do you want to go first do the ground
rules yes can you get your
microphone uh so for those of you that
haven't heard the ground rules before
just a reminder to everyone that um
you're being videotaped and being uh
presented live on the Bexley org website
um uh as commission members we will not
comment or discuss the findings of other
commissions uh nor do we comment on
subjects under review and other City
commissions I'm not sure that applies
today um as a commission we will not be
party to negative or disparaging
comments about City staff elected
officials appointed officials or City
Consultants or other commission members
uh comments presented today as always
should be Germain to the subject at hand
so we remember we'll structure it with
questions to the applicant after we've
heard the presentations and then we'll
have our discussion and we'll try to not
to ask questions that are discussion or
have discussion that's questions if
possible uh could you help keep track of
that for us I do my best okay and then
um hopefully we won't need need this but
if there's uh anything's trending to be
inflammatory or confrontational we'll
recess for 10 minutes take a breath hope
a tornado doesn't come through and
resume so the process for all all of the
applicants is we'll start with ellena's
presentation she'll give a background
and share her recommendation then each
of you applicants will have up to 10
minutes you don't have to use 10 minutes
um to present um your application
um in the event uh which sort of appears
unlikely today that there um are
opponents they'll have up to three
minutes a piece to comment on your
application and then uh if there were
supporters they'd each have up to three
minutes if you if there are comments on
your application you would then have
five minutes to respond to any of those
comments and then um the board will ask
you questions um to clarify and then um
we'll move into deliberation um and uh
hear a motion of some sort and resolve
the application so Elena it's all yours
excellent thank you all right the first
application that we will be looking at
today is tpg 21-6 the wood fence located
at 481 North Drexel Avenue and we have
Angela near Meer who's joining us um
this was reviewed last um November 15th
at the meeting and the landscape plan
was reviewed um but it was denied and it
was requested that an updated landscape
plan that includes a layered effect of
plant material along the fence must be
submitted for review in March of 2024 it
was submitted um on time however Angela
was out of time out of town when we had
the tree commission so she requested
that she join us uh today which we said
yes so um this is the revised plan that
Grant has brought up just as a little
bit of background this the plan
originally had um five Magnolias of the
brackens brown the plan that came back
in November had eight of them um there
had been three climbing High ranges that
were on the plan in the first iterations
the second plan those were removed and
then this third plan that we're looking
at now the layered effect that has been
introduced is maintaining the row of the
southern magnolias and then having a row
of lopy in front of it as well as adding
a weeping cherry tree at the corner um
to kind of transition between um that
row of Magnolia as well as um then the
existing tree that you can kind of see
in the upper leftand corner now as a
reminder the uh brackens Brown Magnolias
will actually get to be approximately 20
to 30 feet tall by 15 to 25t wide they
are a low branching tree and so they
tend to stay pretty low and fat at their
base and come up to a little a little
bit more of a pyramidal top and so
having a lot of Shrubbery in that area
is um behind the fence it would be
difficult because it's going to start to
eventually when they grow to maturity
touch the fence and then in front of it
um it starts to come pretty far out into
the yard so then we have the row of
Loria to provide just kind of like a
border along that um it would be my
recommendation to approve the plan as
presented and um Wanted to then turn it
over to Angela if you have anything else
that you would want to comment on okay
you mean this plan yes yeah okay if you
have anything else that you want to add
Angela could you introduce yourself hi
Angela near Meer give your address North
Drexel
Avenue um my only question then let's
say in five years 10 years do I have to
replant if the tree
overtakes the um the P or I don't even
know what it's called the ly yes I
wouldn't think that I mean I wouldn't
think that the ly will stay to be about
12 to 18 inches tall I don't think that
the branches of the Magnolia would hit
at that point yeah yeah so those would
stay low and kind of just be a defining
bed Edge at the front and then the
Magnolias would be on top of that
okay so do you I mean do you have
anything that you want to I mean I
personally still like the first ver with
all the trees or the second version I
guess it was with all the trees
um I was just saying my son recently
moved to Dallas and that's they have a
lot of that and it is so beautiful and I
tried to take a picture but it didn't
come out um of a hedge that's all the
Magnolias um so I'm just gonna resubmit
my second and fourth
third I guess so this is the current one
right this is the one that is been this
is the one that we're reviewing today
right yes that was in response to the
November meeting
okay um no any more comments no I'm just
saying if we could just either
choose I'd still like my other one
better but understand um so we'll now
move to public any public comments um
are there any public comments I didn't
think so um if you don't have anything
else Angela we'll turn it over to
questions from the commission question
I think it looks great yeah I want to
thank you for your patience with us
because I know you've had this on your
on your desk for a while yeah it's fine
for that no no
I I want it to look beautiful and yeah I
want to work with you guys and you AR
I I I know um where these trees are and
they're beautiful um but I'm thinking
aren't they volcano
mulch I think they are you gave me that
brochure and I gave it to my landscaper
so it's it's I think that's how he felt
to plant them so that they can live they
just need to get
settled okay I the professional I had I
did not do it so I'm I I want them to
survive right and it it was told to me
that the first couple years are so
important so I'm going on his
recommendation so that I don't have to
replace give you a broch I got it
right I it so we're gonna move out we're
gonna questions now so you know Angela
these are tough questions to ask but the
part of the de denying of the
application last time was the condition
that we have a layered effect on the
fence because the whole idea was that
instead of having a row of trunks there
would be some sort of of um variation on
a theme and so um in submitting this
back it's I would say not really a layer
effect and I'd be interested in your
thinking on the direction from the tree
commission versus
this this this drawing I don't
understand what you're saying so you
don't think it's a layered effect you
want more trees no no no the layered
layered effect is usually to um to sort
of Disguise or interrupt the feeling of
the barricade that a fence creates and
these will
eventually these will grow to be really
big well it's it's a little get a bit
about um going back back to the approval
process that we had before and trying to
be you know clear about what the
expectations were and so my my question
to you was that in in my opinion this
doesn't present that layered effect and
I'm thinking in your opinion it does so
I was asking for your thoughts on how
this meets the conditions that we set
the last
time I still think it's a layered look I
don't know
okay I
mean you still want me to take them out
then I just no we're we're in the
question stage here so we're we're not
discussing yet I was just interested in
your your thoughts as you presented this
plan that it was layering and and my
landscaper felt that was layering also
another
layer yeah maybe my my question maybe is
a variation on Susan's is which is just
why ly as opposed to an
evergreen that would have some height
variation and I mean people have
different preferences I don't love laia
all winter they look dead to me I mean
so I'm just wondering why you chose laia
to create I mean you UND your view is it
creates a layered effect my question is
what it is what is about Loria that you
think creates the layered effect that we
were talking about well just my excuse
me landscaper used it in other places in
my yard so he thought that was a nice
continual piece to to keep within the
yard so it created continuity with other
parts of
yard and it does
grow during the summer pretty high it so
it will be up as he thinks as high as
where the branches
are like it's a tall grass
do have another question is um but this
was plan was approved or suggested
approved by Elena right the one before I
guess and this one yes and when we talk
about the problem of you know the
volcano mulch stuff you have a warranty
from the landscaper about your your
plant material is he providing any yes
year for one year yes so the one year is
going to be up
yeah first much as we love to talk about
multi volcanoes this is not a discussion
mulano but my thing is if the if Ellena
was going to approve it originally and
she was ill and now you're going yeah
but like I don't know which
one last time I thought I you know I
added three bigger trees I thought I was
doing bigger and better than what was
approved so I I apologize for not coming
back um I thought you guys would be
thrilled so I was a little shocked
um so yeah this is what my landscaper
and I came up with thinking it would
still oh there no it doesn't say how
tall they get
um still give you that layered look with
the clean look
not may I add something we might be
misusing some words here layered is not
necessarily a design element where
texture and color and all sorts of
things that are applied to basic
elements of design what what we're
thinking about is not layered as in that
you have what I believe you're saying is
that you think that it adds interest
because it has a whole row of something
but to that that it becomes like
another
um um Al sudden I can't remember barri
barrier it is becomes a barrier it
doesn't undulate it doesn't soften the
look and I think that's what we're
trying to convey in this is that we're
trying to undulate and give some Rhythm
that's one of the elements give some
Rhythm to it rather than a straight
shot so that's I think that's what we're
talking about and really
not um let's keep to questions for and
