it's 10:04 and we're calling this um Cranberry Sha Tree Commission meeting to order stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please thank you Lauren statement of adequate notice
pursuant to the Sunshine Law adequate notice in accordance with the open public meeting act was provided on January 3rd 2025 of this meeting's date time place and the agenda was mailed to the news media posted on the township bulletin board mailed to those
requesting personal notice and filed with the municipal clerk and now we will move on to roll call miss Eastston here present miss Irons present miss Johnson present miss Arthur Letterman present
okay thank you everyone greetings um so old business uh our community forestry management plan oh I'm looking at the minutes but we're doing everything we're doing the same thing anyway um community forestry measurement plan would you like to report ours jessica do you want to start i am going
to need to skip i I have I have I have quite a few okay so you need to tally them and I need to do the same thing so we will be sure to get them to you so they're in the minutes which we'll review at the AP uh June meeting but we'll get them to you sooner than that okay and
Jackie I have a question uh did we ever hand in the ones for from January no there hasn't been we haven't had a meeting actually so any these are any credits you I mean any hours you worked since the November meeting and any CEU
accumulated since the November meeting okay i I'll have to look okay well so yeah we're a little from November's meeting last year yeah yeah you know it's always between meeting and meeting it's not calendar year exactly i realize but I didn't realize uh I thought we
might have because we didn't in January because we did all we did was reorg and then have the work session so well we'll catch up by um June thank you very much okay so that's that um and we're moving along moving along do we want to do a motion to table the minutes yes thank
you okay can I get a motion to table um so moved can I get a second i'll second thank you the tree removal replacement ordinance appendices and application um first up because this is pretty critical
um in terms of it's it's an ongoing thing obvious reasons I didn't receive any applications really over the winter i did receive complaints of removals without um well there's a variety of things i receive um sometimes I receive something from a neighbor that says trees have
been taken down i go there well they're gone okay i don't know who the service was in one case there was um I received notice that there were trees being taken down at the pool club there'd been no application in that case the zoning offers got involved because it was a
riparian zone in two other cases the administration asked me to investigate but I have not had that kind of time in my life and also I don't I need to get some kind of documentation that says I can do that and I actually what I will do is we'll hire an arborist to do that kind of thing um going forward um
recently um okay re the most recent one uh and I there have been two applications pretty straightforward one tree was dead um the arborist was licensed but what we need to do and I'll talk to Matt and make Lauren aware of this is one thing is we've got to have that tree removal replacement ordinance
on the page i thought it was on the page because there's no reference point um so when people inquire I send them the link to the application i send them the link to the DBH measurement which um we have to make that much shorter it's it's no one's sending in DBH or species name
because species name isn't on the application so we have to make all of these adjustments so it's really an effective application also the name and the date should be on both page one and page two it should be listed page all of that make it um more uh tight um so why
don't we just Can we do that now schedule work session um maybe just right after Arbor Day or it could be before Arbor Day and I'll get Arbor Day is on here so I'll get to that yeah I I would like to see I'm happy to hear you addressing this because uh
someone who sent in an inquiry um and and no one got back to them right away um contacted me knowing that I was on a shade tree so was it an application or an inquiry because recently someone sent an inquiry
i sent all the links and they still didn't know what they had to do for some reason which is why it's good to have the ordinance there so I I just haven't had time to get back to them and explain the links that I sent to them i don't know if that's the same person but I think it was in that development shadows yes okay yeah all right well I talked to
them and I felt bad because I was uh I didn't have a chance to go to their house but you know I I sent them the links too and anyway yes yes I I I'll respond that um it was a little back and forth and then I realized they just don't know what to do and I there was no phone
number so um I'm next week I'll get back into my work regularly schedule but today I hope I'm going to get back to that person okay to explain yes you have to do it for the and no you can't just get keep getting quotes and put anybody's name on the application we need to know who the contractor is to to ensure that they're licensed right
because that's part of that's all part of it and that was my frustration too i was you know didn't have time other than to send them yeah and that's why we're and here we are meeting today and catching up on those kinds of things any pending inquiries or anything that you've observed in terms of trees going
down um another another situation our dear friend Norma may she rest in peace longtime shade tree and parks commissioner they denuted like a all the way back to the everything i have no idea how many trees i was asked to investigate that talk to the owner i
don't know who the owner is i don't you know that's just not in my purview but we'll we'll pursue that in some way i just don't know what that way will be and maybe I'll be talking to Dr rogers about that as well um so because in in I
think in both cases now this the um what do I want to say the flare and the base of the tree are gone so there's no way to determine the size of the tree so anyway moving on um oh oh dates for meeting so we can have that work session um uh not the date that all the schools
are off which is next week is that next week spring vacation mhm what about the last week of April which is in two weeks is today the 14th no 10th 10th oh I'm in the wrong month oh I'm on
Thursday okay really it was a long long five day weekend um the last week in um Thursday the 30th anybody i mean uh May 1st may 1st or or perhaps um the
24th 24th which is sooner two weeks from today so the 24th I can do May 1st I can Okay so the 24th Jackie look for you 24th is good april 24th 10 yeah 10 a.m at 10 a.m okay
and then um ask Deb how to notice it so it's a it's a work session so there's Ruth i think the agenda the well the agenda will be what we're going to discuss and work on is specifically um the tree removal replacement or this one but this this is exactly what we're going to be working
community outreach um that's something uh I have not moved on in terms of a day day date i think we're looking at the fall at this point um I can reach out like are there violations like trees being removed there's no enforcement so
