Written by the reviewer from the ASR + docket; [verbatim-ASR] = quoted machine transcript; [paraphrase] = reviewer's wording, not a quote.
0:00 Okay. Are we ready to begin?
0:02 Let's call to order the meeting of the Public Works
0:06 and Sustainability Committee.
0:08 It is Tuesday, February 17, and the first item on the agenda is
0:14 to approve the minutes from the January 20 meeting.
0:20 There's a motion to approve.
0:22 Motion has been made and seconded.
0:24 Hearing none, all in favor say aye.
0:27 Opposed? The ayes have it.
0:29 So that takes us to the Tree Advisory and Education Board
0:33 annual report to the committee and council
0:36 and the community by extension.
0:38 Thank you for preparing the report and for being here
0:46 to make the presentation really give us all a chance
0:49 to focus on what turns out to be a very big topic,
0:53 urban forestry is not a simple or small matter.
0:58 It takes a lot of work.
0:59 There's a lot of layers to it
1:00 and it takes persistent practice over time.
1:06 Otherwise, you don't see the gains.
1:11 So why don't I actually open
1:15 up to committee members or colleagues.
1:16 Do you have any opening comments or questions?
1:18 And Councilman Evans has been the chair.
1:21 I'm now chair this year, but Councilman Evans,
1:24 you've been kind of intellectually leading the
1:26 work for the past 12 months.
1:27 I don't know if you have any comments you want to open with.
1:29 Sure. Thanks, chair.
1:30 I'm just excited to see the progress today.
1:32 It was truly a privilege to be the council liaison
1:37 to this board, do some really fun and inspiring work.
1:41 This last year, there've been a lot of great things
1:42 you're about to see about, hear about.
1:44 So looking forward to the presentation
1:46 and I'm sure you'll enjoy your time
1:50 liaisoning with this board,
1:51 liaising with this board, Councilman Bullock.
1:55 Okay. Any other comments or could we hear from the board
1:59 and it's chair Rita Stevens?
2:06 Although try again and maybe.
2:12 Yeah, that's better.
2:14 Well, again, yeah, my name is Rita Stevens
2:16 and I have Alison Welch here in the audience
2:19 from the tree board also.
2:21 So two of our current four are here.
2:25 This is our annual update.
2:27 Linda Graham's staff, our former chair
2:30 spoke with you about a year ago on this.
2:33 So, whoops, which is the?
2:39 So tonight I'd like to cover three points.
2:42 One, a brief background just to provide some context
2:47 that can lead us effectively into talking
2:49 about the key program areas
2:51 that the tree board has chosen as priorities.
2:55 And then finally, to talk about
2:57 what our current priorities and needs are going forward.
3:02 So let's start with some background.
3:04 First of all, the people, what I've included here
3:08 or who I've included here in the pictures
3:10 are members that have been involved
3:14 in creating the content for this report.
3:17 So up through 2005, we had both Matt Bixenstein
3:22 as well as Linda Graham's staff
3:23 who are on the upper right photo
3:25 with myself on the board circling counterclockwise.
3:31 That's Mary Kennedy with Matt.
3:34 And then Kelly Kelleher is who are brand new appointee.
3:38 And then finally, Linda with Alison
3:42 who's with us this evening.
3:44 So I wanna commend the pickers
3:46 who have gone through all the applicants.
3:49 We continue to have an extremely strong set of skills
3:52 and I think really well balanced for the tasks at hand.
3:57 And Rita, just a quick interjection.
3:59 I should say Chair Stevens.
4:03 So we're down one, is that right?
4:06 Because former Matt got a new,
4:10 Mr. Bixenstein got a new,
4:12 he takes on a lot so he can't serve in that role.
4:16 But we did appoint for Linda, is that correct?
4:20 For the vacancy, for Linda.
4:21 I have not heard any news of who the new appointee is.
4:27 Are we down one or two?
4:27 Chair, we're down one.
4:28 Katie Kelleher was the, yes, replaced.
4:32 Yeah, Katie replaced Linda.
4:35 Who failed her term.