then we can move on to discussion okay
well helpful to me because this is
layered to me and I'm not a l you know
sure yeah don't have the lingo
Landscaping lingo are there other
questions if not I think we're ready to
move to
discussion I just said
my yeah
just oh I sorry I just I was laughing at
myself because I said I just added the
point of discussion or does anyone have
discussion points they want to
make so I don't know I do a picture that
I found in a magazine of sort of what
I you want to I put can I bring that to
you you why don't you take it to Barb
and she can pass it
around
righte
it yeah why don't we let's move forward
to pass it around
and you want to handle
discussion okay so um I'm G to call in
people go down the line and ask if there
are uh items of this landscape plan you
would like to discuss Among Us not with
Angela or rest of the audience but among
us Barb I'll start with you I I have no
question
okay I think that if this is been a
revised plan and if it was um okay with
Ellena that maybe if we had questions
and concerns it probably would have been
addressed before today and presented to
us so I'm not sure why we need to talk
about it again okay celest I agree okay
Linda Mary
Mary hello well I'm as you know not a
fan of laia PE but um I am okay with
well tell me why um because it's
overused and um it doesn't look good in
the winter it dies back and glimp did it
and I thought oh my gosh they're gonna
love it
completely the discussion of that was
tabled
last I just think there's better options
yeah I really do but if you think so so
we're we're not we we're not doing
questions now we're just doing
discussion among commission members
so do you have anything more to say
nothing I'm fine with Elena's
indorsement okay so I don't have any
questions um you know I do appreciate
that the applicant has tried to respond
to to what we discussed last November um
this wouldn't be how I would have chosen
to meet that lared effect and I would
encourage you to revisit it after you've
seen it for a couple winners and ask
yourself because you have a lovely yard
and I just feel like you're going to
have a lot of L and it's going to be
awfully Brown in the winter so but do
you cut it back like you cut it back but
then you you just have no layer to
affect all winter long and we have
unfortunately long winners that's my
underlying concern here but I do
appreciate that you you're trying hard
to meet what we've asked you to
do I have a
a small the Rens Brown is a broadleaf
evergreen and so it will stay green all
year round so it kind of It kind of
loses its leaves more in the cycle of
like an evergreen wood so while the
Loria would go down and be cut down you
can sometimes depending on a warmer
winter it might stay green and Evergreen
a lot to stay this year some people
choose to cut it down in the fall or in
the early spring to allow New Growth but
it can sometimes look peaked yeah no I I
I walk by the Magnolias every Saturday
they stay green a winter I don't doubt
that it's the Lori just you know but
I've said what I'm said okay so is there
a
motion we accept the plan as uh
submitted okay is there a second second
is there any discussion okay a motion is
made and seconded that we present this
plan as presented all in favor say I I I
all those who like to abstain all those
who vote
no I vote Noe okay your plan has been
approved yeah all right so Ellena the
next one Al right so thank you
Angela um so the next project is
tpgc um 2425
shwood thank you grant this is a new
build um and this actually came back
this came to us um
in March of last year actually so about
a year ago um and it was approved the
landscape plan was approved so Grant if
you could go to the second page of no
say nope where you were yep second page
geez Grant okay if you could go to item
four 4G the white one next page keep
scrolling
down okay I'll just start reading um so
uh the project was approved with the
following condition I the approval is
subject to staff review for any changes
with plant species and the Arbor on the
south side of the driveway must be
replaced if damaged during construction
so since its approval the landscape plan
has been revised by David boes and Andy
Miller the new landscape plan has much
more generous plant beds surrounding the
craftsman style home with a much more
robust plant pallet overall the
plantings are appropriate to the site
conditions and um as such I have
approved the overall kind of foundation
plantings around um the site but there
were three items that I felt
uncomfortable enough for me to review by
myself and wanted to come back to the
tree commission the first is the bed at
the corner of Sherwood and Cassidy
Avenue this bed occurs within the right
of way along Sherwood Road and Cassidy
Avenue as well as partially in the sight
triangle that dictates plant material
shall not exceed 32 Ines in height the
proposed plant material is all less than
32 in It's a combination of perennials
including Sedum and I do recommend that
there would be a um that the beds are
pulled 12 to 24 in away from the edge of
the sidewalk to allow for a lawn buffer
when we go to the plan um Grant if you
could pull up the
plan this one yes thank you so you can
see the right of way on the bottom part
of the line along CID is 14.5 feet along
um Sherwood is only 2 feet or about a
foot and a half so interestingly the
sycamores that are all on Sherwood just
so you all are aware those are actually
not City trees those are all privately
owned trees so you can see in this
actual corner here um where that sight
triangle is that is where I'm actually
proposing that the plant material be
pulled back a little bit as we have done
on many of our other projects just to
all allow for a lawn strip so Mulch and
plant material doesn't impede pedestrian
traffic um there is on the south side of
Cassidy there is a bed that has like a
stone bed around one of the trees that
has a similar kind of feel in terms of
having a bed in that area but the other
two areas have lawn right up into that
corner the second um area to look at
Grant if you could scroll to the left of
the plan is the bed at the southeast
corner of the property um keep going a
little bit more yep right here so in
this revised plan the width and it
should be the width of the driveway not
the width of the driveway has been
reduced allowing for a more generous bed
between the driveway and Alley so where
you see the large R the right of way
originally the driveway literally had a
very large um it actually spanned from
the line that you see all the way up to
the alley and there were no plant
material there at all and the Evergreens
existed pretty much where you can see
them now in that kind of thin brown line
going up um and then went back to the
property um what they are proposing now
is actually reducing the width excuse me
of the driveway and putting in a new
planting bed there and within that bed
would be um Two River Birch um as well
as some thuya which are wood wardy that
are a little bit lower and more globos
or round than a taller arbs and the arbs
would um continue and they're actually
infilling them all the way further up to
the um edge of the property but um and
then the base would be a low ground
cover of the blood grass and what is
helpful here is a couple of things one
it gets rid of the asphalt it will allow
more plant material they're adding more
trees as well as um reducing the width
of that that driveway and but not making
too much of a visual barrier by having
kind of trunks and lower trees you're
still going to be able to see if
pedestrians or cars are coming by so I
don't think it necessarily would be kind
of an issue for um driving out of there
and then the third area is up at the
upper corner of the site so Grant if you
could scroll up is they are asking for
the removal of a box elder um the Box
Elder was originally listed at as in
poor condition in the existing tree
inventory that we that was submitted as
part of the original application as the
year has progressed the health of the
tree has not improved and the owners
would like to remove it Grant went by
also agrees that it's probably in poor
condition and most likely it was just a
volunteer so it was nothing that was
actually intentionally planted um but
since you know this is a new bill they
wanted to make sure that um they were
okay with the removal of that also of
note the original approved plan only had
um two dogwoods um as part of the
original plan and this new plan has nine
proposed new trees that include two dog
Woods the addition of six Paper Birch um
one blood good Japanese Maple and so
these seven new trees um will really I
think Offset you know kind of the the
removal of that particular tree so um it
is my recommendation to approve the plan
as presented um as with the condition
that we provide a 12 to 24 inch um
border along the edge of that sidewalk
so with that I don't know if David or do
you want to come up and present and say
[Music]
anything thank you Elena um my name is
Andy Miller and this is David
boils
David and first and foremost we want to
say thank you for taking time to review
all of the details of this and for Elena
for all your support and helping to uh
clarify any of the points that were were
uh
uh gray in Gray areas so um I think what
I
moved um we were approached by the
homeowner um a couple months ago and uh
as the uh plan was originally approved
uh as he sort of Let It soak and uh
thought about it more and more he was
really hoping for a little more I don't
want to say complexity but probably to
use the term layering he wanted to have
something more in the design that was in
honor of the arts and craft style of the
home um and so the plant material that
we proposed uh it was uh much more I
don't want to say complicated but there
was a greater uh diversity of species um
used in there and one of the uh desires
uh expressed was that there was more of
a natural flow to it um the original
plan was very much sort of a wall of
Viburnum all along the the Cassidy side
um he said we need to sort of pull that
out and make it um just a little more
welcoming um also um asked for us to
accentuate some of the views from the
home um wanted to make it as low
maintenance as possible and so uh we
have more of a style um as you may know
uh we call it green mulch we would
rather use plants to cover the ground as
mother nature would do versus throwing
lots of mulch down everywhere and so
that's um part of the inspiration or or
motivation behind planting a lot more of
of different varieties of plants to
really cover the ground um and to
provide interest all year all year long
pollinators and pollinators yeah so well
pollinators were were another specific