there really can't be i mean yes there's violations but the township has not given me any lead in what to do other than investigate myself someone cutting down trees without having put in an ordinance it's well I guess it's illegal because
the ordinance says you must submit right so so we don't have So that's what this work session is for what the process is or to improve the application because it's not a good one it doesn't have enough information it's not laid out it's very difficult to read I find um
the font's weird it's sometimes it's bold it's it's just a messy application it's missing information but still and also and but but those those are all handled quite smoothly um it's the it's the complaints I get and I don't have uh
I have no authority to go in the field and question what someone's doing i'm wondering there's no well well the next thing one thing under discussion for this ordinance is and maybe and maybe we will have maybe I will arrange for an arborist to be at that meeting to give us some assistance for the first 30
minutes because we have a budget for that just to just to help us and how that would work yeah well how would that work if we can if we hire an arborist to do that that fieldwork do do they have the authority does they have to be an employee of the township i don't know any of these things or we have to change to that i don't know right right these
are so this is these are the things and maybe you could attend even at least for the first session to to throw out some questions and things we need to focus on because I'd like to know what I can do yes to try and facilitate I guess how to use the tree as well as
how do you know yeah part of his discovery of what authority we can um impart to the arborist but we're not employees and so we're not under that umbrella we're under a different umbrella and how that works I mean if he goes out there has to be some kind of insurance um coverage if it goes on
someone's property like I don't I don't think I have that as a volunteer necessary if they invite me yes I'm not going to go uninvited onto anyone's property because of all the obvious reasons so yes we have to do some more we're working Yes we're working out that part people
still that are taking down trees should be filling out this absolutely perfect the or yes and and one thing and maybe we shouldn't wait till the fall really the the community education we have to have is about this and so maybe we look at a um when people are working at their trees maybe before the kids get out of
school a June date the thing is the library really books well well ahead so I'm not sure how many options we'll have um no I just want to just clarify You know I wish I could clarify more but
this was the whole issue with the ordinance not having any um quote unquote teeth in the ordinance um I'm not and I there is a fine for removing certain size trees without but I'm I'm not I'm not even sure there is a fine
like I have to look into that it was it's Yes and I don't think I have the ordinance either so so this is the ordinance session on um April 24th okay thanks you're welcome um Okay so do you think that we should I
maybe I should inquire and see if we can get a date and it'll be just about the ordinance and we'll make it sound really interesting somehow um you know a fun thing would we be doing an evening do you think in June or I don't want to do it in July and August because so many people you know live don't even live here in the summer
um or wait till the fall i mean this is April this is the fourth month i I'll see if I can get a date in um late May early June an evening date or should we do a Saturday program i I think the sooner the better and we
can always do it again uh in the fall but um the evening definitely uh because the students are all involved in sports and you know that goes I don't know maybe that goes into
Evening too well moms with kids in schools would I would say evening i I would say evening pretty much over anyway so evening I would I would say evening okay because then because otherwise you're eliminating anybody who's who's well has nor it's normal
working out well Saturday's a lot of athletic activities i know Saturday morning doesn't always work but I would say if we have it in June and we're still realistically then we're still in the process of figuring out what the process is well we know that what the process is now but it's not a good one that's
really the point we we um I was just saying that um we should really anticipate that there's going to be like a lot of questions and feedback and that it's not just going to be a presentation that we it's a question super interactive and I think like I would I
would just encourage us to like embrace the at the forefront and really use it as an opportunity to find out you know just get more information from people about so that in order to make this process as as
as possible simple realistic and understandable i mean there there's just so much discussion of this out there in the world right now and we can't share that with us because I haven't heard it yeah i mean I mean just even on the um just going back a couple months but on the the trees that were taken down off
of old Trenton Road um in the new which was approved way before this so this one does not apply which is which is the answer for but people got really excited and they get you know understandably a lot of concerns about fairness you know why am I taking care of my trees why am I doing all of this and that somebody
else is clearcutting and yeah all of those questions need to be addressed but all of those questions need to be addressed to the township administrator not not with us i think those particular questions if they have a problem with a neighbor's doing something and I can't do it that goes to
the township administrator what but within the those discussions were happening within the context of this new ordinance having just been passed so I think you know we I really would love to see us get to a place where we have like really clear-cut answers to people about
like this is how it works this isn't how it works and I totally understand people's concerns and I'm not you know um so I think that that's so what you're hearing is people are saying look I see clear cutting and you want me to submit a permit for you know a 7 in DBH trees
is that and presumably that I mean everyone's required to do it now would not be permitted they got in under the wire was my understand well there's a few things too I mean if there if it's a building project it's All it's all been planned and approved already before but
my understanding is even a building project needs to follow the code but that that's and that's up to the planning board but it's not outside of our jurisdiction um we review the plan for development we review the landscape plan
when we receive them and but the planning board's job is if there's tree removals they are in charge of making sure that they follow all the rules because they approve the plan but those rules are set by the shade tree commission and I do think that we haven't probably Well they're set by
ordinance from the township not the shade tree commission but the shade tree ordinance still governs what they do it's supposed to yes right and so that I think there is like an oversight piece that's missing and I I think and when and what you were