4:39 Right, so and then just one other background slide
4:42 that I wanna just bring forth to remind everyone
4:47 that the last county assessment of tree canopy coverage
4:54 was done in 2019 and you have a picture of it here
4:58 in the upper right, a map of what showed the change
5:01 over a six year period between,
5:04 I can't quite read my own slides here,
5:10 What concerns us is that the city of Lakewood
5:13 was the largest percentage loss in canopy
5:18 relative to the entire county.
5:20 And so you might say, oh, you know,
5:23 everybody's struggling because of the built environment
5:26 and what do we do with trees?
5:27 But I think that Lakewood has a specific set of needs
5:31 that we keep a focus on building canopy.
5:35 And I'm sure that this was discussed prior
5:38 to my tenure on the tree board,
5:40 but that this informed the 2022,
5:46 our existing city of Lakewood tree action plan
5:50 where the adopted goal has been to increase
5:52 canopy coverage from approximately 23% to 33%
6:00 So that's our big overarching goal
6:02 that the tree board uses to step back and say,
6:06 well, how can we best contribute to making that happen?
6:11 What's really a high priority for the tree board
6:15 is the recognition that while we have incredibly strong
6:20 and effective maintenance and growing
6:23 of our public tree canopy,
6:26 we really have not until fairly recently
6:29 had formal programming and support
6:31 to develop canopy on private property.
6:35 And if you go back into the tree action plan of 2022,
6:41 it's stated that probably in the order
6:44 of about half of the canopy needed to grow
6:49 to get to our goal of 35% canopy
6:51 needs to be on private and about half on public.
6:54 And so what the tree board decided about three years ago
6:58 was to, hey, we have a unique role here
7:01 to work in partnership with the city
7:05 to focus in on the private property part of trees.
7:11 And kind of as an illustration,
7:13 here's a streetscape that's taken in the Birdtown area.
7:20 And what you can see is that we are looking
7:23 to get not only street trees,
7:26 which are very nice canopy,
7:27 but if you have the private trees as well,
7:31 especially in the backyards
7:34 that we can collectively have a situation
7:37 where we can get to this 33% by 2035 goal established.
7:46 So I bring this up, the focus on the private
7:50 and that most of what you're gonna hear tonight
7:53 is focused on the private property trees
7:56 that we understand that the city staff has already
8:03 in the last couple of months updated you
8:05 as far as the public tree end of things.
8:09 So we've decided to not incorporate that for this evening.
8:15 So let's, with that background,
8:16 what I'd like to do is go into the key programs.
8:19 We have three community canopy
8:21 that's physically helping our residents
8:24 plant and grow canopy, plant and grow trees.
8:28 The second is a public engagement and awareness
8:33 and the willingness and the staying power
8:36 because we know it takes a generation to grow a tree
8:40 and we're looking for a long-term program
8:42 and so there's a lot of supporting education
8:45 and empowerment of people to be confident
8:49 in growing and planting their trees.
8:51 And then finally, we've really started
8:54 to get some traction in regional network.
8:57 So it's working with entities such as ourselves
9:01 beyond the city of Lakewood where we can provide
9:05 expertise in terms of our experience with things
9:08 and we can also learn from them.
9:10 So I'd like to step into each of these topics for you.
9:16 Okay, so the first program, community canopy,
9:20 you probably are familiar with it.
9:21 We're going into our third year here
9:24 where we said let's just physically help people
9:27 get trees in the ground.
9:29 We've partnered with the Arbor Day Association
9:32 so that we could really make it pretty much
9:34 a turnkey operation and minimize the amount
9:38 of city staff responsibilities for it.
9:43 The way that it works is that the Arbor Day Foundation
9:46 contracts with the city of Lakewood
9:48 for X amount of trees and they basically handle,
9:54 they have an online portal that handles all the ordering,
9:59 the Q&A, the handholding of residents
10:02 in terms of questions, and then delivery of the trees
10:05 that we specify to City Hall.
10:08 And so then the city does of course come
10:10 and deliver them to Bernice Pike Park
10:12 as our distribution site and volunteers take it
10:17 from there in terms of doing demonstration tree planting,
10:21 helping residents with getting their trees home, et cetera.