request so we added a series of
pollinators within the design as well to
to help um you know it it was just
something that the the owner was very um
desirous
of um
I think that's it uh we did also speak
with the owner um and he said that he
felt he he was absolutely um amendable
to making any alterations any reasonable
alter alterations um his biggest goal is
to to get everything done and planted
and established um to help uh you know
just get rid of the orange fence that's
around there we do want to say that the
the general contractor has been really
good about the protection of the trees
uh and uh we we do see some minimal
efforts on construction sites to protect
the trees and the barriers are either
way too uh tight to the trunk or you
know nobody cares about it and the sites
aren't regulated and you still see
tracks running through over the root
zone so um this I think it's been a
relatively um well-maintained well
constructed site so we really appreciate
any consideration we do have names
coming in air rate fiz dead wood and pin
the existing trees we want to get there
three kind of white time um that are
just L with English I get all out re so
trees bre a little
bit
um I can't think of anything else except
to mention that the on
Cor it be the Northeast point where
we're talking about our barrier of of
log along the side BL what that actually
is I'm not sure if everybody understands
if there's a sedum
Tado which is our native Central Ohio
wild Sedum that grows in the shade and
only grows about three or four inches
tall so it's certainly not
going block
anyone's View and it will nice ly hold
all of the soil in the
bag you know in my opinion equally as
well as
long that's all
I uh well then we'll see if there's any
comments from the uh public anyone want
to speak in opposition or support if not
um questions from the tree Commission
go ahead I do have a question I hope
it's a question and not a
comment um given that uh it's phenomenal
what you've done and you've also
categorized things with color and and
seasonal effect I notice on the um West
Side you have a fence that is very um I
don't know if it's your neighbor the
homeowners belongs to we don't know who
know neighbor the owner does think it it
belongs to the neighbor and going to
speak with
that so given that we're doing an all
allaround um evaluation of the property
that's just like a vacated spot that
hasn't been addressed I'm wondering what
you might be doing about that it's an
old old fence and it may may not be
lasting very long I'm not really sure
that that's within our I knew I'd be
wrong well let me end it there then
sorry I can't just to clarify I think
what we are reviewing are is this corner
area on the northeast corner of the lot
and then um the plannings in the
RightWay on the south end right and the
removal
REM correct if I may something I should
mention is client is very amable and
very happy administr sign a whole
harmless agreement on planning that
Southeast
Corner which is
perfectly I think whatever the city's
practices there would be appropriate Our
concern is is ensuring that the
residents and then future owners
understand that it is in the right of
way and that it's not simply Theirs to
decide what to do with
um
so are there other questions um yeah I
had a question um I think Ellen Ellena
you provided us with the list of the
plants that included their Latin names
didn't you yes and so it should be the
very first one not this one but oh yeah
okay I've got it because I just wanted
to confirm um there's one plant in
particular that you want to plant that I
have concerns about um the Red Baron
emper
cind Red Baron um so I did research on
that particular grass because grasses
have a tendency to be invasive and um
that one has the potential to become
invasive um a lot of times it will not
stay red it'll actually turn
green
yeah right and they're supposed to be
sterile but they're finding that they're
not so I would would prefer something
different um if that's a
possibility I was thinking like little
blue stem
if it's a shady Corner okay okay well
then
um
okay two or three years long G grow up
to about five or six foot tall and then
fall
over okay I
see maybe wood
poppy wood
poppy a wood puppy native wood poppies
they grow in this shade um I don't have
the no right when the wood poppies tend
to be very seasonal more ephemeral right
in the springtime um I'm thinking of a
sge
um Pennsylvania am I getting off topic
okay I'm sorry I think we're reviewing
that part of the plan no that's that
right
Elena it's the red the Red Baron grass
is in that corner yeah the red barar and
grass the blood grass is in that corner
yeah so I I just would prefer something
different
SOA questions no
question turn yes so I was I was looking
at the corners of the intersection of
Cassidy and Sherwood to see what the
other neighbors had done and Ellen
mentioned that to in reviews that two
out of the four don't have have grass
right to the sidewalk and then the one I
think just across the street has grass
but then it has a tree with the bed
around it so I wanted to ask why you
wanted to create a bed around the tree
and plant in the right of
way interuption
and I would add to that the the owner
requested a a specific element in that
area to sort of break up the view to the
corner of the home um and uh or it was
the it was the friend or the partner of
the the owner um and she had recommended
with her architectural background the
view from the intersection looking over
that swath of of grass or that green
sword that she wanted something
interrupting it
and so that was the inspiration behind
Okay request and are you amable to
Elena's suggestion about moving the
planting bed back 24
in part of the problem is that the
Sycamore the
platinus is maybe 8 in or so from the
edge of the sidewalk then you end up
with this crazy line that
I do I do I
well right right one you know one of the
concerns I always have is that um when
when you start to plant on top of a tree
that has been there for so long that you
change the conditions and I'm always
worried therefore about the health of
the tree not today not tomorrow but in
five to seven years so you know my
preference is is not to you know damage
a good
thing yeah we're H certified arborists
um and we agree I
am but we we definitely agree um we do
uh we do not roota around the base of
trees um when we do have to modify
modify soil for preparation of a garden
under a tree we typically do that with
the use of broad Forks or potato Forks
so that we're just it's Ain of vertical
mulching where we're essentially
penetrating the soil down to 8 to 10
inches modifying it a bit opening up
pore spaces so so to both airify and
allow for organic matter to be deposited
in there either in the form of like a
humic acid granule um and Pete Moss and
sometimes soil conditioner or a mini
pine nugget it just to enrich the
overall you know overall
um structure overall um components of
organic matter in the soil to help the
the Flora and FAA down in there and then
we plant in and typically we'll use
smaller plugs so that we're not digging
or chopping into the root Zone and so
that's a typical typical method that we
use for that we completely are
sympathetic to that well then I and I
also worry about the weight the
additional weight
that just happens because we're adding
adding more plant material so sense
those those would be my concerns so Jim
um so if it's permissible I'd like to
ask Ellena a question then let the
applicant respond um I am curious about
the applicant said that the the Sedum
that would be along the edge in this
corner bed should hold um the soil or
mulch as well as grass I don't know if
you have a view on that Sedum definitely
can Sedum definitely can and so I mean
if it if it's done properly and put in
and if they're doing you know Green
mulching then yes I mean I think a
possible I think that the blue outline
correct me if I'm wrong I believe that
that is um Lily Turf and so then in the
center is the blood grass which is a
little higher and then the lower the
yellow is the Sedum torum there's a
possibility perhaps rather than doing a
lawn strip is if you actually continued
that sedum around that edge and
continued that up so it's that same
plant material perhaps I mean that does
stay pretty low it's about the height of
grass and it doesn't you know they would
need to keep it trimmed the same way but
it doesn't necessarily it wouldn't be as
much of a pedestrian obstruction I think
that that would be an acceptable we
wouldn't see mulch all over the side of
well after this storm right
yes even tornado a lot of people think
it's SE they thinked
about 16 tall and this one be much
shorter tin about size of quar I know I
have it in my y the nice thing about the
torado it is
ever there in the winter as
well that answers not my question okay
and so I'm just confirming again with
Ellen the Sycamore in the front to Long
Sherwood is a private residential tree
yes yes
okay other questions are you done then
Jim I don't have question I think we're
ready for discussion okay is there any
discussion any
concerns I mean I I'd like some to hear
what others think of the the notion of
Sedum all around the edge of that corner
um you know I do feel we've made the
correct judgment generally that we don't
want mulch extending to the sidewalk but
if we're convinced that the Sedum would
have the same effect I think you know
Sedum has a nice contrast and texture to
grass and U if we're comfortable that it
accomplishes the same thing I would tend
to support putting Sedum all around
rather than grass but Others May know
more than I do about that I agree with
that I really do I think that's uh the
color for one thing and the fact that
it's an evergreen and I don't think the
mulch will I mean you won't it won't be
washing out on the street if there is
any David I have one question for you
how do Sedum and dogs get
[Music]
along yeah me either I was just thinking
about
that right yeah well I mean I don't know
if it's a good thing to give him an
alternate playground or not but I mean I
think it's something to think
about and and how does it recover from
being tracked on as
well
yes
okay flat for a day or so and then it
pops back up especially after great okay
well given this discussion maybe it's
something that we need
to expand our requirements of that we
grow ass up to a sidewalk and maybe we
expand this a little bit in the future
consider that that's for a different a
different just footnotes always off the
face well we can approve the application
with that modification instead of the
modification that El suggest okay are
there any is there any other discussion
no more questions for the applicant okay