just saying about like having an arborist go out to check things i think that that is something I would love to see maybe that could be something that would be contracted out is that they have to bring in you know the way that like the engineer has to look over something then the arborist has to look over something yeah they're all under
contract so I think we just need the right contract i think we've got the arborist to to do this that's that's the question I have which you know um with I'm assuming it could be zoning is that no well zoning but it's really it's planning
so does planning come back and ask what happens is when a plants come in if there are species to be planted any species to be planted any plant material being uh um installed review the species list to make sure that there's nothing
objectionable there's nothing on the do not plant list um and Kathy when did we start and then I send a letter pardon when did we start receiving those um planning lists for the maybe three years ago and that's all only three years ago
they started yeah we were ignored for a long time it's it we are so we've always shri been supposed to review the plans because we have the authority to say what can and can't be planted although there's not an ordinance exactly like that at this time and and
we said what kind of and now and the only way then so finally when there was a secretary that was new and it did what was required Robin started to do what was required now she passed that on to I'm sorry what's um Gina passed it on to
Gina and actually Gina I'm going to see Gina because I going to go speak with her today so she understands that I really only need to see the we only need to see the plans and Jackie's seen the plans and Jessica's seen the plans to look we at the library when we went over all that it's just that's the only page that
we use the landscape plan but in terms of removals they don't appear on that that's something that the planning board takes care of with the planning and and their approvals un unless something changes and this is another question for the township but so does the planning
board then come to shri no the planning board never comes to shade tree the planning secretary copies shade tree and shaitree responds um uh that um no comments or these certain plants must be removed
if I could just add so I think that part of where this is coming from is it's like I think people understood and we knew that they were going to that they ordinance was affecting it was beyond the street trees it's now affecting private land which is a huge deal for people i get it oh sure and um
I think where I'm here I and we've had a process that seemed like it was pretty decent with the planning and zoning and within like our street tree purview but since since the passage of the ordinance we're not talking about private
land which is any development anywhere and I I feel like that hasn't been roped into it because they literally can't just they need permission to take down a tree yeah there were a lot of before we had an ordinance people
were asking could they because people expect that to some degree and but whether or not it's a whether it's a street tree or not or whether or not it's like a special kind of development it's just any tree now and I I feel like that's
Yes i think you're saying that people feel they weren't informed that suddenly they have to do this like Sharon was saying I think there's a there's a gap and I I feel that and maybe there wasn't a gap when it was when when we were only had responsibility for street trees but
the public Yeah the RO trees right and that's shifted so I feel like we need to maybe it's time to review kind of how that works yeah well a couple things it needs to go in the mayor's letter every two weeks i'd like someone to take responsibility for that we can work up a blurb it can be it has to be a very
short blur i put it in a few times i did I didn't realize I had to do it every single time and that's that's the news and announcements and then the mayor does a letter i can't remember if it goes mayor's letter then news and announcements anyway it needs to go in there all the time which is what I wanted but I didn't get it and so now
what I believe is we have to submit for every single one and I don't know the process for that if it's going to go to Lauren but um we can also uh put something together at that meeting in two weeks and make sure then it goes forward for all of May the rest of April May and asking it
please be in every week because I think it's important that's one way for people to know i don't other than that between now and when we do something publicly um do you have another suggestion about how other than the you know the newsletter blast the uh email blasts that go out
regularly no I I think the I think the working I think the working session is great because I think internally we need better clarity um I think we need clarity within the commission um regarding regarding what our what the process is what how how it works with
even like not violators for the violators how it works with homeowners how it works with um developers um how it works with violators and I think I I've actually had a thought you know maybe maybe even for the working group
like I could I could like sit down and sort of think about questions people have asked me oh yeah that's very helpful because we wanted that maybe if we maybe if we could all do that and see like could we come out of a working group session with sort of like a frequently asked questions with answers that we feel
confident in and then where are there ones that we and we probably won't for everything right yeah and then we'll identify like okay we need we need clarification from Yeah because you know what we didn't do we never updated our FAQs after the ordinance so we that's the first thing we should do is update
our FAQs and and specifically with the heading new tree ordinance FAQs the regular stuff about trees and then that so an FAQ and I've been meaning to talk about that i apologize but that's easy and that can be done pretty immediately and I would underline your concerns
about um private property and going to look at trees that have been cut down people have been asking me and I'm I mean asking you what when something's cut down like what can we do about it oh and they observe something and and I'll
be like well take a picture you know take pictures let's find out who the service is is the main thing they need to they need because that's been reported and I've called experts on the weekend or somebody's mentioned to me after there's no truck there oh yeah well then but just let people know if
they need to let us they need to let but there's this issue of like we don't know what's taken down because we can't go on the property and we need to have somebody needs there needs if it's not in the legislation and I remember just clearly from our um like from some like
the ordinance training that uh other townships do deliberately have in their legislation people who are identified as an officer yes and that entails what you exactly what you're getting about like legal permission if I went on private
property I'd be trespassing and that's why I've had I have no legal authority to walk onto that propert you're if you're invited to come look at a tree let's say your neighbor says "Is this Willy Delgit or something like that?" Do you know of course i mean I've if I'm invited to someone's property to consult
