|
The
New Castle City’s Tree Commission Meeting took place on
February 2, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. in the City of New Castle’s Town
Hall.
Members
Present: Chip Patterson, Chairman
Susan Keyser,
Co-Chairman
Erv Thatcher
Members
Absent: Lillian Shue
Mark Miller
Fran Peden
City
Personnel: Cathie Thomas, City Administrator
Roger Akin, City
Solicitor
The
meeting was called to order by Mr. Patterson at 5:40 p.m.
The
meeting was devoted to preparing a draft of the tree ordinance. Mr.
Patterson provided Mr. Akin a briefing of the tree ordinance drafting
process to date. Mr. Akin then offered his comments on the current
draft document.
A
number of issues were discussed at length. Issues included street
trees being taken down by developers and property owners and the lack
of penalties being levied for destruction of City property. Trees on
City land or in the right-of-way are the property of the City and it
has the right to protect those trees or be compensated for harming
the trees. Educating the public and developers about street trees,
what they are, what happens when a resident plants a tree on City
property, and the function of the Tree Commission in protecting and
maintaining those trees is needed. Also discussed was who should
oversee the ordinance, the creation of a part-time City Forester, who
the position reports to and is monitored by, duties, and the method
of paying that person. The Tree Commission receives its budget each
year from the Trustees and would fund the part-time forester position
through their budget. Mr. Akin stated he would like to see
the position hired through the City thereby providing that person
with all the sovereign immunities afforded public officials. It is
also his preference that whoever hires that person also has the
ability to terminate rather than separate the two processes between
different groups. Other pro-active measures were suggested such as
making building permits contingent on protecting certain trees and
payment for damage done to those trees, posting a bond for street
trees that may be impacted by a project, and stop work orders when
damage is incurred by a street tree.
Mr.
Patterson and Ms. Keyser were charged by the Tree Commission to offer
comments and changes to the current ordinance. Those comments will
be provided to Mr. Akin.
Mr.
Akin noted more of his concerns with the current draft ordinance and
discussion followed. Those concerns included the definition of a
certified arborist, excessive pruning, pruning under the National
Electric Safety Code, Heritage trees, warrants for accessing private
land to inspect trees for diseased trees and/or hazardous trees,
enforcement of the tree ordinance, and temporary stop work orders or
restraining orders.
Ms.
Thomas will make a third draft with all of the comments received
tonight and get that document to the Tree Commission and Mr. Akin.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Debbie
Turner
Stenographer
|