I'll take a motion I move to approve the
application uh with the pro viso that
the property owner either put a per
Ellen's recommendation a strip of grass
around that corner planning or a sedum
bed of a foot wide at least through that
area Okay second okay is there any
discussion okay a motion has been made
and seconded that we approve the plan as
presented with the provisor that the um
the area long cast
either have a 12 to 24 in lawn strip or
that the seeden be continued um parallel
to the sidewalk I guess I just add that
the applicant would satisfy whatever the
city's requirements are if we need they
need a hold harmless agreement um I
think they can work with Al that to
figure out whether hold harmless is
necessary or
not I'll look into that for you okay
okay we have a motion all those in favor
say I I I all those post same sign any
abstaining motion carries okay thank you
for coming today thank you all right
Elena
okay I was Googling to see if uh
succulence would take urine but I
couldn't find it if
what well you know I'm I'm sure there's
I'm sure there's a list of dog friendly
well they're not toxic to dogs I found
that out I don't know about if dogs are
toxic to them okay so they didn't have
they didn't have that all right so um
our next
application is um tpg 24-4 RightWay
plantings at 261 North Drexel Avenue we
have Jamie Lewis in the audience who is
going to um be helping to present and um
so just as a background for this um for
this project as part of the record of
action for Bap
2325 Grant if we're able to stay on this
same oh yeah we can stay here um so they
had said that the overall landscape plan
is to be re reviewed by the landscape
consultant for approval the landscap
plan is on private property it's been
reviewed um and overall has been
approved there however there were eight
trees that were planted in the right of
way along Boston Avenue that are under
the jurisdiction of the tree and public
garden commission and so that is why
this project has come to us because it
is a private property it's not a new
build um this was a um a beautiful old
property that had been in massive
disarray uh disarray excuse me and the
plant material was bad the house was bad
and so they have done if you've gone by
a very very extensive renovation of both
the house and the landscape um and so
the um there's I had an opportunity and
I apologize that it happened just today
rather than um earlier but I had an
opportunity to talk to Jamie about um
the planting in these particular trees
and so um originally they they have
right now if we could Grant if we could
go to the landscape
plan
um nope yep that one okay so at the top
of the plan that you see there are five
zovas Green Bay covas that are planned
in the RightWay this is we have a very
deep RightWay here that is um almost 18
or 19 feet from um from the edge of the
street and so those trees were planted
in the right away there were on the next
page but are kind of opposite um on the
driveway so there's a row then of the
eight green vas covas the green vas
covas will grow to be about 60 to 80
feet tall and 40 to 50 feet wide the
street tree for Boston Avenue is a
Shingle Oak which is the quirkus in
bararia which grows to be about 40 to 60
feet tall and 40 to 60 feet wide so um
maybe a little bit shorter and a little
bit fatter is the Shingle Oak and so um
in my recommendation um had said that
while I approved that the landscape was
on the private property that the right
of way needed to come to us and my
recommendation was actually that we
would have um the Shingle Oak be planted
in the right of way instead of the green
face
zovas I have since changed that in terms
of having a a more in-depth conversation
about what the landscape plan is and the
purpose of that for this and so I wanted
to just explain to you um a couple of
different items that Jamie and I she was
able to walk me through and I have a
better understanding of this so the
green vase covas of four planting 8 um
if you look at and saying that they
would have a 50ft canopy eight of those
then would have 400 square fet of tree
canopy one of the issues that I
explained that I had an issue with is we
do not have a lot of open space in
Bexley to plant large shade trees and if
we are trying to increase our Urban Tree
canopy
40% um that we want to try to take as
much opportunity as we possibly can to
plant larger trees where possible and
this is an obviously a very good
location where we could plant them if we
planted Oaks probably the spacing that
we would need to have would be Five Oaks
rather than the eight that are in there
and so if you took a 60 foot canopy at
Five Oaks you would get to be about 300
square feet just in terms of how the
spacing works out with the spacing of
everything you start to mince hairs and
all of that the green vase alcoas when
they're going to grow together right and
so the canopy is not going to be a full
circular canopy they're going to talk
but so in general the green vas zovas
would probably provide the same amount
as the Oaks would in terms of canopy
coverage they would just be there would
be more of them versus less and so in
terms of looking at that canopy coverage
I think it's potentially kind of almost
equal the other thing to note is in the
front yard yard on either side
symmetrical to the front of this this is
a very formal landscape plan um it is it
has much more of a um formal French kind
of aesthetic to it in terms of the
layering and rows of Hedges and kind of
a very manicured approach they are
proposing two Oaks in the front yard and
and so you know there is something that
you know when we're saying could we
provide some nice you know kind of shade
trees they are providing two large Oaks
in the front yard and in addition to
that they have planted approximately
154 new trees on this property now that
number includes 98 green Giants which
are all of the circles that you see
along the southern side there along the
west edge of that so now the green
Giants will grow they they're planted
very tight together they will get to be
about 10 feet maybe 15 feet in diameter
so that will also help somewhat with
tree coverage canopy but out of that 154
if 98 of the green Giants they are
planting 18 shade and ornamental trees
32 of the France Fontaine horn beams
which we all know are those kind of the
ones that Architects love right the the
tall narrow colar home horn beams and
then six um black Spruce also in the
front yard so there is there there is a
a large um and robust landscape plan
that has been put into this that I think
is important for us to kind of
understand um and then also the the
design of the zelkova was um she
explained that outdoor space design
there's a is a gentleman will will
Leonard um who I think he's come before
us before in terms of some of his
projects and the thought of having the
green vase zovas there it was explained
that they are much more of a vase shaped
tree and they have much more of a
uniform structure versus an oak that can
kind of do what it wants and so from a
design perspective the layering effect
that they have of the green vasel kovas
and then the stone wall and then the the
Rope of Evergreens as it kind of
progressively moves back that was a
design effect so that you could kind of
see underneath the canopy and still see
have a view of the side of the home on
that area and that the Oaks are a little
bit um a little bit more they kind of do
their own thing um and so I think that
there is um there's there's something to
be said that um you know there is such a
great landscape plan that has happened
to this that I think the city should
value that they took this property and
didn't tear down the home and have put
that into it so it's something to
consider the other thing I just wanted
to note is that um it was a none of this
it was a mistake in terms of planning in
the right of way I don't think that the
owner thought you know oh I'm just going
to do what I want to do they you know
have gone through all the different
procedures and and get all of that and
so when I was talking with Jamie um she
did Express that you know it's not
something that we're trying to do she
wants to be a good team player and so I
was able to have a good conversation
with her on that that um so with that
explanation Jamie I don't know if you
want to come up and say anything
else uh Jamie Lewis uh 261 uh North
Drexel um Elena I don't think I could
have said it any better I appreciate um
just the observation of what we're what
we've done uh with the property um the
architectural design of the actual
addition that we put on and the
architectural design um of the landscape
was very very well thought out as a team
approach with our landscaper and our
Builder um or our architect of the of
the property and um as Ellena mentioned
it is a um it it is a more formal
approach and we did and we wanted to
take into the consideration of serving
Bexley and the desires of the tree
commission to remain um you know
providing a canopy uh that was um that
was significant and way more than that
property has ever had we when we took
over this property um we tore down
probably somewhere I talked to my uh the
individual that that helped me with that
project you know somewhere between 15
trees um as Ellena mentioned we have
planted um 150 trees and so we have made
a huge investment uh to achieve uh the
desires of the city of Bexley and um it
is really important for us uh with this
particular tree because it it is
Meaningful to the landscape design of
how we've set up this property and so um
with that I just want to thank Elena for
the time and the um consideration to
kind of walk through what was important
to all of you and um given me the
opportunity to kind of Express why that
tree was um in consideration um you know
for this particular PR so I I very much
appreciate
it so are there any uh comments from the
public in support or
opposition if not I think we can move to
question questions for the
a there questions
Linda so I guess when the landscape
architect went ahead and proposed this
it
was well I guess when they planted they
didn't know that was the right away
obviously um and then it was discovered
afterwards and if the tree that's
recommended for the is the Shingle Oak I
guess then you're thinking what take out
the El cover and put the Shingle Oak in
but your description Ellen is that uh
it's things should remain as they
are
yes you have any questions no
questions so um I was I had a couple
questions uh one of the reasons that we
get excited when we have a lot of U
planting space is the chance to plant
oak trees because they're the call them
the king of the urban forests because
they host so many things in addition to