10:26 We started it, as I said, two years ago.
10:28 So we've had four events so far,
10:32 two per year in 2024 and 2025.
10:35 And before I leave this slide and give you some numbers,
10:39 I just want to shout out to our partners
10:42 that it's just been seamless working
10:45 with multiple departments as needed
10:47 for different aspects of this program.
10:50 I've mentioned the forestry department.
10:52 The planning department has taken care
10:54 of the contracting on our behalf on this.
10:57 And then the social media folks have been instrumental
11:01 in making sure that we're getting the word out
11:04 to residents through city channels.
11:07 And it's been working really well.
11:09 So we're getting ready to go into our fifth this spring.
11:15 And then I mentioned the Arbor Day Foundation
11:17 in terms of how they're working with us.
11:19 And then monetarily we have had support
11:23 from Healthy Liquid Foundation as well as from Neograph.
11:26 So there's been some nice building of the portfolio
11:30 for how do we support this.
11:32 And of course the city has taken on expenses there too.
11:39 Okay, so the second and last slide
11:42 about the tree giveaway.
11:43 I just wanted to give you a couple of visuals here.
11:46 This map happens to be just the 2025 map.
11:52 But what we have is we have a record now
11:56 of what species and where it got taken to,
12:01 You know, we have spot checks on things
12:04 but haven't been to every single home.
12:07 But in the 2024 to 2025 timeframe,
12:12 there's been 610 trees.
12:15 And that there has been participation
12:17 I think spread very nicely across the city.
12:20 I think each ward from north to south
12:23 has been involved in this.
12:26 In 2026, we're planning to do 400 trees
12:31 And that, well, I'll just back up.
12:35 Well, the 10 shipping error,
12:38 they gave us 10 too many and said, give them away.
12:41 So we did, but we started in 2024 with 100 trees.
12:45 And then we went to 200 and we said,
12:48 I mean, 200 for events.
12:50 So for the year, 200 for 2024, 400 for 2025.
12:55 And so we said, well, 2026,
12:57 let's just keep it steady.
12:59 You know, we kind of a couple of pilot years
13:02 and let's try one more thing here.
13:05 And that is we have a sense
13:09 that there is a demand by residents
13:13 to have some help planting trees.
13:16 And that if we could come up with some way to do that,
13:20 that this program could be grown farther.
13:23 And so we have made association
13:27 with the Western Land Reserve Tree Stewardship Program
13:34 where they have trained tree stewards
13:37 that are going to help us selectively
13:40 in helping residents plant trees this spring.
13:44 So that's where we're headed with it.
13:47 A couple of, or some small pictures there,
13:49 just to give you a sense.
13:50 This is a picture out of the portal
13:52 of it will be offering eight species.
13:55 And another thing that we've done
13:57 is that we're calibrating ourselves
14:00 on how large of a tree individuals can take.
14:05 Individuals can take, you know,
14:06 some lots are very small and constrained
14:08 in terms of built infrastructure.
14:11 And we have now gotten to a point
14:13 where about three fourths of the trees
14:16 are things that can build, be planted,
14:19 proximate to buildings, power lines,
14:21 that sort of thing and not get in the way,
14:23 but still maintain some selections for residents
14:26 that have properties that can get a little bit bigger.
14:30 So that's a scoop on the tree giveaway.
14:34 And I think it's something that we are very proud of
14:39 and also very confident that it's something
14:43 that we can continue to grow and sustain
14:47 once we have more hands.
14:50 And that's the tree steward pilot on it.
14:55 You might wanna, before I leave this topic,
14:57 you might be asking yourself,
14:58 well, is this is dropping the bucket?
15:00 Like, you know, how impactful can this be
15:04 to the goal to increase our canopy coverage
15:09 to that 10% bump in it?
15:13 If you go and look at the master tree plan,
15:17 there is an estimated number of trees
15:19 of how many it takes to get that.
15:23 And I did just a quick back of the envelope.
15:26 If we stayed at this 400 trees per year
15:31 and every single tree lived to maturity
15:34 and we did it for 10 years,
15:37 we'd get pretty close to meeting
15:40 the private property portion of that.
