HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-STAC-2015-11-10City of Ithaca Shade Tree Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
November 10, 2015
Present: Teagen Barresi, Nina Bassuk, Laurene Gilbert, Jeanne Grace, Beverly Hillman, Debra Statton, Keith Vanderhye.
Beverly Hillman from the Ithaca Garden Club is joining our Committee. Over the years the Garden Club has funded
many trees for Ithaca.
Forester’s Report: Jeanne’s budget request to Common Council for a seasonal forestry technician was fully funded,
passing 8‐1. (This is Teagen’s last work week until March when, thanks to the funding, he’ll return to work with
Jeanne.)
‐‐The fall tree order is in, 85 trees, not including the ones for Old Elmira Road, all bare root from Schichtel’s , mostly
replacement trees but 10 or so for new sites. More than half are planted.
‐‐Greg Wilder at Tompkins Trust didn’t get back to Jeanne about ordering the Metasequoias for the bus station area,
so we’ll have to wait until spring. Keith had quoted a price for the trees, volunteered STAC to plant the trees, and
suggested that Mr. Wilder hire a contractor to cut down the dead trees but never heard back. Perhaps Keith should
offer his own crew to cut the trees so that Tompkins Trust doesn’t have to worry about it.
‐‐On Thursday Nina’s class will plant 7 trees on State Street near Maxi’s Supper Club and 10 on South Titus where the
new sidewalk went in. The City crew took out the stumps on State St and excavated the soil a bit, and it’s okay, 1 ½
feet of soil‐‐‐the crew will add compost. On Titus there’s loose turf where the sidewalk was just put in, and on the
south side there are overhead wires, so trees for that side are small: ‘Royal Raindrops’ crabs, pears, Adirondack pears
(narrow) and one Amur Maackia.
On Old Elmira Road there are problems interfering with planting the new trees. An old tile sewer line is 2 feet below the
surface. Eric Whitney at Water and Sewer wants to line the sewer line with plastic pipe so tree roots can’t get in and once
this is confirmed Jeanne can plant, maybe by the end of the month. Trees for that area are all B&B‐‐‐catalpa, honey locust,
London plane, river birch. The tree lawn is 8 foot wide.
Jeanne is going for Tree City USA as well as the Growth Award for this year. For the Growth Award need 10 points; the
homeowner survey for the street tree planting program is worth 6‐7 points and the soil remediation project with Cornell for
the special tree planting project is worth 4 points, so we qualify. (The Master plan was used last year for the Growth Award
so couldn’t be used this year to fulfill the requirements.)
Seph Murtaugh, new chair of Planning and Economic Development Committee, is interested in updating the site
plan requirements in city code to reflect the planting specification recommendations in our Master Plan.
Jeanne met recently with the Garden Club about the possibility of revitalizing the planting of crabs along Floral Ave.
Fifteen replacements are needed, perhaps bigger types. This could be a planting project for Nina’s students next fall.
Jeanne and crew took a lot of Norway maples out of Brindley Park where there’s a garden right near the creek with lots of
purple ninebark and winterberry. The Norway maples were smothering the shrubs.
Jeanne and Teagen investigated the bricked‐over tree pits on lower Buffalo. There are wires and utilities
underneath and signs nearby but there’s a little spot where no utilities that might fit one tree.
The crew opened up the planting area in front of Agway and put in fresh soil, adding one foot. One ‘Royal
Raindrops’ crab will be planted in the center and Agway will mulch and water, and plant annuals and shrubs around it, and
guarantee its care.
Nina is wondering about a ground cover for the ‘Jack’ pears going in at the bottom of State Street. There’s not much room
and it’s not appropriate for grass. Would the Beautification Brigade take this area on?
Nina will have some trees for the city next spring, approximately 30 Nyssa, Macrocarpa and Carpinus which she’s
been using for transplanting experiments in the last couple of years and would like to retire to good homes.
A resident on West Hill is into nut trees and wants nut trees replanted at Macdaniel’s Nut Grove. Nina has a
contact at a RPM nursery in Missouri who can provide all kinds of hickories.
Next meeting Wednesday, December 9, 4pm, Cooperative Extension. Minutes respectfully submitted by Debra Statton