canopy cover and storm water you know
insects
butterflies acorns and so I you know
canopy cover is definitely important to
us but so are those other those other
attributes of Oak so my question to
Ellena is do zovas have the same
properties as as Oaks do in the larger
sense of of tree ecology um I mean I
would I would assume so I would kick it
over to Grant on that um as well I think
that they definitely do I mean they're
they're a pretty dense Tree in terms of
being able to find you know kind of an
area I don't the one thing that they
don't do is they don't fruit and so they
don't necessarily provide food for you
know other animals and species right but
there there's spaces for insects and and
things like that they do have the two
Oaks in the front yard um you know that
are planned and so they do have you know
two at least two of them to me I was
like okay well at least we have some of
that but Grant I don't know if you have
anything to comment in terms of I don't
know if they are considered as kind of
robust from an ecology
standpoint yeah I would have to agree I
don't I mean other than the fruit that
you know they're still going to provide
habitat in some
form and then
um I I see in this that there's a
sidewalk on Boston and I don't think is
there a sidewalk now there is there is
okay so that's a continuation I would
just have to kind of piggyback on um Mrs
zick's question you know Mr Leonard has
been here before so he knows that the
city of beex has a right of way and I am
concerned that um he did a design plan
with trees in the right of way and
planted them with
coming to us or or uh so I'm always
interested where did that step get
missed um he's not responsible for
planting any of our trees he is um just
a designer that's it I am the um
homeowner the general contractor and I'm
responsible for the execution of both
the architectural and design of the
building as well as the landscape plan
and um it was a a really an honest
mistake relative to the fact that if you
look at any other property in Bexley
our uh setback is really unique and very
significant um and so we honestly we
thought we were doing a service uh to
the community um there wasn't any type
of canopy there um at all uh when we
first when we took over the property and
so um I met with Grant uh prior to uh
removing any of the trees and Grant was
uh very excited about the fact that we
were willing to make this investment and
um we did talk about the trees that were
on the right away and he said
specifically you can take those down and
do what you would like and I literally
took that literally and so it it was an
honest honest mistake um and there was
nothing that will did and by any means
and honestly we just we really really um
thought we were doing a service to the
community is the um stone wall on the
right of way no no is is it behind the
RightWay yeah the walls behind the
RightWay
yeah so Jim do you have any
questions
um well I grant do you have the same
recollection of the
conversation uh yes I do I mean if you
look down Boston further down there's
there was a lot of Evergreens and the
landscape from the other homes on Boston
are in the RightWay and we do not
maintain that so when I walk the
property with her and she was willing to
uh clear that area and at the time I
don't know that we were quite sure how
far that right away went back at the
time but we were just kind of talking
about the whole property and all the
trees on the on the property uh and the
best way to handle it with the new build
so I you know it it makes sense that
she didn't quite understand where the
rideway was because if you look to the
what was that east of that property
there's all kinds of landscape in the
rideway
that's maintained by the
residents thank you w blest
me are there other
questions okay so you can be excused and
we'll have our discussion then okay
would you like to lead the discussion
Jim sure car you have any comments
uh uh not really I mean I think that the
I drive by there all the time because
it's just so much fun to watch what's
going on yeah it is and uh I mean the
trees look fine there I understand I can
understand confusion about the
RightWay but I think uh what so it's an
oak tree that's the street tree there
that what you said well then are there
any
pled are there any there I mean it's not
on that property there isn't but across
street it's like on uh uh you know
between Parkview and Drexel there's not
even a sidewalk
between yeah par and Columbia there's
not a sidewalk so I mean there's no it's
a very hard would be very hard def find
a right away and uh I can't speak to the
other couple houses that are there so I
don't see I don't see any reason that
they would have to
be Linda I mean living on Cassidy I know
that behind with two streets away that
Dawson the right away goes almost up to
people's front door because it used to
be a line so can you bring the
microphone a little bit closer there is
I mean there is evidence that the
RightWay is exists and that
it should have been adhered
to Celeste yes I have a a deep concern
and first of all thank you for doing
this fantastic job this is a discussion
with us okay discussion is about how the
trees are planted and is against what
we're trying to achieve both all the
trees are still PL Ed in their cage and
wrapped in the burlap and the the the um
the uh not ribbon but the string is
still attached then to the base and that
is we're we're going to be working on
that to um have all of our the
guidelines to keep to not allow that
inex we're just working on now on on the
species yeah okay okay well I'm just I'm
really concerned about that for for her
not to understand that would be a
catastrophe well that might be an
additional discussion so okay
Mary um I understand mistakes can be
made and but to me losing out on the
opportunity to plant Four Oaks versus or
however many Oaks versus five I think
five oak versus eight zova who um I I
did some research just to you know see
what kind of uh lepidota
would go to a zova and I couldn't find
anything so obviously I'm going to rule
in favor of Oaks anytime so but I guess
my point is that had this come before us
before we would have approved Oaks not
zova more than
likely am I correct well that was the
recommended Street tree yeah yeah a
Sheila I I think the project that you've
done is incredible um you've taken a
a little rough dime and and fine-tuned
everything I would be in favor of the
Oaks if it would be a consideration I
know it's not on the table um so I will
go with the recommendation of Helena
with the hopeful endorsement this is a
discussion this is a discussion okay
Jim um yeah I think I mean there's no
doubt that this is a a really nice
design and an asset to the city of
Bexley but I do find it really
frustrating I mean um sort of let the
designer off the hook but he should have
known he shouldn't have drawn a design
that had something other than our city
Tree in it and so I do think as a
condition of approval that the designer
needs to be notified that if he does
another one of these he and the
homeowner are going to have to deal with
the fact that he led them to believe
they could do something that they
couldn't um I mean I don't think it's I
mean all you have to do is look on the
auditor site to figure out where your
property line is so it's not in my mind
it's not a mystery I don't dispute that
this is is a nice design but I think
it's if it had come to us before it was
planted I am absolutely certain we would
have said put Oaks in there and so what
we're dealing with is that our the rules
weren't followed and so we're we're diff
we have a difficult decision about
taking out trees that shouldn't have
been planted in the first place all
right so we're going to move to a
motion to be clear the city if we vote
on Oaks the city will be planting the
Oak right thank you thank you um so who
would like to make motion Mary would you
like to make a motion
Jim the chair should not make the motion
just saying
sorry I make a motion that we accept the
plan as revised and recommended by
mileno seen the trees admittedly there's
a mistake but keeping the trees as they
are right I guess there a
second second okay is there any
discussion are we setting a
precedent that's for you to decide when
you make your vote okay mam chair just
really quickly to clarify from the
city's
perspective if you were to vote to
require oak trees
sorry to say this but that would not
mean that we we would have to plant them
we could require the property owner to
plant them oh okay thank you thank you I
didn't realize
that well it's always helps to have all
the information Upstream
right no it's just good information all
right thank you um a motions made and
seconded that we approve the plan um as
presented and as planted uh with the
zovas all those in favor say I
I I all those who say no no no no no any
no abstentions okay your motion has been
denied your application has been
denied so uh elaf you'd meet with the
homeowner and what the next steps are or
okay and now let's go on uh because the
mayor's still here and go on to his
report quickly he's got other places to
go and and mayor I thought maybe you
could partner with
Elena um about the table of the
application and and the installations in
the RightWay at city
council we understood that there was
some RightWay hold harmless applications
that came to city council one we had
tabled last time and one we kind of
approved with a hold harmless no with a
restriction on deed right we suggested a
deed restriction and then I think we
were advised that that wasn't an appro
course yep okay um I can yeah how would
you like us we can start with that okay
start with that okay that'd be great if
you have a minute to do
that application okay so what would you
we have two consent and hold harmless
ordinances in front of council one's for
141 South Drexel yes's I'm going 262
South Columbia 394 South colia good yes
um and those are both in front of city
council uh because any sort of uh
Hardscape vertical elements within the
city rideway need to have receive a
consent and hold harmless which unless
it's irrigation we have go through city
council so City Council in making that
decision and they're not uncommon we
have them all over the place as you as
you know in making that decision Council
reviews um recommendations
from uh the any relevant boards and
commissions um and
uh you know would would ask for advice
before passage um
typically is that answer I don't what
else would you like to know um well I
guess maybe on the advice side uh I mean
I I'm not sure how it works if if
someone digs into it I mean the city
council man that proposed it and would
come to us for you know some sort of