15:44 So it's, you know, not all the trees live,
15:47 you know, they don't make it to their maturity,
15:50 et cetera, but I think we're at least
15:52 in the right order of magnitude
15:54 in terms of the program.
15:56 And I think that if we can boost this a little bit stronger
16:00 as well as residents learn about trees planting,
16:06 hopefully valuing the trees they have,
16:09 like they will start growing in knowledge.
16:11 And it's not just what you're planting and growing,
16:14 but it's also preserving what you have.
16:16 So I think significant but not sufficient
16:21 would be my statement in terms of
16:24 is this gonna get us there?
16:27 But I think great strides.
16:30 The second program and therefore that leads
16:33 into the public engagement of how do we reach people,
16:39 I'd like to talk about three items.
16:41 One is the traditional outreach events
16:43 where, you know, we do the tree giveaway,
16:46 we go to Madison Park for the Lakewood Community Festival
16:51 So we have those kind of things,
16:52 but we also have two new programs
16:54 that we are piloting in 2026.
16:57 One is the Tree Stewards, which I mentioned earlier,
16:59 and we'll tell a bit more about.
17:01 And the other is the community arboretum.
17:04 I'll tell you about two.
17:06 So just one slide on outreach events.
17:09 As I mentioned, Tree Board does two dedicated
17:13 where we lead, but we really try to collaborate
17:17 and to add onto and support other entities' activities.
17:24 So library story walks, Garden Walk Lakewood,
17:26 Lakewood Garden Club and Friends of Madison Park.
17:29 You know, Lakewood is just so strong
17:33 in terms of local organizations
17:36 that are aligned with growing canopy in a lot of ways.
17:43 And so we're not looking to reinvent the wheel,
17:45 but to rather support what's going on.
17:50 So let me get into the second
17:51 of the three public engagement end of things,
17:55 and that is Tree Stewards.
17:57 So basically, what Tree Stewards are is they get about,
18:03 I think it's something in the order of 20 hours
18:05 of hands-on training by professionals
18:09 so that they can end up really knowing
18:13 and being able to do best practices
18:15 with respect to planting trees, mulching, tending them,
18:19 structurally pruning small trees,
18:22 anything that it takes to get trees up and going.
18:26 And these Tree Stewards are alive and well
18:30 and active in the city of Cleveland,
18:32 but the program up until now has been limited
18:36 just to the city of Cleveland.
18:38 We have been in conversation for a couple of years now
18:41 with this organization, continue to express our interests.
18:45 How can we bring something like this
18:47 to the city of Lakewood?
18:49 And what's really exciting is that the time has come
18:52 that the existing Cleveland-based Tree Stewards
18:59 are going to be offered the opportunity to help us
19:03 with the spring tree giveaway
19:05 so that we can give some percentage
19:09 of residents help with planting their tree.
19:13 But funding apparently has come through now
19:17 to be able to expand their training
19:21 and go beyond the footprint of the city of Cleveland
19:25 and to include Lakewood.
19:27 So we're very optimistic and looking forward to mid-year
19:33 to be able to begin to engage
19:36 in this Tree Steward program at some level to be determined.
19:42 But I think we're gonna really make a nice step
19:46 in the right direction,
19:48 not only in the ability to support our residents
19:52 for the tree giveaway,
19:54 but when you think of the whole spectrum
19:56 of educational and engagement kind of activities
19:59 that we might be able to do,
20:00 it might be an activity of,
20:02 hey, come here and we'll teach you
20:05 how to take care of your,
20:06 first of all, how to prune
20:08 and to take care of your pruning shears.
20:10 There's just many, many opportunities
20:13 that this will avail us of.
20:15 So think in terms of leveraging the community engagement
20:20 in knowing how to and to confidently grow trees
20:27 Okay, keep rolling here.
20:28 And then the third of public engagement
20:30 is that we recognize that we will tentatively be,
20:36 you know, always, I should say always be people limited.
20:39 Like, you know, we can only do so much programming
20:43 and to really reach everyone in the community,
20:46 we need to combine our active programming with passive.
