okay um welcome everyone this is the Park and Recreation committee meeting of uh March 17 uh 2025 happy St Patrick's Day everyone uh we'll do the roll call
Amanda kahill Larry Schulz Mary Larson Jacob Paul and Jenna Smith okay thanks everyone um first on the agenda is approval of the minutes from the prior regular meeting uh does somebody want to make a
a motion to approve the minutes that you were sent I motion to approve the committee meeting minutes from February 19th 2025 and I'll second that because I think we were too here uh any further
discussion okay uh motion's been made and seconded to approve the February 19th minutes as submitted all those in favor signify by saying I I uh those opposed say nay motion
carried um okay uh next on the agenda is uh discussion on the anybody has any petitions proclamations suggestions or complaints from citizens uh committee
members or staff no I just noticed um in the online brochure for summer um that the Vic GRE baseball schedule was in there and I hadn't ever seen it in there before so I thought that was really fun
um that they had a uh were included in the programming for you're talking about the um summer brochure the the vix baseball yeah oh yeah yeah and um also um how all the um
Park kind of shelters were featured that was a nice um addition CU I know those are really actually desirable spes for a lot of different um community members that use them for different um celebrations so I I thought that was
nice to have them featured in there as well okay great other comments hearing none staff yeah so um there's quite a few things that either have happened or are coming up uh with the city and so one thing I do want to draw um everyone's attention to is vict
Academy um so this is a program that gives a very Interactive Learning Experience for the innerworkings of the city um anything from the public works department to the um water treatment plant fire station and several of our Park facilities um this is open to the
public um it is uh very informal it goes through how each department um operates and how initiatives and assessments are addressed so anyone is welcome to register registration is being accepted online um this uh Academy is held from
5:30 to 7:30 on Thursday evenings from uh April 10th to May 15th um meals are provided so if any of you or anybody who is listening is interested in participating we encourage you to sign up uh we do also have our um superhero
party that is coming up on um Friday April 25th I do want to make note that this is a rescheduled date um it originally was scheduled for March but due to some um Community conflicts we moved it to have a better date for more people to be able to attend um and so registrations are being accepted online
um at this event it's mostly tiered or geared towards the uh preschool ages but um all families are welcome and this event will include bounce houses obstacles making capes other activities
super fun um so hope people can uh join us at that we also do want to just bring attention um to something that recently happened um a sale of a property that has transpired recently um and so if you watch the city council meeting you will
know that um it was approved to um sell the Overlook uh or like the tamarak properties particularly The Overlook at Tamarac um to Carver County and so this is a part of the ATP project um this area is still going to be a preserved
land um but as um you know we're looking into future developments and the road construction and things like that um part of this um um decision was made so that the Arboretum will incorporate the site into their um property um it's still going to be accessible to the
public it's still land that is going to be preserved um so the entire purpose of the parcel has not changed um just who's going to be managing the location and so um this will allow for some improvement to the trail connection there um they're
going to complete the Bavaria Trail East Corridor as a part of this um and this Trail will then also connect to Highway 5 so there's some really great opportunities that are coming out of that um does anyone have any questions about that before I move on awesome and
then the last one and this is a um new thing that I'm trying out and so I've got um something coming up um we'll be doing it next week short notice but we want to catch it before the season starts um I came up with like a Q&A session called like um my clever um name
is serving up Solutions so it's a pickle ball um Q&A um with me prior to the start of the season and so essentially what this is it's just an opportunity for anyone who participates in pickle ball using our courts things like that um to get some clarity on um you know
maybe how we maintain things how um we determine when things are fixed if there's um suggestions from our main users on things that they're interested in doing um or if there's concerns about maintenance things like that this is a great opportunity for us to be able to
um address that prior to the season starting and I want to make sure that the public is informed about kind of the why we do things um and then making sure people know who I am that I can be a resource to them if they have any questions or concerns um and so I will be communicating this um out we've got
um I have made up some cute little Flyers that will be available at the rec center and posted up near our pickle wall courts um both inside and outside so this is coming up next week as we anticipate that the pickle ball season is coming soon with the hopeful weather that we've got going on and hopefully it