mini tutorial or how that works it's uh
so in this instance let's take 141 South
Drexel and actually both of these Pro
projects uh the vertical element
requires Bap review under our zoning
code even though it's outside of a
zoning District because it's within R of
way the way that our zoning good is
written it sort of takes on the
character of that adjacent zoning
District um so in this instance Bap
provides uh revieww and approval but
that beap approval or disapproval
approval uh let me start with that if be
were to disapprove of the application it
couldn't get constructed and so it
wouldn't go in front of city council for
consent it would get withdrawn
um if Bap approves of it Council still
has to approve of it from a property
rights perspective so there's two
there's two reviews one is zoning okay
and one is property rights okay um the
zoning side in this instance you know
bap has the ability to ask uh tree
commission for advice on the landscape
piece which I believe they've done
they've referred both of these I think
to you um and so your your decision
would be memorialized within the Bap
decision to the extent that
they choose to do that I mean could say
thanks to your commission we are not
going to adopt this recommendation or we
will adopt this one and not that one um
and as staff we will provide council
with the be AP decision and also your
decision um but ultimately it's the Bap
decisions that's binding on the zoning
piece I think council's concerned with
more than just the zoning they're
concerned with you know uh the fact that
it is public rideway and there are a
whole lot of other things to consider
other than just the Aesthetics of how
that fits in with the adjacent property
with the Landscaping some of which
you've identified already which would be
like placement relative to Future trees
or current trees there are other
considerations we have which are um uh
conflict with utilities um future plans
on the ride of way and how that may or
may not uh correlate to the extent that
we know them so the variety of factors
that we would look at as as well in our
providing advice or recommendations to
council okay so any questions about that
just a little bit more information from
what we had last time so I think last
time we were sort of operating at least
with the one on Columbia from the
perspective well we should wait wait
until council's approved it rather
than struggle with a landscaping plan
that we had a lot of questions about
given that there's a possibility Council
might not approve it but unless I'm
hearing you incorrectly we should make
recommendations in advance because one
of our recommendations would might be
hey it's not that's is the case on
Columbia but that's exactly where a tree
would go right um so we should be
logging those in before Council
council's going to want all the
information before they make the
decision so they're going to want to
hear your feedback obviously whether or
not it passes the baps zoning mustard
and you're you know there's I didn't
really think about it until I just
started talking to you guys about it
this way which is you kind of have two
roles here one role is the landscape
review that Bap has charged you with and
that's a little narrower because it's
the Landscaping right but the other role
that you have is uh to provide advice or
your opinion or perspective as it
pertains to infrastructure that might
conflict with future uh tree
infrastructure which I know has been a
concern of yours um certainly you can
provide that feedback to Bap but city
council has it might have a different
perspective on it as it relates to the
overall arching three planting
plan but do it first do it up front yeah
I think they're not they're not going to
want to vote until they have that and um
so yeah it's helpful to provide that in
advance and the fact that it's in front
of council is not at all predetermined
conclusion it's getting a reading so
that they can make a decision it has
three readings so we had our first
reading at our last meeting which means
um in May what is it May 9 17th or
something whatever it is in May third
reading to happen Okay well that's
that's good I'm not sure we know all the
right questions to ask but we'll get
there okay okay um May do we want to
then make sure that we have of um MKS
back in May for us to review it right
and and I think you know to the mayor's
Point there's wider questions and
there's a couple things one is to look
at the applications in front of us but
to look at the bigger question of you
know what are the possibilities that or
what are the topics or the items that we
want to bring forward to City Cil so
they have a better understanding
of how we feel the right of way um
should should look to accommodate
trees mayor I mentioned a couple things
unification of Columbia the Birch Walk
the updates on 2200 East Main if you
want to talk about any of
those second we may have to start
yelling I know we I will has your phone
gone off yet Grant oh good
can just
update
um that's help okay um okay well maybe
if anyone has what's
that yeah that'll still work I think no
it won't no we need that because of the
audio
I did upload a presentation to our uh
system but it's we're having some
technical issues over
here I'm I think I've seen that yes
that's a that is by the way that's a
this is a this was the opening slide to
our state of the community presentation
and um let me make sure
that sorry I make sure we're still good
we are still good okay um thank you to
those of you who came to state of the
community it was great to see you it was
great turnout um pretty enthusiastic
group of residents overall we had a
Heckler which is exciting we did I
didn't even hear them until I heard
about them later so well I was gonna say
so maybe the Acoustics had plus yeah
exactly yeah Acoustics were great St
Charles opened up their uh Convocation
Center which was just a beautiful space
um we've been planting trees uh we
planted with the with the uh Jeffrey
preschool as Susan mentioned um and I
wanted to highlight and call out that to
date we have planted as part of our year
of the parks projects 146 trees was one
of the things I talked about at the St
meeting that's
ex um and then in reviewing our
landscape plans as part of year the
parks that have still lagged because
Ellen is so slow just kidding that's not
true at all it's not true at all it's a
total joke um it's on the record yeah
yeah I'll cover some of the work on we
have I would estimate maybe another 50
to go with the different projects to
come but we don't know that until they
go the genius lens of Ellena Andrews and
others uh the Robert Frost Birch Walk is
installed to degree at Schneider Park so
the sorry you have to look over
here right there um the grass still has
to grow in um but the trees are in place
and the poem is in place and Jim had a
excellent idea about bringing a a frost
scholar uh to the library or maybe I
would love to see I just sent you an
email I would love to see it happen at
the actual uh Park when we're thinking
of opening it once the grass has filled
in there's a lot of maturing to happen
here to maybe in the fall or something I
the grass seed was planted but then I
don't know if you saw that it was under
about four feet water so it all washed
away but the dog they like wet
PE yes the dog by the way Kudos is the
grand his team it the Schneider Trail
and the dog park are like night and day
different than they were a year or two
ago like we could walk it three days
after it was underwater it was crazy
like what they did was really really
impactful so that was great um this is a
artist rendering of a unified
Commonwealth Park I don't know if I've
seen that before yeah I was with you
when you were photoshopping it uh just
wanted to know council did uh vote to
approve the idea of un unifying
Commonwealth so that's going to happen
happen um we're going to phase that into
two phases the first phase will be
removal of the street bringing the grade
up and then um preparing it for any any
additional landscape features and then
phase two is to be determined as part of
a design process that we'll be going
through and we have started to talk
about what the design process looks like
but it will come back in front of you
guys in front of w board and if anyone
wants to be part of the design team let
me
know design team being like the I don't
know
committee um we have already made sure
that our engineer knows the soil is to
be spec
um it's I don't know the name of it the
good stuff the good stuff is that good
enough what were you
saying it to be the top you know 12 to
18 inches of good stuff but you'll have
to have some clay or some
Foundation
okay this is a new Bexley tradition The
Drexel cherry trees bloomed and they
were beautiful and Grant installed
uplights on those trees so at night you
can see they kind of they have an
ethereal glow to them it's really
beautiful so good job Grant look great
at five in the morning yeah and one at
night yeah and so far they haven't
gotten hit don't say it mayor don't say
it don't say it these are the planters
that Grant ordered we're starting with
them on Drexel um and going to double
check that they perform well and they're
up to standard so I know that many of
you were making sure we had those so we
will have those in the commercial
District of DRX and expand them as we're
able and they're are they stainless
[Music]
aluminum brass gold zinc oxide zinc
oxide I believe I just read that
right maybe they've been zinc oxided
sounded right I will say um similar
material is my Olive Tree is sitting in
a planter from the same manufacturer
it's been outside for 10 years I know
it's out it's inside right now but
mostly it's outside um it gets uh it's
been great so it's been
durable we've been doing lots of trash
pickup there's Susan I think somewhere
around here y my favorite thing paig
Crane's around on this one somewhere you
see here our next trash talk is Saturday
morning 9:00 am we'll be convening at
Schneider Park and hitting the remainder
of Livingston that we didn't get to last
time and then we do have I am organizing
some volunteers to take out
honeysuckle on the Alley of the future
block but I haven't figured out how or
what we told so we got to get back with
that you might need to hold
harmless Council passed Livingston mixed
use commercial um in March their their
second meeting of March um one of the
most important aspects of this zoning
designation for Livingston is creating a
wider sidewalk and wide tree walls that
can support real legitimate Street trees
um so really excited about that um there
is a potential effort to referendum this
ordinance so there's some information on
the city website you can click on the