on and but but I we're not experts and we can't say yes the tree goes "No it doesn't." you call the arborist and they have to be licensed a lot of people aren't even aware of that and we've been publicizing that for years about having to hire um because the because the other
call I'm getting is and has happened oh the other thing about the trees going down the pool club they had had their license revoked they weren't allowed to cut down trees in the first place so that's a very big deal which I have nothing which I can't say and is that being pursued i I it's not for me to
follow up because I don't have an officer i'm allowed i'm I don't have direct communication with the zoning officer and the zoning officer it was very clear made very clear by the township the zoning officer is not the enforcer that there is no enforcement of this ordinance they did it because they
had to pass it okay from the state but we just about begged to have a township employee to work with us so we could sort of you know get the overall picture and have someone speak to someone before things got out of hand and we'll have to
start over again you know they should do another presentation to the township yeah yeah and we said that and we said that last May the zoning officer went to the pool club or the riparian right i told them that
when you were out of the room oh I'm sorry so that's why right and that's the only reason that was the riparian it's not the shade tree the zoning officer is not involved with shade tree nobody is we have no officer
or township employee that is going to represent us to the residents and that's what the work session you're your your concerns about yeah they're all very valid and we don't want people unhappy about trees and removal of trees because
people do get passionate when they see trees being removed and they don't they because they understand what's going on also when this was passed I worked last year if you remember we said let's just see how this goes well we've given a year now just about this is April it was passed in May so we will have to
schedule um a work session maybe not a work session but certainly for a some kind of presentation the townships they can think about things and I think that the arburist will help us with that very much if I can get someone to attend on the 24th because we need that guidance thank you for the time that you've been
putting in on this too i really appreciate it well I know it's a lot we don't see we're all doing a lot i mean yeah you know you're fielding a lot that we don't see so yeah well it's just because I'm the chair so but other than that um and if someone would like to work with me on those
things we can we can partner and I can shoot them to you that's no problem the applications are really mostly they're missing information of course all the time there's no there's no place to list the species of the tree i can't imagine how that got overlooked um but that's very straightforward um that's like the
fun part like yes yeah you know and then looking up and you have to look up the license it's just very straightforward and it's something that could be done in the township office because I don't know that I should be the one and we discussed this keeping the Excel sheet of all that that that kind of information about what's going on in town should not be kept at my computer so we're going to work forward on that
and we'll be talking to Lauren about that well to to Denise about that in the future so that there's a central place and it should be here just like all of the other stuff does anyone feel differently about that i mean Jessica can organize it i probably only have about 12 applications so far maybe and
none of them have been four or more i don't even think there's been three so far so we don't have any follow-up yet to you know it's your fourth tree fifth tree i I agree that there's something needs to be maintained at the township level but I would be happy to Yes i would I would be happy to put
something together and update it and send it to the proper person if that would be useful like if you have Yeah like any data that you've had I have I'd be happy to put it in a spreadsheet and then that could be and this is one of the I mean it's just it's
the townships to have but I'd be happy to help facilitate it's the the thing with the application is it's not lined up for the data it's not arranged properly so in other words we have it redesigned so that the data you need to record is right there not back and forth and this is a little type and that's
handwritten and this font is this big and this it's it's actually just not a good so I could and I'm happy to play with the format that somebody else maybe could come with or whatever works whatever saves time we want to just say what else needs to be on there and then redo the application and then we can just reupload it is there a question
is there Oh yes what is the reason okay and there are exemptions right because I think sometimes people don't know the exemptions that's the question like somebody's like the dead dying that's an exemption take the treat out you know what I mean i I I have to say that about
half or maybe even a little bit more of half of the trees that are being taken down are all because they're they're dead or dying and that's a healthy thing and that might be a good thing like an FAQ to put some of the ordinance language into just
absolutely really simple question just and ask the same question more than one way because I think sometimes that that's helpful to people yeah you can even start looking on that now but if you want let's look at FAQs and whatever you I can definitely get questions together yeah well yeah i mean so but I think it's important to have a
separate FAQ on the ordinance because it's that important don't you agree in addition to the other tree removal and replacement or something it's just a separate I mean same fact page but then regarding tree removal and the ordinance and then have a link to the ordinance and you know all of that and link to the
DBH the DBH explanation has to go on the application i'm not getting DBH someone said their DBH was um seven feet i said "Okay well your tree 21 feet." Anyway um so it's just be like
that kind of data when Jessica goes to record it it'd be good to have the actual the right numbers type thing kathy um also with the tree removals and this has been since a year since we've had the um tree inventory I still don't
have any information from the township that has had this tree inventory and taken trees down i I haven't been able to update this tree inventory and so that also the communication yeah it's
not all we need for that is um not all we need i have one invoice okay but I'm not sure do any trees but it's all public works we need all the invoices from 2024 and I can't remember if I requested them it's been a really crazy
year so far um but we can they can they just need to be requested and get and that's where we get the data from there but but we shouldn't have to request it even when they What's I can't make it happen without requesting it there's no there's a lot of things that just don't automatically happen and part of this is I don't do we have a public works
secretary we have like a part-time public works secretary i mean when since we lost our full-time public works secretary which was Linda Jerry works in the field or somewhere else but I will that's on me i did say I would do that now just to say generally tree removals which is are