sticks around but um with that that is all that I have okay thank you uh we have no old business this evening so we'll move on to the new business and first on the agenda is uh review of the work plan that we
discussed and last meeting I guess this is the final version we'll turn it over to Jenna to walk us through this absolutely so uh the last time that we met we did already go over the work plan and so hopefully these themes will not
look unfamiliar um but I did take the feedback that was shared um in the last one to incorporate this into the final draft that you will be seeing tonight um so in this draft there's a little bit more quantifiable things um a little bit more dates um narrowed down and a
proposed schedule as to how we're going to tackle some of these things so um as I move along I am going to just go through the slides but feel free to interject with with any thoughts or comments as we move on um so um first on as a part of our work plan we got to
know who's working on it so um this is the Full Slate of our committee this year um and so we do I do want to make note that the committee is larger um council did make the decision to um direct staff to update the policy to
incorporate nine members onto this board um we had such a great turnout um with our applicants this year that Council um made thec decision um to continue to increase this um as Victoria is continuing to grow more voices um equals better representation from our community
so we do have um an incumbent returning and three additional um committee members that will be joining us this year um beginning April 1st and then so just kind of a recap we do um have guiding principles that are established by um city council and staff that um are
used as a framework for a lot of the things that we do um and so as we move along um these are some of the things that we want to keep in mind when we are making decisions um as we move through move through our work plan this year um these are principles that are meant to
kind of shape the direction in which we're going with the city and so the first one is to develop a unique Victoria and so with this one um Victoria is a beautiful place um I love uh telling people where I work because the first comment everyone always says is it's beautiful and so that's
something that we get the privilege of as a Parks and Recreation committee is to um continue to enhance some of those features um but then especially within our Park system this is um a a place for us to be able to develop that Community enhance the natural areas support yearound Recreation and ensure all of
our visitors have um opportunities to experience Joy Wellness um different Recreation opportunities and part of this committee is helping to reimagine some of those spaces the second one is to Foster Community Partnerships um this is working with um neighboring
groups could be neighboring schools like holy family it could be our associations um things like that um it could be our Carver County Partners or Three Rivers Partners um and then also our resident volunteers and so these are Partnerships that we seek to develop and especially
engaging our residents as we work through some of these um work plans this year and the third one is uh Embrace current infrastructure and amenities so we do already have some really wonderful things that are going on in uh the city of Victoria so we want to both maintain the things that we have and improve um
the things that um are very important and considered as assets to our community members so um our Trail Network system is something that is very um loved in this community and so that's something we want to continually use open green spaces those natural areas the things that make Victoria very
beautiful um and then using our park park system facilities the renable areas that uh Committee Member kahill had mentioned earlier and then enhancing just access to um our Park system and creating plans for how we're going to continue to develop and maintain those
things and then so um moving on to our work plan um this one is the guiding post that's going to steer us through um this next year um and so just a little backstory um city council had requested that each advisory committee um adopt a
work plan for the upcoming year so this will be brought to city council for them to formally adopt um and at our last meeting on February 19th we had discussed and reviewed opportunities in this work plan um and a lot of the uh feedback that was put into
the original proposal was based on both conversations that were had within this committee um feedback from the 2023 Park survey the 2024 Victoria Recreation Center survey um as well as um last year's committee work plan and some of the things that went into
it so moving on any thoughts questions feedback before we dig into the different sections of the work plan awesome all right so the first area is uh public engagement for Park projects and so park serf is an important community space uh for
recreation and connection with nature engaging the community in upcoming Parks Park projects ensures um these spaces reflect public desires and needs and so Focus area goals for this one is to review the proposed Parks and Recreation
public public engagement policy I'm very happy to report you guys have already accomplished something off of your work plan so woohoo um the next one is to participate in public engagement events to gather Community feedback for new
developments the third goal is to review the survey result and public input for those new park developments and then the final one is to make recommendations for Park projects the anticipated timeline for this one spans um from Spring to Fall 2025