top Banner um there it has been
conflated with talking about affordable
housing it does not in any way shape or
form make affordable housing um an
easier zoning process than it was before
but that has sort of become the
narrative so I just wanted you know that
anything you'd like to add to that I'm
just curious what's the deadline for
them to get a petition I think it's
April 26th y so we
referendum petition we
think uh the bridge at Alm Creek is
coming along in terms of design uh we
have selected a new location had to move
a little further south so it's going to
be right across from You Can't See Much
from here I'm sure but there's that's a
skate park that we're working on so the
skate park will be kind of in the Bexley
Village Apartment area um subject to
approval so this is going to need to go
to Bap and then we are G to launching a
landscape design process for this here
really soon um because uh landscape is
going to be pretty important there's a
lot of concrete here and uh we have some
bios swill and rainard Andy concepts for
this but we want to make sure it's
adequate this Bexley magazine is about
to come out and it
features local celebrity Susan quintens
on the cover without a
facelift with what's that without a
facelift it's great yeah hler and
Elizabeth Elman and talk we talk about
the arbored and about sustainability and
it's all about Earth Earth and Arbor
month it's pretty
exciting our alley of the future project
is going to be is under way but it's
gonna in Earnest in the next month or
two this is the alley between Remington
and
Stanwood it involves invasive removal
native plantings um some murals slower
draining
uh alley storm water
infrastructure um murals is part of love
your alley um one of my smart lighting
it's kind of dims but when people are
near it it activates uh for Alley lights
and then one of my favorite features is
and most alleys have this there's a sort
of an area in the center where there
aren't any curb cuts into garages just
because of the way that those houses
work on the street and that area is
going to have the option for for
residents to close Gates to create sort
of a safe space those Gates will have
little do not enter signs on them and
then the alley Narrows in that space
because we don't need as much width
because there's no turning motion going
on in that area it's just a straight
shot so it Narrows down to 11 feet from
15 get some benches off to the side and
we can have some space that when kids
want to or adults want to they can kind
of close it off and have some space to
hang out which they're doing already but
it just adds an extra level of safety to
it our beex mural Festival is going to
be in August and September this is
funded with seed money from the beex
Community Foundation it'll be on Main
Street we're looking for about three
walls to have very nice murals on we're
looking we have a called artists out
right now these are going to be like
worldclass artists property owners are
going to have input in selecting the
artists they're going to be we're paying
them for Concepts so we know what we're
doing in advance um
and so far rabas wall that that that
blank wall of rabinos that I'm sure you
see and you
think that could be something different
that's one of our uh locations they've
agreed to we're looking at the wall
across some Johnson's ice cream and a
third wall kind of in that area we're
focusing on East East
Main it will have interactive art we're
having kids paint snow plows like our
snowplows we're putting out we're going
to have live music we're going to have
food trucks it's going to be an
Interactive
series of little small festivals as
artists are there doing the work model
not a new there's lots of these
throughout the country but it's they're
pretty cool so I think that's that's
everything that I had on my slides all
right mayor another another full summer
plate and pallet yes are there questions
can you hear are there questions for the
mayor if not thank you very much I have
a question that video that you showed at
the state of city um is that online it
will be on Friday we're gonna put in the
blast Y and then the whole state of the
community will be probably the Friday
after we're it's already on the Bexley
Library website Library website but we
have a better audio Fe we're gonna kind
of mix it with the slides and stuff kind
of edit it back in have a question um
speak up somebody asked me about the
pond and I because they saw that you
standing in the pond at the the pictures
what's the status of that is it of me
standing it or the pond itself is it is
it they're leaking is there nothing it's
perfect so there there is a leak we've
identified where the leak is um and we
are going forward and trying to um
repair that and so the leak is actually
on the West Side kind of in the middle
of the park where there's a tight kind
of curve so where that liner is it had
to be cut and then that seam we have to
go in and reinforce that seam so um we
are working in terms of moving forward
with that and so once we're able to fix
that then we can actually get the water
up I mean the good thing is is that the
water has at a point where we know that
it's not there not more leaks and so
more water's coming out so we kind of
know the approximate location of where
it is um and so there has also been um
some issue with obtaining The Evergreens
that we wanted to have the additional
Evergreens along um underneath the Pines
along the Parkview side so we're waiting
for those there have been substitution
after sub substitution and the nurseries
are just not being very helpful in terms
of finding them but um that those still
need to go in and then sod is going to
be going in all around the kind of the
perimeter of that so you know where you
see a lot of dirt right now there will
be sod and we just installed irrigation
it's in the God is irrigating it right
now but there's also irrigation um I
want to clarify the contractor is
responsible for repairing that leak so
it's not like we're fixing the leak leak
is being fixed yes it's being filled up
right now right that's actually one of
the reasons we're delaying it and that
that leak is within the first eight
inches or something I think maybe not
quite that maybe a little deeper a
little bit deeper but um so right now
it's it's only going up to a certain
level it will go up to the edge once
it's once it's repaired and then the
skimmer will work properly
yeah I mean you go swimming there right
now right
thee at the same time with the sod and
the remaining things and so
okay let's go on to new business we have
a couple things um we want to talk about
approved planting standards for trees
and begin a discussion about that Sheila
has her Landmark tree species selection
and a selection choice for next year so
let's see if we can get those three
things at
least so um as you all know we're
working on a project to um create an
overall planning and maintenance plan
and one of the components of that I
think we shared an outline previously is
planning standards um um so right now we
have contract that has attached planning
standards um we um and then there are
other standards out there some of our
commission members are more expert than
I am on those planning standards but uh
we thought it would be useful Grant can
you scroll down to have a discussion um
about you know what planting standards
the commission as a whole would like to
see included in our our planting and
maintenance plan um so we thought we'd
benefit from your wisdom from Grant's
wisdom from alistar's wisdom um so I
don't have a lot of structure beyond
that I I will say personally I'm curious
um about what what the differences
between the different standards so
there's the Isis standards um there's
the Ohio Nur standards there's the ODNR
standards and then there's our own City
contract standards and I have read our
city contract standard so I do know
what's in there and I know for instance
uh it requires the removal of metal
caging or mesh around the tree and it
requires that the burlap around the tree
be removed to the bottom third I think
of the planting area is how I read it U
correct so when it comes to the burlap
and metal decline it's basically the
person writing the contract's
requirement so in the isa's requirements
it it doesn't State anything about
removal of the bur
lapper basket the same with the ODNR I
think all I could find was bare root
planting
standards but you go ahead but I mean a
lot of people do recommend it and it's
part of my contract to have it done but
it's it's really it's a very
controversial uh opinion on it yeah so
there are new standards available that
just were released and so they're the
Ohio chapter Isa standards so those
International Society of art culture and
that's like International and then there
different chapters and each state have
has a chapter in Ohio has a chapter and
so we just wrote brand new
standards um and they were endorsed by
Ohio State University they also endorsed
by ogia the Ohio green industry
Association who used to be onla which is
Ohio nursery landscape Association uh so
they're uh kind of the credentialing
body for all the nurseries and Landscape
eler I'm just going to interrupt you
there was a trifold there was a line
item there for a
trifold um something or rather back in
the
uh Jordan had just said that she had
attached it to the agenda someplace I
saw it there is on the the the uh if I'm
remembering correctly the postings for
the city have something on there
right do you see it at all
Grant okay there it is right there oh
right down there right chap yeah right
so these new standards that we we wrote
up I helped to write them they uh they
include the removal of all the packaging
material on ball burlap trees so that
would be the burlap lap and the wire
basket all of it goes and then on
container trees it calls for the removal
of the outer inch uh of the root ball
that's in the container because that's
where the majority of the girdling roots
are and then also the pancake off the
bottom and they also calls for finding
the root flare uh before planting so you
get the the correct depth so uh so yeah
you can go the Ohio chat to ISA you can
find those those standards there those n
tree planting standards and then we also
ODNR we took those standards and we
wrote them into contract ready specs so
you can go to our website Ohio urban
forestry into the toolbox and there are
contract ready specs already written in
there that you can take um we also made
a video to accompany all this so uh we
just filmed the container portion last
week so it should be released here real
soon but it's how to plant a tree by
these new guidelines and we go over how