20:50 The ability for our residents to be able to,
20:55 at their own time, at their own leisure,
20:58 avail themselves of training and learning about trees.
21:01 And so what actually Alison and the audience here with us
21:06 brought to the tree board
21:07 is there is an organization, Arbnet,
21:10 run out of the Morton Arboretum internationally
21:14 that supports communities in creating arboreta.
21:18 The tree board started with a vision,
21:20 it's like, why would we even wanna do this?
21:22 And we said, well, in the end,
21:24 we want people in all of us in Lakewood
21:28 to feel like we are living in an arboretum.
21:31 You know, it is Lakewood.
21:33 And that by starting to think about
21:40 and to create educational opportunities around trees
21:44 that we can achieve this vision
21:48 of a community that deeply values trees,
21:51 that individuals are empowered to preserve
21:53 and expand the canopy,
21:55 and that ultimately we are strengthening our identity
21:59 as a place where nature and people come together.
22:02 So lofty vision, the second and final slide for this
22:07 is that we are taking a first step this year
22:11 partnering with the Cove Community Center
22:16 with their intergenerational programs
22:19 and that that's a quick graphic
22:24 of the Cove Community Center and their outdoor space
22:28 and how it's being used.
22:30 But basically, we are going to be going
22:33 for level one certification.
22:34 So, and the requirements are,
22:37 you have to have an arboretum plan.
22:40 A governing group will combine tree board
22:43 and Cove Community Center people on that.
22:47 Someone who manages it, you know,
22:48 we already have in place the Cove Community Center
22:51 along with City Forestry Department, a labeled collection.
22:56 We have already done this.
22:57 We've inventoried the trees and have them ready
23:00 for people to be able to passively walk through
23:03 and say, oh, that's a such and such.
23:05 And then finally, public access
23:08 and at least one event per year.
23:10 And it's the events, I think,
23:11 that are gonna make the difference here
23:13 is that this in essence establishes
23:19 the property around the green space
23:20 around Cove Community Center as an arboretum
23:24 and one that has the bones, you know, the bare bones.
23:27 It's level one, but it has identified species for people.
23:33 It's got a really nice diversity of species
23:36 as it turns out to be.
23:38 And one that we can now have a place
23:41 where we can host educational activities
23:46 as well as offer passive.
23:48 We can have, you know, on your phone, click here
23:51 and we'll take you around these different things.
23:54 So our, you know, I won't go back to the vision
23:56 at this point, but our vision is that we
24:01 grow arboreta throughout the city of Lakewood.
24:04 So maybe we go to Madison Park.
24:06 Maybe we go to Kauffman Park.
24:08 Why not every park?
24:10 But this is our pilot year.
24:12 We said, let's get to know the Arbnett Foundation.
24:15 Let's work with, you know, what we already have in place
24:19 at the Cove Center and we'll grow it from there.
24:25 So there's our public engagement.
24:29 And then finally, just a quick commentary
24:32 on our key, our third of three programs,
24:35 the regional network, is first of all,
24:37 Tree City USA, I don't know if you've heard,
24:40 but we have just achieved our 50th year
24:43 of certification as the city of Lakewood.
24:46 So kudos to many people whose shoulders
24:49 we're standing on to have gotten that.
24:53 The Western Reserve Land Conservancy Tree Sewers
24:56 that I've already spoken to that, you know,
24:58 we're already now holding hands with us
25:01 and helping us get our dreams come true
25:04 as far as growing a set of trained volunteers
25:08 who can really boost the program.
25:12 And then there's two other professional associations.
25:17 One, the North Coast Urban Forestry Conference
25:19 and the other, the Cuyahoga County Tree Summit
25:21 and Tree Board Network.
25:23 That is just amazingly wonderful source of information
25:29 as well as networking of our colleagues
25:32 from other local communities.
25:35 I just put up a picture of the flyer
25:40 from the last Cuyahoga Tree Summit that was held.
25:44 And it was, just to give you an idea,
25:46 each of these will have a theme.
25:48 This last theme was tree supply chains.