a major part of that um as we'll see in the next slide is to Encompass all the different elements of this the scope of this um focus area and so in each of these slides there will be um a slide similar to this that um outlines the goals the outcomes and the initiatives
in the proposed timeline the proposed timeline is flexible um as we all know things come up there might be developments that come up or potentially projects that take a little bit more of our time and so this is the proposed timeline however we do know that some of these things may need to be flexible um
based on the priorities that this year comes um but for our first goal the main outcome that um we're looking to get is um to recommend that policy to go to um Council and so for that one your feedback was taken into consideration um
and inputed into the new public policy and so at an upcoming council meeting that will go to um Council for their approval for formal adoption of that um Parks and Recreation public engagement policy um the outcome for goal number
two is to serve as Community ambassadors during engagement events to encourage public participation and feedback so um for this one there are um a few different dates here that are already indicated um so at our May 19th it is my
intention for us to um be able to go over a proposed um Park survey or Park development survey um so that is something that I will be putting together together um to present to you guys for your feedback um and this survey will be used um through all of our engagement events this summer it'll
be something that would be accessible online and so your feedback is crucial to me to um be able to incorporate that in to make sure that we're actually actually capturing all of the questions thoughts and concerns that we want to hear back from our residents as we are doing these engagement events um and
then you will see um on here there are three different events that we've got coming up um two of them um are ones that are going to be occurring on site for uh future developments and so these ones are a little bit bigger there will be activities and events that will be
going on uh while we are there um so it's kind of a little bit more of a community event um where we're going to be providing entertainment so it should be a fun way to get people to come out and enjoy um as well as uh a great opportunity to get feedback from you
know all the generations from kids on up because we want every want to be engaged and we want to hear those voices um so those ones um the hunterbrook location will be June 24th and the marsh Hollow location will be August 19th and then in the middle of the summer and July 2nd um
we are doing a trail version um this one's a little bit more relaxed um as it'll be a little bit more of like a guided Trail opportunity um but this one's kind of focusing more on those like non-traditional spaces getting some feedback about Trails um having a a little bit more of a quiet conversation
um in that type of a setting um at our Lions Park notan Trail so um that'll happen there um just a question so I did see these in the summer brochure online too is the summer brochure like expected
to be in mail block soon yes okay so it should be um it's it's has already been sent to the printer um and so it's just a matter of getting it back from the printer SL mailed out okay in process all right and then goal number
three um the outcome for this one is to identify key points and areas of community interest expressed through those surveys and the public engagement event so we'll be taking um all the feedback that we do receive from all of these um events this summer um and kind
of putting together some formal thoughts um and then the final goal will be to uh provide insights and feedback for staff uh to make recommendations for those proposed Park projects because the goal is to have those developments occur in 2026 and so by the end of the year we
need to be able to um have our thoughts kind of formalized to be able to move forward with those any thoughts for this Focus area looks good awesome all right so the next Focus area that we've got is our non-traditional Park spaces and so we've talked about these before and this was a
part of the work plan La last year um so it's a continuation of that with a little bit more um emphasis on some of those non-traditional Park spaces and so um Beyond traditional parks there are opportunities to leverage underutilized areas within the city's current Park system to enhance the overall Park
experience and so with these I do have three goals identified um one is to identify the underutilized spaces in the park system and so um one we need to know which areas we want to focus on so kind of creating those priorities there um exploring innovative ideas for
increasing recreational opportunities within non-traditional Park spaces and open green spaces this one will be an opportunity for us to dream big uh and then um the final one will be to review the City Park and trail system overall um and then for um the goals
outcomes and initiatives on this one the outcome for goal number one is to develop that priority list for enhancements and so this will give us kind of a guiding post of like how we can budget for the future year how we can um make those modifications um in order to help people utilize the spaces
in a way that um fits the needs and the desires of our community um for goal number two the outcome is to develop a list of recommendations for consideration for those Park enhancements like I said um I want us to be able to dream in these spaces let's