to remove all all the packaging material
and still be able to get the tree into
the
hole um so yeah so it it's pretty robust
and we we've been waiting a long time to
have the opportunity to be able to come
up with these new standards and and we
you know originally we were going to go
along with the ISA standards which only
like Grant said call for removing I
think the top third of the basket or
something like that but yeah but then we
decided that those standards just
weren't up to par and those standards
were wrong and so we complet rote the
standards so one one thing I also want
if you look at item number four I mean
removing all of the twine right but then
the burlap removed from the top to a
point halfway down the root ball and
discarded and the wire basket removed
ideally one thing also to keep in mind
depending on the size of the tree just
the the realistic physicality of the
guys in the field who are installing
these things so if all of the twine all
of the burlap and all of the wire basket
is removed often times that root ball
and all of that soil completely falls
apart and then you all of a sudden have
a bare root tree that wasn't meant to be
a bar root tree so I think in terms of
you know looking at you know there's a
lot of times people say get rid of
everything because it's not healthy for
the tree there's not been you know I
mean I think that the idea of take it
enough of it out but you still have to
understand that these people like it's
still the tree still has to be planted
right so when we're looking at all of
these standards I think we also need to
keep in mind like how are the people in
the field like realistically what's
going to happen because even if we have
these
standards there are so many landscape
contractors I mean I don't even know how
many there are probably registered in
the state of Ohio a lot of these people
are just going to do what they're going
to do so it's like if we're able to do
things of like Hey listen you know take
the twine out because we know that's bad
remove the burlap and then the wire
basket to a certain point I don't think
it all needs to come off out and it
doesn't sound like that's what you're
suggesting now we suggest that
everything comes off oh all of it all of
it and then the video that we made we we
actually show how to do it do you think
that contractors are really gonna do
that I think if if they're held to a
standard then they'll they will okay
yeah so maybe before the next meeting um
we can you can individually review this
I can send the information and is the
video information how to the video is
not out yet but as soon as we get that
I'll send it to you okay yeah are the
Flyers available the Flyers are
available do you have to go to the odr
to get them or uh Ohio chapter Isa have
the Flyers with the guidelines on them
chapter Isa are they here in town uh
they're in I think they're headquartered
out of Baltimore but they can provide
them for you if you ask them
yeah have you got any push back on the
standards no so ogia endorsed them so
that's who we were expecting to get push
back from was ogia and they endorse them
we're also doing those the planting
guidelines in Spanish as well and so
that's coming along and Portuguese so
that's coming to and the video in
Spanish as well so that's something that
we talked about we and um I'm not sure
where we ended up with that but we know
that we're definitely going to have the
standards written in Spanish and
hopefully you know we can do a voice
over with something on the video and
have it in Spanish as well do you see
this going National I hope so I hope
that the rest of the country Embraces it
I'm sure that there's people who are
doing the same thing there and you know
tree planting has changed a lot and you
know just in the time that I've been a
Forester I learned you know that you
don't take the whole basket off and you
stomp it down to the bottom of the hole
and that was like 10 or 15 years ago and
and now you know with new research that
comes out all the time um and also uh
the way that things are sourced and we
have changes right so a lot of this was
to like P burlap comes from
Pakistan and you know with trade
embargos and it can be it gets expensive
and it can be hard source and so a lot
of companies have started making burlap
out of plastic materials instead and
they're really hard to distinguish
between the real thing and they don't
biodegrade in the ground and you can
find trees that are you know 10 inches
in diameter that still have this plastic
kind of burlap on them and so it's
important that all of that comes off and
so as these new things are revealed to
us these guidelines change thank you so
Jim does that help get the kick the
topic up into the identified the issues
that will have to be discussing yeah so
a little homework for everybody to look
at those and look at the ISA standards
Jim and I were calling them Isa or Isa
standards but it's Grant has corrected
us it's Isa just say IA Isis is too
close or Isa is too close to Isis points
out okay Sheila take it away and I think
there should be pictures of these trees
that Jordan attached as well Grant so
2024 was the year of the sycamore trees
in honor of Mayor Kesler um The Landmark
trees will be be identified with their
tags hopefully this month they I know
they've been ordered um we were pretty
ambitious about our schedule so that we
didn't have a delay um you can see some
of these beautiful now this one is um in
South Beckley by the Capital University
parking lot um it's magnificent tree I
think sycamore trees are show their
grandness in the winter before the
foliage comes on there another picture
of it um tried to so this one is a um
north of the Gazebo on the uh dog park
path um you can see the Majestic
Sycamore in the background there um was
a strange person walking on the path so
I didn't want to get two fooks so um so
let's see there's another
visual um this is on shared
in great Majestic tree and height in
circumference I don't need to tell you
guys anything about trees so um other
than location um this is in South Bexley
on sh shared as well see what a great
memory I have you're doing really well
you must have been sleepy
well um this one is another elevation in
South Bexley that it hopefully is going
to survive it has a Big Chill to it but
it was nominated and it really does have
a an amazing circumference to it was
just the angle
that um um this one is by the um kayaks
in um Jeffrey Mansion by the Bexley
Historical Society um great great
sycamore
tree been around a little longer than
us
um and I have to say I don't
remember okay that's right to the left
of the
kayaks yes good job job
Grant this is there's another
visualization and again over there in
Jeffrey Park this
one pardon me that picture with the bar
yes that there's a great one in um by
the um ouse I guess or whatever you call
that the bathroom area it was nominated
and it's it's a Beauty again there is
the grandness of um the west side of
Jeffrey Mansion in the
back and this is a little bit more
toward the um shelter house in Jeffrey
Park and can you give us some of the
estimate of the ages you have any idea
or ly Grant can do this as we go
long I don't know how old I
am well we could
guess Grant your
mic um I believe so
um that is back more toward the shelter
house to the uh north side
oh I mean they're great specimens I
appreciate everyone's uh cooperation in
citing these Beauties I thought in order
to be um really proactive for
2025 um I would tell you what my
nominations are for 2025 and that gives
you time to think about it as you're
walking through the city so we're going
to do the American Beach which um is a
beautiful sturdy tree that's has been
around a very long time the tricolored
Beach and the European beach so I would
assign all of you and encourage you to
be um in your walking and riding your
bikes to be aware of these trees and
kind of mentally give me a image of it
in January so I'm ahead of the game for
2025 thank you so I'd like a motion to
accept the nominations that Sheila has
brought forward and I would also have to
say that um Stanberry has
22 sycamores on it and I promised Sheil
a video of all of them and it's still is
on the to-do list so I'd like to add
that as a stately Sycamore Stanberry or
some combination of s's um and if you
would make the motion to accept all
these as 2024 Landmark trees I would
like to make a motion that these are our
2024 Landmark trees and
do I hear a second second second is
there any
discussion motion made and seconded that
the uh sycamore trees as presented by
Sheila be our 2024 Bexley Landmark trees
all those in favor say I I all those
opposed say motion uh motion carries uh
how about a a motion to have the beach
in all of its varieties yes uh I'd like
to make a motion for the
2025 Landmark trees be representative in
the American Beach tricolor and European
beach
trees may I have a second second is
there any discussion motions made and
seconded that we approve the beach trees
in the American uh tricolor and copper
Beach uh for 2025 all those in favor say
I all those post same sign motion
carries thank you Sheila thank you now
keep it in mind keep it in mind yeah
look for beach is there anything else to
come before the good or bad of the order
I want to I'd like to say one thing um I
hope this isn't
heresy but in terms of Street
trees uh in this particular instance
with this one house I certainly
understand the issue of the right of way
that's obviously a major issue but in
that little block there's only two
blocks of that street and I and there's
probably no Oak Tree on any of those
places there isn't even a sidewalk you
know from Parkview to Colombia I think
maybe you could we could have a zovia be
on those little blocks right there we
did get eight free trees I mean I hate I
don't want to
be we've already had a a motion about
that and so I don't want to go back and
reopen no discussion a policy of
changing what's there I no I know that
I'm G to do I just I don't agree with it
but nonetheless I think that that should
be a consideration it's not like we have
you know on these two short blocks all
solid trees and and in this one place
they planted something different okay
well I'm going to refer that to Mr
Wilson who is looking at um all things
with trees okay recommendations of trees
planting of trees mulching of trees Tree
City USA right there okay and if you'd
put that in your list apparently it's
now on my list on your list that that
will help us come full circle on the
discussion topic is there anything else
to come before us today if not I'd like
a motion for
adjournment is there a second second
second motion made second we adjourn all
those in favor say I