mostly done by um DPW they gen unless it's an emergency situation they generally don't do it till the fall but so I don't think there have been a removal except I was alerted about a big removal in Cranberry Green well twice
now um roads have been blocked more past couple of months because of high winds or whatever and um you know the the alert that is sent out about you know this road is closed because the trees
down and they give the street coordinations and I try to find the one those are downed trees that block the trees trees and you know I I between the tree inventory and the location I tried to figure it out but you know driving by
and looking out for people walking i'll make a point to send because I wonder how many trees on that tree inventory you know they're uh listed on the tree inventory about the se severity of them and we agreed you know that the ones
that are Yes and and we sent that inventory with the with them um you know in that hierarchy we have no idea from but I was I didn't you want to know the trees from that the DPW has taken down
yes okay yeah usually Jerry sends them to me at the end of the year he didn't last year and I think it was because then Scout left in February um and I he didn't send them to her either because I checked
but Donna is now the secretary for public works yeah but she doesn't have them either i don't She doesn't have them i think it's all like I don't think Jerry has a secretary anymore is what I'm saying i don't know but I I'll get the invoices from him because he keeps them all he'll send them He'll probably
um and then I'll copy you i'll send them all to you you should I think you'll send them to me electronically but I'm not sure but I'll find out is that But yes I believe um Donna just took on the role as part-time secretary to Jerry um so I'll definitely confirm that with
her we can talk to her i don't want to misspe but no and I'll copy you on these correspondences so if it comes to you instead of me type thing so that Yeah but generally what happens is most of the work's done at the end of the year and then the we have to get all those invoices together for the annual report jerry sent the numbers but not the
invoices this year he sent all the numbers for the port but none of the invoices so the thing that the invoices which is great they show the species and why and what the problem was so that will be very helpful and I'll get that as soon as I can yeah no that's fine i I understand there's too many changes
going on and and this is the beginning of something but our also our community forest management plan they made it clear at the um convention that uh the not only is the inventory required
but the it's um they want us to um use the data have the data is very important for our report so and meanwhile we don't have the data yeah well they they do in this they do we they do get the data in the sense
because Jerry told us how many trees came down and that was all in the annual report right i don't want to continue this oh no but I'm just saying that they do get that data from unless because it's required on our annual report for the for our forestry management plan but they don't get details we want all the details where it was and what the
species was which is what we'll get from the invoice because even though it's a lot of money you wouldn't it's not as many trees as you would think just because it's so expensive to take them down now in the case of the utility companies I have no idea and the utility
companies who did trimming last year I heard a lot of complaints they don't they don't consider the treere's health going forward nor the structure of the tree when they do that and it's very very bad right and that that's uh why we need an arborist to take a look
at those and help us to decide which ones are worth trying to prune correctly and save and which ones uh you know for like a plan in the future you know that's not going to last much longer
it's going to have a slow death yes arburist that's why arborists are key um and we ask question invoices have all the information they always have before correct yes they have the address they have the species
and they generally say something about the about the condition of the tree yes the best way to do that to email Denise and she'll get finance office to get those okay that I I did try that route before they didn't it didn't go that way but
Okay thanks and and also I didn't hear you mention the location i need the location yes it is location it's the location the species and it generally has some adjective regarding you know what the work is whether it's a prune or a cut and if
it's a woodwork well I don't care about stumps um and it usually says dead you know it has some kind of description so that's it's all the information we need and I apologize I didn't get it at the end of by February um okay so I just Thank you
confirm that that will the process now yeah I it be it would be good to get them as they occur not all at the end of the year which is really Jackie's point but a lot of them do happen at the end of the year so yeah and you know if you see work on the street and you're curious about it and it looks like it's
been contracted by the township because it's on the street um shoot Jerry an email copy me and say "Hey um why is that tree going down?" Or I don't know something if you have a if something's curious or questionable um but generally we don't cut trees down unless they
really have to be cut down because it is so expensive do do you think we've covered that everybody's um okay thank you um let's see um okay so evening at CPL Cranberry
Community um not really sure oh Cranberry School and Cranberry Community uh we can talk i think we put Cranberry Community or Cranberry School on the June agenda so we plan for the fall at this point does that make sense to everyone because with everything going
and the construction over there oh excellent okay so let's put Cranberry School on [Music] um June the June agenda as as well as the others too canopy assessment you know I did get some email about
something about the canopy assessment and then it streamed by did you did I send that to you to say here is the website for the anyway I don't know if I don't even know if I sent it to you so why am I asking you but there was something that came in from one of the organizations um we're now members of
New Jersey Forestry Association by the way we took care of that um so when you sign up for those did anyone go to the discussion last night I couldn't get on did anyone go to discussion okay well there's one next week about wild bees I mean native bees and forests next
Thursday I'm I'm gonna go to that i have to teach a different class that night so I don't think I can go but let me know i think they do record them as well but pay attention to excellent classes um I forgot what I was saying canopy assessment oh canopy assessment we just put that on the next one we're getting
there um consult on LTE um Oh that's Yeah well I'm going to try and have some I'm going to I might plan to have someone hopefully at our meeting for the first to guide us in the work session in the beginning um CFMP guideline goals and objectives i
think we took a look at that at our work session didn't we do that first at our work session in January we kind of went over that and we can just skip that for now um we successfully are credit moving to new business 2024 Tree City USA application and the 2024 annual