get creative I would love to hear your feedback if we know um you know maybe there was comments at some of our engagement events that um people have shared or ideas that you guys might have um this is an opportunity for us to brainstorm some of these amenities that could enhance these non-traditional
spaces and these open green spaces um and then another part of this is to provide any feedback as it relates to the downtown west development and that one might will be city council directed um and so we'll wait for them to um request kind of our feedback because this is an ongoing project but want to
make sure that that's captured in here as that will also be one of those non-traditional Park spaces um the outcome for goal number three is to develop a pro proposal for opportunities to enhance the Park and trail system overall and so this will be a review of amenities and features of
current park parks and trails so it's an enhancement not just of the non-traditional spaces but kind of a big bigger picture um and then reviewing the current um Trail Gap priority list and making recommendations for updates and changes so as I mentioned with the Tamarac thing there's movement there
there's some other things that we are um making movement on and then that trail um priority list that we had updated last year that um will will be put online um soon um are things that we want to make sure that is this still the priority list and we'll continuously be
checking that so we can budget for those as those opportunities come up any thoughts or questions on this one so you said just just um so we can find it the Tamarac property update that you said it's in
what council meeting minutes so the March 10th council meeting minutes is where you'll be able to find the information yeah I just would like to familiar myself okay all right so our third Focus area is on um The Parks and Recreation uh code
ordinances so over time um the use of Park public park and recreation spaces has involved um and so reflecting our current demographic shifts um changing Community needs and new trends in outdoor activities and so for this um the main goal first is to gain an
understanding of what these ordinances are so C City staff are working to kind of get through those so they will put together um the ones that pertain to Parks and Recreation so that we can take a take a look at them and so first order of that business will be understanding what those ordinances are and then from
there the second goal is to identify areas where C current ordinances may be outdated need Improvement or are missing so this one we will focus more on um in the fall and winter um as time allows so that gives staff the time to
be able to um work through that as well as um fits appropriately within um our workload for this year and so an anticipated outcome outcome for goal number one is to gain understanding of that um current Parks and Recreation
ordinances so out of reviewing it the hope is that we understand what we're looking at um so the second goal is to provide those recommendations for updated ordinances so we'll evaluate the ones that need to be reviewed and then this is also an opportunity for us to provide recommendations for revisions or
potentially addition additions to the ordinances or just additions for ordinances in general any thoughts on this one have you gone through this process in past for Park ordinances reviews yeah um I personally have gone through where we
have reviewed specific ones um having a big review like this one is a huge undertaking so um this is something that um has been needed to be done for a little while um so I'm very grateful for the team that is doing the the digging
on getting this done um but this is something that um as things evolve and change like ordinances might not be applicable anymore or um potentially it's something where um it's while it might be applicable maybe it's not as clear as it could have been and so these are things that we want to review from
time to time to just have fresh eyes on it um because I know that there's like nuances in some of them that maybe how it's worded might be misconstrued as to the intention of it and so over time we want to make sure that our language and our understanding of the language matches up to the expectation and yeah
and so we'll see our portion under park and rec committee and it kind of sounds like other committees will see other ordinances that apply to them is that correct yep okay y so like as a community member we would would also be
on the lookout for like updates to like I'm just saying it zoning or something so Planning Commission might be reviewing some of these um and so if you're interested in that feel free to do that um city council will be addressing some of the ordinances um I don't have a specific time timeline for
when those are happening um but that's something that if that's something that you're interested in um that I mean they do pertain to all residents so I would say being informed um is crucial in that so um everybody does have access to um seeing what is being discussed at those
meetings on our um public page so um if you go to Victor mn.gov and you um look at you can find our ordinances listed on there but then you can also um check to the meeting schedule to see when people are talking about it
okay absolutely all right and then our fourth area here is one that we don't want to forget because things are Ever Changing in that area um is the Victoria Recreation Center so the city's contract as a reminder um we are um partnering
with the uh school district for the use of Recreation Center um but that is set to end um that contract expires in 2032 and so uh as the city council prepares for the transition they're going to be determining the facilities long-term needs and what that
