MOUNTAIN LAKES SHADE TREE COMMISSION
MINUTES
January 10, 2013

Commissioners present: C. Murtagh, M. Vyff, J. Horst, T. Caine, J. Eveleth, H. Carr

There were no comments from the public.

The minutes are tabled till next meeting.

Doug McWilliams is the Borough Council liaison again but is on vacation today.

Park Place Development has accepted all of our suggestions.

John Linsen, our arborist, has walked around town assessing the damage from Sandy. FEMA will pay for some of it, so we have to wait to hear how much.

Lorraine Knocka may be taking John Linsen's position as our arborist. She worked for the NY Conservancy, then Bartlett. We would have the same budget, just for the pocket parks. Heather suggested we ask for more money for her and ask more of her, in the absence of Joan, who managed quite a bit for us. John will do a walk through with her to introduce her to the area.

Arbor Day this year will be either April 26th or May 3rd. Marnie will run it again this year and Janet will help. She will contact Beth Azar, the Wildwood Principal, to solidify a date. Consuelo will ask Sue Marshall if we can honor her this year. Heather explained that we are allowed to have a smaller celebration and still get Tree City USA certified.

The Budget we have been given is much lower than previous years. Consuelo will look into previous budgets and sort out the points.

Our Goals and Objectives for 2013 are:
Tree assessment and inventory
Assist town with tree removal application
Promote public awareness
Publish articles
Host arborist
Be available for consultation and support the Borough Council
Recruit new members.

Original Inventory- A Cornell Horticulture PHD Student is looking at street trees of NY State. He is assembling street tree planning locations and looking at changes using the program ITree. He would like our data. Consuelo would like an article written about it to help promote the STC. College students originally did our inventory.

Jay would like more trees cut back from the power lines for safety purposes. He would have JCP&L prune following their guidelines as written. There has been opposition to more pruning in the past. Marnie recounted how Brian Marshall had made an extensive presentation to the Environmental Commission last year, which was followed up by an inquiry as to how much say we have over how much is cut. The outcome was that Borough Manager Tovo is the liaison between JCP&L and the town. And, in the end, the guys with the chain saws make the ultimate decision. We have very little say in what is pruned. Concerning pocket parks, we agreed to let residents bring attention to us any trees they think could use pruning or removal and we will deal with them on a tree by tree basis.

The Parsippany Waterview Development was brought up, and the fact that it is 27 acres of woodland that would be razed for a big box shopping plaza and 72 town house units, covering the 27 acres with 75% impervious coverage.

 

Next meeting will be held on February 14, 2013

Respectfully submitted,
Marnie Vyff