25:51 So they're really looking, the researchers
25:54 have given the state of how our climate is changing
25:57 and our infrastructure is changing.
26:00 For instance, what should we be planting
26:02 and what do we expect to be thriving
26:05 in these kind of conditions 20 years from now
26:07 so that recognizing that trees are something
26:11 that takes a generation to grow,
26:14 we better be thinking years in advance
26:17 in terms of how we think conditions
26:19 are gonna be changing.
26:21 So that's just one example
26:22 and one that I think that we as city of Lakewood
26:26 are starting to be able to offer back as well.
26:31 Like, you know, we've been able to help people,
26:32 for instance, learn from what we've done
26:35 with the tree giveaway program
26:37 and take it to their community as well.
26:41 So I'll wrap up with priorities and needs.
26:45 As I started out the conversation here
26:49 that we really are focusing in on planting
26:52 and preserving residential canopy,
26:55 recognizing that the city is doing a great job
26:58 on the public spaces.
27:00 We're gonna continue to double down
27:02 and refine the tree giveaway program.
27:05 And also, we are beginning to
27:08 and want to continue to create basic materials
27:13 around tree preservation.
27:15 You know, the tree giveaway is very much around
27:17 let plant new, but let's all take care
27:19 of what we have as well.
27:22 As far as engaging residents,
27:25 we have as a top priority
27:27 getting that Arboretum certification
27:29 at the Cove Community Center.
27:32 We also recognize that our tree-related content
27:36 on the city web is often difficult to find.
27:42 You know, you pose different kinds of questions
27:44 and there's probably gaps in there.
27:46 And so we have plans to at least kind of wire frame
27:51 what's there and how does it relate
27:53 and to do our best as far as making it easier
27:58 for our residents to be able to get what they need.
28:02 And this is in partnership with the city,
28:05 so it's both from what they need for their private trees
28:08 but also what they need to understand
28:10 from the city perspective.
28:12 And then, of course, to continue to offer
28:15 and as we build capacity,
28:17 to offer more educational events.
28:21 It's a big ticket set of things.
28:23 I think that we know what we need to do,
28:27 but I think that there are only five appointees
28:31 and we recognize that nothing happens
28:34 without a lot of capable volunteer corps.
28:37 So we are really prioritizing partnering
28:41 to get tree stewards in place in the city of Lakewood
28:44 as well as to continue to strengthen partners and funding,
28:50 which I think we've got a good solid start,
28:51 but you never let that sleep.
28:56 So that's our current state
28:59 and I thank you on behalf of the tree board
29:02 to be able to present it to you
29:03 and to offer any responses to questions.
29:08 Well, pardon me, thank you, Chair Stephens,
29:10 and for the thought put into this extensive report
29:16 and future projection of what we're gonna do this year.
29:21 So I've got a list full of questions,
29:23 but let me open it up to colleagues,
29:25 Mr. Baker and then Mr. Evanson,
29:27 and also Councilman Bixenstein, of course,
29:30 is an alumni of the organization,
29:33 so I'm sure he has good things to say.
29:34 So Councilman Baker.
29:36 Thank you, Chair Stephens,
29:39 and I appreciate the report.
29:41 I always look forward to it,
29:44 and I'm always, that chart is always,
29:46 or the map, I think it was in the Plain Dealer,
29:48 Cleveland.com that shows the loss of tree canopy
29:50 in Lakewood is always hard.
29:53 Having lived here in 2012 and getting married
29:56 a week after Superstorm Sandy,
29:57 I remember why, the age of our canopy
30:00 and then pretty tremendous storm event
30:03 kinda double hit us.
30:06 And I love the work that you
30:10 and the entire advisory board are doing.
30:13 Two things that kind of come to my mind
30:15 or a couple things that interested in working
30:18 with the Education Advisory Board on is,
30:22 so we're doing tree giveaways,
30:24 and this is gonna take some collaboration
30:26 if it would ever work,
30:27 but for example, there's an obligation
30:31 for people in Lakewood to maintain their sidewalks.
30:34 The city can do it,
30:38 and you can pay them essentially a set rate.