partnership looks like um and so for this one some of the goals are to stay informed on the city council's vision and mission for the facility and we did discuss at our last meeting kind of what that looks like and that's just an ongoing thing um making sure that as they have um um Council workshops if
they have um discussions if there's something brought to a meeting just making sure we understand what their Direction and initiatives are um as we are also making um recommendations and then uh the second goal is to promote public engagement efforts and evaluate
feedback regarding facility and program needs and so we have already done um some pretty extensive stuff but this is something that we want to keep as a work plan item because this is an ongoing topic that's going to keep evolving over time so I would fully anticipate that this is going to be a work plan item
that's going to continue on until we know the future and so with this one um some of the specific goals that we anticipate for this year's work plan are to um utilize guiding framework for evaluating feedback based on Direction provided by um city council so anytime we are asked
to evaluate um feedbook feedback it's going to be based on the direction that city council has set for us um and then an outcome for goal number number two is to develop a priority list of key takeaways from public feedback so if we do have more engagement efforts you know if we hear word about the recreation
center at some of our stuff this summer or any other opportunities that we might have um Coming forward um these are opportunities for us to be able to review and evaluate some of that as we move forward I know we we reviewed the survey results a couple months ago um and put
together our kind of summary of them um do you know if Council has they have not at so there was a council Workshop that was anticipated to be scheduled in January but unfortunately there was quite a few illnesses that had happened at that time and so that had to get rescheduled as of right now um the
anticipated reschedule date is in April and so um they will be reviewing all that information and discussions from that will be happening so um uh that meeting Workshop um can be found on the city's meeting page um and so if you're
interested in what that agenda looks like and the things that they're talking about there that's where that can be found so then do you anticipate um any like movement on any of those possible
items after that Workshop or the tricky part is that we are still in contract with the school district 2032 and so um you know there are different ways on how that can be handled whether the school district um terminates the contract early or if we continue on
until 2032 there's a possibility it could be renewed um that future is really uncertain so it's really hard to say at this point how oh yeah I was just curious about maybe some of the like I know they're not quick fixes
but I I will use that term like some of the maybe asks that the community had in that feedback that could be like potentially addressed that aren't like huge m Main and resif of the facility
yeah so some of those if it's something that is within the confines of what we can do in the space right now that is stuff that will also be talked about at this um Council workshop and so we'll get a little bit more direction as where do they want us to go because I know part of our conversation last year was also are we a Rec Center or are we a
community center it and from that this coun or this committee had said you know I think we're we're a community center and so that proposal is being brought to um city council as well to you know make that determination and that will shape some of how we address the amenities and
the use of spaces um and so some of those thoughts are being shared so you know we do operate H you know half of that facility and so some of that is what can we do in our current um infrastructure in our current system in our current model and so some of those things will happen but what those will
be is um determined okay um you know that's directly related to the goals here but just a just a question um is there a study being done or plan to be done by the city to evaluate the
building itself um and what I'm getting at is as the community gets closer and the council gets closer to deciding you know what's going to be there in the future it might be helpful to know that you
know the useful life of the air handling system is two years or or it's 20 years or you know the infrastructure type things and there's you know companies that do that you know come in and do that evaluation and that might help
inform the council and us as to you know what some of the things are because um sometimes it's it's cheaper to start over than to try to remodel pieces of it or just to know what that is so we don't end up with some new things in the
building and then find out oops now we got $2 million we need to increase the air handling or the furnace is about ready to go out or needs to be replaced I know some of that's probably ongoing maintenance type things but it might be
helpful for people to know when they're making decisions yes so that is all information that staff do handle as an ongoing basis so um we do with um any of the equipment that we have we know what the lifespan is we know um things like that so that's information and data that
can be pulled together um and then in terms of like infrastructure and replacement a lot of these things do um have lifespans um staff are aware of some of the things that need to be replaced and improved and so these will be a part of those conversations um and