accomplishments report we're credited again and everything went through yay us this year we is our um this year is our is our I got to get the number hold
on oh okay well I don't I I think it's our 36th year as Tree City oh 37 37 years that's great you guys have to get together
definitely well I'm going to take all this stuff to Arbor Day somehow um okay so moving along i thought that Okay um see what that is um so uh that's completed arbor Day 2025 is the 25th it
we are planning to have it at Village Park as we did last year plant another um native ornamental tree there where we have the dogwood and the red buds is the red bud and all the apple trees if you have an opinion about what to get let us know jack and I usually go and get pick out a tree um soon very soon yep um soon
um and we usually go to Ant they're very cooperative the prices are good um but generally what we're doing in that inner ring that because you know the parks want sh trees on all sides um we're doing sort of an ornamental bit there on the inside of the fence um there was a there's a girl scat tree that was
planted there or a daisy tree that dogwood and we did a red bud and then all the apple trees um something else all the gator bags were left gator bags all the gator bags were left on over the winter i don't think that's a good thing we'll have to come up with a very specific list about
timing and stuff um regarding watering trees especially if we're going to plant this year um and actually somehow that I didn't put that on the um okay so Arbor Day um I work with Lawrence get out the invitations i've already talked to the school yes there will be a song it's all
the usual stuff um someone in town wanted to hand out a make up a flyer and hand out a pamphlet about the paw paw tree and I'm going to refer her to the school because it's not my decision what we hand to the kids really is that she can deal with the
school u talk to the school about that because it's a great idea you know we do have a champion papa tree right everyone knows our papa tree is champion okay is it officially so she found something online i'll send it to you at the end of the meeting i'll send the various things from my phone um
uh let's So I mentioned So anyway I hope you can come it's at 2 o'clock at Village Park if it's raining and I hope it isn't um we will be doing it in the auxili and now you're going to have to tell me where this is the auxiliary gym at the school which is Where is that that's the new I think the newest is
that I think it's Oh shoot i'm so sorry i'm so sorry yeah but for for Well we'll get instructions how to get in because you know there's security i'll be out of town my kids won't be here it's fine
it's fine thank you have a good time i hope it's good i was a pleasure trip um history we'll we'll we'll find out how to get in the space where it if the time comes rebecca is um the secretary to the chief school administrator she's very
helpful and that's who my contact is and then I'll work with Lauren to get the invitation out to an EC Township police um well I think it's it's all the boards i'm looking at Barbara because she's been doing it so long with me um it's all the boards and
the and the t and the police right all the boards the township yeah yeah but it's not to the public no it's not to the public i won't put it on the mayor's update no no that's not going on the mayor's update no no this is just for they'll get invitations and um we'll see
um and I mentioned already that we are now NJFA members have membership April 3rd meeting oh we can just cross that off because it didn't happen and I apologize it's because my daughter got married on the 4th tree maintenance
planting pruning and inquiries um I think I've kind of talked about that already does do Well the planting part um you know I don't want to spend a big discussion on that but Jackie and I will be talking to some growers real soon and see if we can get some things lined up for the
fall these are the requests that have been pending we couldn't plant last year because of the drought know I hope you know that we're still in a drought and I hope that we get some rain this spring because otherwise it could be problematic the planting anytime um you know the water table is up but we're
still in a drought situation there just aren't any restrictions it's all voluntary at this point and that's the latest from Ruckers um member reports my favorite part uh well I'd be happy to so C uh Jackie
and I have been working really hard on the recommended trees list and I have to apologize Jackie i mean we are like so close to having something we can give you um that we don't this close okay and it's not
Jackie's fault so um it's no one's fault it's in progress uh it is definitely in progress so one I um so we are working that on that and I can tell you right now we've got um uh just to summarize so we've got we've really done a lot of
reorganizing of how it appears and what information is in this list and just to kind of remind people from the last time I think we presented on this what we're looking about is really the big thing is taking is condensing what actually are kind of functionally about seven different lists
into six plus a separate list for sh for shrubs so like all the the the tree lists currently you have to kind of look at one list if you want like trees for big open spaces that's one list trees for like a 4ft margin by the sidewalk
that's a different list and we're looking at just putting it all in one place with the detail that you would need to make the judgment about the specific site that is in question so that is the number one change i have one quick question and you're not calling
anything yet once we get the full list then we'll eliminate we'll delete the the species that are no longer desirable is that correct oh sorry yeah so we're we've we've removed ones that are problematic but we've documented that removal oh okay great just want to so in
such a way like and we've documented the additions and the other change that we've made is is to really shift away and I Jackie was like the first I mean she's just a huge advocate of this and I think she's right that they're just too many like varieties
um cultivor hybrids in there way too yes thank you and and then not having the straight species so and the other big shift that we've made is to get rid of most of the v the
varieties and then and then and just keep that straight species listing in many instances there actually wasn't a straight species i believe they were all there was so far from the straight species there was no longer straight species so we've added those we've added those maybe back in or what whatever was
um and then the other the other big change and I think kind of maybe makes up for the fact that we're taking away those species the variety level recommendations is that we've added a live link to um a plant profile in most cases it's
North Carolina State University plantfinder or to an equivalent like university researchbased Wow for every entity that has a profile and that's for every species every single one and we've done it for the ones that are removed too so that you all will
have a chance to review that fully wow this one sounds like a party when we go over this i'm very excited so that's the big thing i just want to say one thing I want um Shireen and also Lawrence to understand why we're looking to get away from cultivars and straight species if you don't know what we're talking about do you want to explain that or do you