30:41 And I'm wondering if there's some kind of collaboration
30:43 then that the city can, with its purchasing power,
30:46 essentially work with residents
30:48 where you can get a tree planted on your property
30:55 and then there's like a warranty period associated with it
30:57 for someone who maybe doesn't have the physical ability
31:00 to maintain a tree or do that.
31:03 So I wonder if there's a way,
31:04 like the city can use its bulk pine power
31:06 to help people in their backyard
31:09 or on their private property
31:11 in a way that would be similar
31:13 to how we do the sidewalk program,
31:15 which essentially there's a contractor
31:16 that has a set amount per tree,
31:19 per age, per DBH or whatever it is,
31:25 Second, and this is something
31:27 I've been trying to conceptualize,
31:31 and actually just saw, I think it was South Euclid
31:33 came out with a large preservation tree ordinance
31:35 that they're debating now, one of those communities.
31:40 And I think it's still going through
31:42 their committee process,
31:43 and interested in working with the Education Advisory Board
31:47 on how do we create a system?
31:51 Because I think about planting trees,
31:55 covering the lost canopy is really important,
31:57 but then preserving our mature trees
31:59 that are healthy is also very important.
32:02 And so is there a way to have a stick and a carrot
32:06 as it relates to a private property owner in a tree?
32:09 Private property rights,
32:10 people can do what they want on their property.
32:13 We do have zoning though.
32:15 There are ways in which government can incentivize
32:19 or de-incentivize certain things on property.
32:22 Wondering if there's like an impact fee
32:24 that someone would have to pay
32:26 if they wanted to take down
32:27 an otherwise healthy, mature tree.
32:29 I also understand that it takes a lot of staff time
32:31 to kind of monitor those things
32:32 and process those permits.
32:35 So it would take a lot of collaboration
32:39 But that's something I think I'd like to try to work
32:42 with the Education Advisory Board,
32:44 and I think the public safety,
32:47 I'm sure the public,
32:49 this committee chair is a member of the TAAB.
32:52 And so I commit myself to working with you guys on that.
32:56 I know it's not going to be easy,
32:58 especially when you're dealing with people's
33:00 private property rights,
33:01 but a large tree doesn't just provide benefits
33:05 to the property it's on,
33:06 it provides benefit to the adjoining properties.
33:10 something that I've tried to work with my colleagues on
33:15 and it's finally coming into fruition
33:15 is like a lot of the access lands on I-90,
33:20 it used to be just limited access right of way for ODOT
33:23 is now going to be city owned property.
33:25 So we're actually going to acquire them and plat them.
33:28 And we've always had the maintenance obligation on them,
33:30 but never were able to do anything on them,
33:33 but we will own them this year
33:35 and we can do whatever we want with them,
33:38 as long as it's a public use.
33:40 So I think that will be an opportunity
33:41 for some public planting
33:44 that will also provide a nice noise buffer
33:46 and kind of canopy for the folks that live near I-90,
33:50 which, and I know we have less canopy south
33:53 as we go further south than Lakewood, I think.
33:56 So those are the three things I wanted to praise your work,
34:00 but if you have anything to add
34:02 as to what I said, I'd appreciate it.
34:03 I just thank you and noted,
34:05 and I think the tree board's willing and able
34:08 to work with you on each of these.
34:12 I will say that there is a program in place
34:17 for a resident to be able to purchase a tree
34:19 and have it planted at the same cost
34:22 of what the contractor that we use
34:26 to plant the street trees.
34:28 And I've just learned from our city staff
34:31 at our February meeting that they're looking into,
34:35 well, how might you be able to arrange the pricing
34:39 for somebody to have it in their backyards as well,
34:42 recognizing that there's extra effort associated
34:46 with getting a tree back there.
34:48 So I think that's a case of where we have a program
34:52 that many people don't know about it,
34:54 and I think it's a good case in point of,
34:59 let's get that web looked at
35:01 in terms of making sure that it's there
35:03 and then use PR, et cetera,
35:05 to let people know that that exists,
35:09 because I think we've got the system in place to do that.