we'll be able to kind of formalize some of those thoughts as the the full discussions are are happening and we do run reports to see utilization of spaces you know what are opportunities for um you know maintaining the facility financially all of those things um our
stuff that staff are putting together great I had a question going back to the first Focus area number one um so with the you know the goal of providing recommendations for proposed Park projects is that specifically about
Hunter book and Marsh Hollow or is that kind of open-ended at this point um these ones will be specifically for those locations because those will be for development for 2026 so those will be the priorities and are we going to not us necessarily but is city council
going to have a budget in mind like by the end of this year for those projects okay there is a budget already okay there is great yep it's happening new parks yes we'll get
there awesome any other thoughts about the specific goals or any feedback is there another Focus area oh then I do have I was I was waiting so um
um and we didn't talk about this last time when we reviewed because um I didn't have an opportunity to to compare but I went back and I looked at our um um work plan from the previous year and
and one thing that jumped out at me and forgive me if if it's in here just not called out um specifically that um I I don't feel that we um addressed
last year and and I don't see it here is that we had um talked about um reviewing water access opportunities and determining the
meeting the meaning of water access and pro um and and reviewing opportunities for providing access to Residents so that was the water access the water amenities water features is something that the community keeps coming up in
all of our surveys so I just really wanted to make sure that um it's it's somewhere in here and we can fit it into this year's plan yep I would say that qualifies under goal number three for Focus area number
two I am more than happy to add that in to specifically call it out um so um this one is a review of the whole park system and trail system overall okay um and so I'm more than happy to add that in if um the council or the committee requests that it gets added
in I like it I we we thought it was important last year so we wanted to bring attention to it and I think if we don't do it I think it it has a tendency to kind of get lost well yeah I I agree I think the other thing too is you know that came from the community M yeah and
uh you know if people take a look at the plan and they don't see anything in there that's spelled out even though it's in here we should spell it out or at Le make comment on there so sure I can absolutely add it in do you would you agree that that is an appropriate place to add it in yeah goal three go
three yeah okay I will add that it job Amanda it's just looking back and you only have the chance to you know once this is sent out then to look back and compare you know and it wasn't something
that we thought of and I remembered in last month's meeting absolutely all right um so the final thing of this particular slide is um just the proposed um meeting
schedule and so um we our next meeting is um our April meeting and so this one will be a little bit more of the um informative because this is when we get all of our um new and returning
uh committee members um on board for another term and so um we will be selecting our chair and vice chair at this uh meeting um there will be an orientation presentation um for all committee members uh new and old um and
then we will um that last one is tonight so that's a typo um so we'll be doing the last point tonight so we're we're gonna we're going to tackle that one right away I will update that so that we know that we already did that one just overachiever we are overachievers this
year you guys I am so proud of you um and then our May 2025 um meeting will be to provide recommendations for that Park development survey so that's something that I will be putting together um to propose go to um this group um in June we will be reviewing
the non-traditional Park spaces um and we will talk a little bit more about what that means because there will be um a needed time to be able to kind of do this on your own but I waited till June so it'll be nice and beautiful for you to do that um and then we will at the meeting be discussing opportunities for
enhancement of some of those non-traditional Park spaces so um that and then in July review amenities and features of current parks and trails system in August we'll be discussing a priority list of enhancements to underutilized or
non-traditional Park spaces and then in September we'll be reviewing the survey results and public in in input for new park developments and the reason this one it seems so far out is because I wanted to be able to make sure that all of the engagement events were completed so that we could review it in their
entirety so could you add I don't I just for the water access and amenities is that going to be then that's a part of the parks and trails August oh so July yes
okay and if it comes up in another one that's totally fine too okay because water can be non-traditional as well okay um and then in October we'll provide recommendations for new park development so September reviewing public input and then we'll kind of
formalize our thoughts in October to come together with some um more narrowed down ideas um from this committee and then moving on into November um we'll be providing recommendations for revisions um or additions to ordinances in
