11-24-14 PARCS - Laserfiche WebLink

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PARC COMMITTEE November 24, 2014 4:45 p.m. Committee Members Present: Dr. Fred Ferlic, Derek Dieter, Tim Scott (Absent), Henry (Absent) Other Council Present: Karen White, Gavin Ferlic, Dr. David Varner, Valerie Schey, Oliver Davis (Absent) Others Present: Phil St. Clair, Brent Thompson, Larry Clifford citizen member, Kathy Cekanski - Farrand, Janice Talboom, Media Dr. Ferlic called the meeting to order. He spoke about the fact of the trees being an issue due to the emerald ash borer which is affecting 6 percent of all of the City's trees. The issue now is who is responsible for the trees that are diseased. The homeowner, the City, combination of both? Will there have to be a surcharge on the water bill, TIF funds used? Phil and Brent joined the committee at the table. Sections of the South Bend Municipal Code book were handed out. (attachment). The tree lawn becomes the homeowners responsibility when they buy the property. The City Forester is there to see the ordinance is followed. Brent does inspection and receives calls from the public about safety. Phil said 30 to 40% of the ash trees have been taken down. 800ish will still have to be removed. Also some maples trees need to come down too. All are responsibility of the homeowner. Most of the homeowners have been cooperative. A lot of the Ash trees are in the Colfax, Washington, Bissell and Queen areas. Val Schey said there was no funding this year in the budget for tree removal. Said sidewalks in her district are buckled so its hard to talk sidewalk replacement and not discuss the tree removal process. She hopes next year to find money in the budget for tree maintenance. Dr. Ferlic asked how much per tree. $300.00 per tree up to 2000.00. For a good sized tree it would be $800.00 to $100.00 for city cost. $200.00 for stump removal. Replanting would be $220.00 per tree. Larry Clifford, citizen member says the right of way is the tree lawn and should not be the homeowners responsibility. Dr. Varner said we need a plan. 500 to 550 trees removed per year, 100 by the parks department, don't allow trees to be replanted in the tree lawn? $500,000 a year to remove trees, it seems we should be able to find the money somewhere in the budget, not from the homeowner. It would seem we could find a solution.