want me to i mean please go ahead you had you had a thought well just because so street species is let's say red bud and then red bub is a cultivvar that they have the red bard you know um forest pansy something else but red cersis canadensus is the straight
species cersis canadensis with a pretty name or someone's name those are all cultivars and the reason we want to get away from that is because every time they breed this new create this new it it gets further away from the straight species it doesn't have the same qualities beneficial stuff for biomass
um all of that in terms of and also hardiness now sometimes cultivars are developed to increase the hardiness but you're going to lose something else usually in the process but and it depends on every species um but yeah there were a lot of very flowery things um in there that needed that Jackie and I have been aware of for a while that
were need to be gone um shouldn't be planted or whatever um and so this these are these the reason they're stanking with a straight species and this is North Carol not North Carolina North America um natives and it's not even so much this area it's it can because we're getting so warm it can really go you
know we can bring some not southern species but um they'll do the best in this climate no matter what it is that they've been growing here for a long time so that's why we're going sticking to straight species but they're harder and harder to get because everybody wants the one with the different color
leaves or it has two color leaves or it doesn't drop fruits um but anyway so did I say that the way you Yeah no that's great and and um when homeowners look at this list and then they go to the nursery then they'll find out what is
available because we ourselves have found that to be a challenge local local nurseries don't necessarily have what we you know after all this research decided this is the best one for us and it's and for for most sites for for like a
residential setting um some of those variations aren't going to matter in terms of like safety for the township or things like that we still like and I think this is something we might think about how we want to stress like for a street tree planting
if it's not one that we're doing um for something in a um park you know adjacent to a park or something like that i think that's where it we can stress with people like we're here we we we would really like to give you a one over before you put something
in the ground because that's where you know a a subspecies could make a a difference in the height um and that kind of thing and and we we really need to be cognizant or help people be cognizant of what is you know anything near wires and things like that and I
that's where I would you know would hope people would see us as a service and it's true some of the sub species have different habits than the straight species And then there's ones that and that's and we're so we're still sorting through some of these things of like mostly
we're moving away from these varieties or subspecies but in some cases they kind of are important because it's what makes something you could like this one particular variety most of them you wouldn't use but this one because they produce big gumballs
but there's this one there is this one variety that doesn't do that which what what species well for sweet gum it's a happy days right so we're we're going back and forth like do we list that separately do we make some exceptions um Dutch elm disease I think there's just some decision you know probably
discussions we want to have like do we put any elms on this list at all i think they are starting to show some really good party varieties are starting to get back on the on the list so and that and so we're those are kind of the kind of
that level of detail right now also looking at some um other natives and then um I think Jackie and I need to have another meeting about like we're really low on evergreens which wasn't a huge issue another issue I was sat with that list again this is one of those
things that shifted because this used to just be about the street trees now it's like any tree that could be planted anywhere and people do ask a I like I get you know what can I plant that's an evergreen shrub or what can I plant that's going to give me year- round
screening so we're light on that and so there'll be some additions in that regard for sure we're looking right now we're going through the There's no magnolia in there I don't think even right or we haven't we haven't really gone deep hardly at all we've been
concentrating on the regular trees first before the evergreens but we realized just recently oh we got to Yeah where are the evergreens get into this but we also you know between the um arburist we use for the uh tree
inventory and then one that um Jessica speaks to they've recommended trees and so we looked at them but also the convention the uh now the trees that were recommended from the New Jersey
convention they were going really strong about climate change and so these Yes but meanwhile we we when we when Jessica especially um looked at the uh zones some of them aren't any near our zone
yet oh I see what you're saying they are just looking towards the future consider this tree but we have to decide well do we want to Yeah we'll be careful about how much risk by the way some of the ones that Joe Grae sent too were invasive actually they were very ornamental invasive that so we anyway
but that's that's a call because when you look and that's that's a discussion too because um they are kind of unrivaled in their hardiness as street trees yeah i can't remember what people say they're emerging invasives which aren't necessarily don't put them straight on a do not plant list
necessarily it depends where and how you use it and if there's a tradeoff if you really need diversity if you've really got tough areas and you want tree cover some of these and some of I think the Zalkova is one like that you really they
have like they're unparalleled in their um transplant performance and if you need something there are situations where you really might just need something so um but but it's a trade-off yeah I think that's a discussion and and yeah Zakova has been
discussed at length it's on the do not plant list isn't it it should be well that's the other there's been more looking at more recently it's really not a good tree and that and the Collie pear is driving me oh the Cali pairs it should be illegal but right now in the spring it's everywhere you go the
Cali pairs and in a community that I'm I'm familiar with uh the uh there's an area that is they never the you know
original builder never put any C collip in there but they're all over the streets and it's starting to take over this treated area like a wooded area in the community where you know you see it easy on the like going down old Trenton
road or something it's right now it looks beautiful a far a forest of white snow you know except you know what it is well I spent five days driving to New Hope Doylestown Hawthorne New Jersey New Hope and
everywhere and they're all and most of them are these are the volunteers this Yeah volunteers and this season this year seems worse than ever and they they take over they're they're the first thing to bloom and and to grow before all the native trees and they're they're