December reviewing um the trail gaps and providing any recommendations um or updates in January already 2026 uh reviewing public feedback regarding the Victoria Recreation Center uh February considering our uh Parks and
Recreation committee work plan uh in March um approving the committee work plan and then reviewing um our Emerald ashbo report for that year and then April starting all over again and doing the same thing as the last time except I
will update that um approval process any questions thoughts concerns about this okay oh great um good job looks looks good to me and we'll add that one item
in there regarding the water features uh does somebody want to make a motion to accept the work plan with that modification and recommend to the city council so moved okay motion's been made
is there a second I'll second okay okay a motion's been made and second it to accept the work plan with the modification we talked about about adding uh water feature and the goal three um and then recommending to the city
council all those in favor signify by saying I I those opposed say nay okay motion carried great next item is uh review of the emerald ashbo
management all right um so I met um earlier this year with Rainbow Tree Care which is our uh partnering organization that that handles our uh treatment of emerald ashore but before we get started I'm uh going to um give just kind of an
overview of what it is that we are doing um and why this protection is necessary and so um ashb are invasive um wood boring beetles that are responsible for the death and decline of tens of thousands or no of millions of ash trees in North America so it's it is an
invasive species that actually comes from Asia and so our trees are not set up to protect from it asht trees and Victoria are at risk of in infestation as Emerald ashor larae tunnel and cut off key nutrients to um run through the tree um these often
destroy the trees if they're left untreated and you can you know look up online and see just how much they tear apart these trees um but the reason that we wanted to take care of this is because ash trees provide so many different types of environmental and economic be benefits and so some of
those are they absorb pollutants um and they improve the air quality uh they help control soil erosion they um have the prevention of storm water runoff uh they increase biodiversity and they provide shade and cooling down um areas around especially those super
mature trees um early treatment of these ash borers decreases the spread of the species enabling the trees to develop larger canopy sizes which is the big bushiness um which increases overall benefits and so um some of the information that came back from the
report from our uh partnering company is um uh I did get some information in terms of the treatment cycle so you'll see um the uh Ash protection results here in this chart um and just to give a little bit more context as to why the numbers might be skewed a little bit um
private trees are treated EV in every other year Cycles um and then public trees are treated in threeyear Cycles so um I particularly had a question of why it was so low one year but it was because it was um in a cycle year where they didn't get treated um but if you
can see that um there have been a large number of trees that were treated and if we think about this um in its entirety um we've got a an annual total um each year kind of hovering a little bit around the same thing with the exception
of 2022 where it was an offe cycle um for protection um but these are um the number of trees that were protected um because of early prevention and treatment any thoughts or questions on
this so I I do have a question so does um does Rainbow keep identifying since this is mostly related to um like public city trees do they keep identifying new trees that meet
their treatment requirements and like adding them or have they already identified all trees that are going to be yep so um the the trees in Victoria we do have um you know information and data about what trees exist in Victoria
when they were treated things like that and so we do have a catalog of all that information um but then they do go back in a three-year cycle so they have that information and so it's kind of a matter of like did we have to cut a tree did we things like that so those would change the numbers um did we plant a tree um
and so those are things that they might be evolving just depending upon what kind of landscaping care was had had or did we not catch something in time and we lost a tree um things like that so the numbers might like vary a little bit based on that um but they do have a
catalog of the types of trees and if you really would like to um get more information about um the trees that are available um that information can be found um online Okay um and so moving on to the treatment benefits and so these
are some of like the fun facts that um kind of came out from um the uh treatment plan and so um dbh which is diur at breast height which indicates the diameter of the tree at about 4 and A2 ft off of the ground um this is
essentially like the the the width of the the tree trunk and so the wider these are able to grow typically this results in a larger canopy size and a larger canopy size is something that is going to create even more benefits for the area because they increase the size
the shade um the flow of oxygen um biodiversity things like that um and so the average tree um dbh um in Victoria is 15.5 um inches and so that those are
pretty well um size trees um and so that's something that we want to continue to support and encourage um so that we can protect those and allow those trees to continue to grow to maturity um and so the amount of trees that uh canopy that was protected in Victoria is enough to cover
approximately four football fields which is kind of a fun fact of how much coverage um was able to be protected um last year if you guys remember it was a very rainy year and so while rain can definitely help some of our plants it also increases a lot of storm water
runoff and for any of you who are water um enthusiasts you know that that can cause some problems and so with um The increased rainfall that we saw last year um we were able to inter except um 875,000 uh pounds of uh CO2 CO2 that was
avoided um and that is the equivalent of burning 20,000 gallons of gas and so that's quite a bit of pollution that was prevented um and then treating the trees cuts down the cost of having to remove them from EAB because that that is what happens it does kill off the trees if
they're left untreated and so all of these benefits um had happened um based on being able to early detect treat them on a regular cycle and ensure that the invasive species um did not get to our trees so like in New Park developments or on
new Boulevard tree plantings for all the new neighborhoods like is there like a ordinance against planting ash trees no because they're native species so they we want ash trees yeah um but um those
are you know things that um we're not dictating what types of trees and things like that can be planted especially on private property um but that's something that um this company um is accessible to our residents and they will there is a flyer that's going to be coming or a postcard that's going to be coming out
in the mail um from them um to partner with them as well to get your trees treated in your yard um and so the city will catalog any ash trees um that need to be treated ash trees unfortunately are not the only um tree that has to deal with invasive species there are other ones that exist they're just not
as pervasive um right now as the ashb um and so there are other trees that we might treat for other things um and so it's not necessarily just ash trees it's just if there's an invasive species we are focusing on the ash trees because that's um the main issue that we've been
dealing with the past several years yeah I mean we have one in our Boulevard that's tagged the city so you you know I don't know if you guys have noticed that it has a little like metal tag um add about that
height that you mentioned um but yes to your point we would hate to lose that huge Bard tree that's why I was curious if they're still planting them in you know in boulevards I well we're in a new
development um that's seven eight years old and I don't think there's a single a tree in our boulevards in our in our development so I think they're kind of steered away from that okay and then did just want to draw your attention to um in light of this
conversation there is a a presentation by Rainbow Tree Care that will be presenting at a Donuts in Victoria which is hosted at the Victoria Recreation Center um this particular one is the May 21st um Donuts in Victoria and so anyone
who is interested in learning more and seeing how you could potentially do it on your own private property I would encourage you to attend um this uh session and as always donuts and Victoria provides not only um enrichment and education but donuts and
coffee at the rec center so um we encourage you to participate okay any question more questions on the emerald ashb management plan if not other business does anybody
have anything else no do not I do have one question um I was just thinking about this the other day and it came up when you're were going through the the work plan here about maintenance and uh keeping things infrastructure up to date
um there's been an ongoing uh Trail devel or Trail uh repair uh each year is that continuing there was like there used to be like $50,000 I think that the city
allocated towards um kind of repairing some of the trails where there's cracks and that sort of thing is that's something that's Incorporated in our Park maintenance budget and so they do address those um as they are like there's a priority list
that they work through in addressing um those needs so um the park maintenance team will be working on those once weather starts okay that's that's great I just want to make sure because I know that if those don't get done it ends up being a lot more costly
okay and dangerous yes what's the best way jna to report um like we in our development we have the little willow trees that are coming up through the asphalt Trails um and some of the asphalt has buckled and it's you
know this this High you know and it's you it's dangerous if you're riding a bike or that kind of stuff around so what is the best way to kind of report some of those things so if you go to Victor mn.gov there is a report and issue tab um and it's a simple form that you can fill out um online It'll ask for
contact information so we can update you with a status but then you can describe the issue describe the location and what needs to be done and then staff will follow up with that report to let the person know when they can they'll be addressing the issue is there a place to attach a photo or yep you can attach a
description you can attach a photo and then you can let them know um how you want to be contacted back okay perfect thanks okay anything else if not a motion is order in order to
adjourn so moved okay second okay motion's been made and second it to adjourn the meeting all those in favor signify by saying I I meetings adjourned thank you everyone thanks Jenna