going to kill all the native trees that's what they're doing yeah in the old days for us alters like me it used to be cherry trees that were blooming in the forests that that basically that whitish pinkish thing um but I wanted to say quickly in terms of anyone planting a street tree in the right of way they
can't without our permission shade trees permission just say that we do have full control over anything that gets planted in the right of way not someone's property but just you know someone one a resident asked could he plant apple trees i said no that's you know that's really not a good place to have an apple tree they're beautiful but not on the
not as a street tree they grow wide they drop apples um although yes they they you did it you got them all when they were little that was um um I'm sorry jennica said not done her report yet i I can't finish um I we
don't have time to like fully address this i just wanted to call attention to something that Jackie and I run into and that is that um just what is it that we're doing so the most recent ordinance has um calls out the need for three
appendix documents um it specifically cites that species type and diversity in the planting requirements for replacement trees shall be in accordance with appendex A B and C um and then it goes on further to define appendix A is
approved list of replacement trees appendix B is do not plant list appendix C is planting and pruning guidelines no in the um in so um what I would say to that is so and that is in the new ordinance that
created a new chapter chapter 131 of the cranberry code right so these are a new chapter I guess you didn't realize that it's a new chapter but um it there what still exists and and my understanding was not was not replaced
um is chapter 130 [Music] um specific sections of the cranberry code um that deal with um I think it's under the landscape under the landscape section
um and specifically it references six different exhibits that go A through F ornamental trees shrubs open are shade trees those are actually called out in our code My
assumption I we Jack and I have been operating under the assumption that the appendencies specified in the two 2024 ordinance would supersede anything else yes but it does kind of on the surface it actually does kind of look like a
conflict or something that might require at least on my end it would be great for us we can't have both on our end we need I think we could use some clarification so those tables are still in there in in that part in the 13 they're still referenced in the online ecode of of
chapter 13 so I think 130 what just 130 so it's chapter 150 section 56 subsection D i have a summary of this whole thing written down the recommended tree list they have the re recommended tree list
but it's just a straight list it's not Yeah well this is this is this is very very old this was that was the original one that they developed in whenever this is an ordinance that was amended in two 2011 where the exhibits were looked like
the exhibits were introduced in 2011 well that was those were the new exhibits except it should have been 2009 that's when they because that's when I put it against those exhibits because for all the reasons that you guys are working on them now yeah um anyway so well and that's something we'd
have to ask administrator attention to yeah so that let's keep that in mind okay um and what we can do is just print those pages out circle it and send it to the township administrator and she can tell us what what what needs to be done because um we can get advice from that we have notes on this maybe Jackie and I
could circulate a like quick memo to you guys this week that would explain that and then Sounds great i'm very excited about this list and I think for the giant plant list we might be able to just put a link to something else there instead of making
ourselves crazy but we'll see um and I'm specifically you know New Jersey invasive species strike although again like you say some emerging um are just or some that are being watched are not to be discounted yet is what you're saying and there's one that's emerging on the the um US Forest
Service is watching but is not for example on the believe not on the invasives on the strike on the strike team list what what's that uh I think it's the saw to oak oh the sawtooth oak sawtooth oak huh usda is watching that
one because of DZ stuff or because it's causing problems for other plants it's invasive interesting things also the New Jersey uh ordinance I believe has passed oh the ordinance it did well I have information
on it i will send you the summary of it but the legal ease is just Okay so this was to prevent nurseries right from selling they voted on it again and the list so I was better include there i was
comparing the list to ours and too and that's the other thing we you and I had worked on the do not plant list yes and the one that's on our site right now is the very old one it is it is and anyway this is something else let's get
together next week and then we'll give it to Laura to Lauren and we can get that fixed pretty quickly for now just to bring it up to date anyway yeah the the reason I don't know what we're required to do but the um do not plant should be both invasives
and also diseases so that's why we can't just do the strike team the New Jersey Forest Service does have a page now on New Jersey Forest Health where it lists um pin oak it lists a number of diseases that affect trees but that might be a little indirect for it might be well
we'll discuss it i mean it's it's the needs consideration certainly because the other thing on the do not plant list is we'd never offer an explanation about why not to plant these you know you we just know so much we just assume but we should I wanted to put something about what an invasive plant is and why do not
plant um that's great thank you Jessica and Jackie any other reports from members of the commission um I just want to um the Lion's Club monument
I went over and looked at it and it's super tiny i have the measurements somewhere and so I decided we could in the back of it we could put a little evergreen shrub and then we would need
like just ground cover in the front of it anything taller well not even not even a native plant would hide it well Parks has specifically requested shrubs we will get dwarf shrubs okay let I'd like to Well when we do the other thing that I just say we're going to do let's
do that too um because that's pretty simple those shrubs we can probably get and I believe sh uh DBW will put them in right but small because you can't see the stone put anything in front of a shrub in front of it you can't put anything or just the way they want it is here's the stone and the shrubs go like
this so there there's a little arch around them from the road but little shrubs got um yeah something that and something that not the same one we're not doing a monoculture i was thinking some little evergreen um you know I'd love to do something
like winterberry but it's going to get huge so we it has to be some some small things maybe we I don't know uh a little laurel a little dwarf yeah we'll talk okay thank you and we're working with Sally on that on the on those okay thanks um well if there's nothing
further I'd like to um move that we adjourn the meeting at 11:08 can I have a second second roll call vote miss Eastston yes
miss Irons yes miss Johnson yes miss Ara Letterman yes okay with that the meeting is adjourned thank you