35:14 I'll just comment on the ordinances
35:16 that I recognize that it's not a straightforward
35:18 and easy thing to do,
35:21 but myself and one other member of our tree board
35:25 do have experience in tree ordinance work
35:28 from other communities,
35:29 and so I think it would be something for us
35:32 to sit down and think about what form that might take
35:35 to be able to support that.
35:38 And then third, just exciting news
35:41 to hear about the excess lands
35:43 and if there's anything that we can do
35:46 to help support that for all years.
35:52 Thanks, Chair Stevens and Mr. Baker,
35:54 and I, by the way, support what you're talking about,
35:58 so I'm glad you're kind of daylighting
36:02 a possible intention to explore
36:05 how the city encourages or requires
36:09 or regulates private tree management.
36:12 Another concept we have kicked around over the years
36:16 would be stormwater rebates or stormwater incentives.
36:23 I don't know if that works as well
36:25 for our stormwater district as it does
36:28 with the countywide regional sewer district,
36:30 but it's a concept that way you'd have it,
36:33 and you talked about carrots as well as sticks,
36:34 so that's a possibility.
36:39 Just a few comments to build on
36:40 what Councilman Baker was talking about.
36:42 I think a logical place to start looking
36:45 at how we can, as a city, incentivize
36:47 planting on trees on private property
36:49 is at least one street per year.
36:52 We're completely rebuilding.
36:54 We're losing most, if not all,
36:55 of the trees in that street.
36:56 The city's replacing those street trees,
36:57 but at the same time can we offer trees
37:00 to the property owners on that street
37:02 at a reduced price, you know,
37:04 as we're buying so many trees to begin with?
37:06 So that might be a logical place to pilot that program,
37:09 or at least a good place to start.
37:10 That makes sense, and I may add,
37:12 are we making sure that we're not taking down
37:16 mature trees as much as possible?
37:18 And that's a road construction matter
37:22 that I think we need to spend our time on.
37:24 Right, and then just two quick comments.
37:27 One thing I really appreciate about this board
37:29 is you're really able to find a sweet spot
37:32 between being aspirational and being realistic.
37:35 Taking on seems like just enough
37:37 to make really thoughtful programming
37:39 throughout the year that makes a difference,
37:40 so I appreciate that.
37:42 And lastly, on the cove work,
37:45 you know, this is really great,
37:45 because this is additive.
37:47 It's not just about trees.
37:48 This is about programming a cove,
37:50 and actually the idea of doing this
37:53 led to cove receiving some grant dollars
37:56 and the possibility to receive more
37:57 for intergenerational learning,
37:59 which this is a part of.
38:00 So this, you know, it's really great
38:02 when we have programs that build into each other mesh
38:05 and, you know, work together to get resources,
38:07 so I really appreciate that.
38:11 Councilman Bickenstein.
38:14 Thank you, Chair Stevens and Allison, for being here.
38:17 I just wanna really sing your praises a little bit
38:20 for the two of you, as well as for Mary and Katie.
38:23 I have a great deal of admiration
38:25 for the Tree Advisory and Education Board here
38:29 The fact that by the end of this year,
38:30 you guys will have led to 1,000 trees
38:36 being planted on private property in Lakewood
38:39 is really significant.
38:42 And, you know, I certainly don't wanna overlook
38:45 what a accomplishment that is, you know,
38:47 even as we're looking at a long-term 10-year goal.
38:50 That's really significant.
38:51 And when you think about,
38:54 you mentioned the Cuyahoga County canopy assessment
38:58 that they're probably due to do a new assessment here soon,
39:01 but, you know, they use satellite imagery
39:03 for making that assessment.
39:05 And my understanding is the satellite can't register a tree
39:08 unless it's at least 12 feet tall,
39:11 12 to 15 feet, somewhere in that range.
39:12 So what you are doing, what this board is doing,
39:16 is the epitome of planning for the future,
39:18 planning and planting for the future,
39:19 because you're getting trees in the ground,
39:23 recognizing that it'll take time
39:25 before they register on a county tree canopy
39:30 assessment satellite,
39:31 but knowing that they're making immediate impact
39:34 for their new owners, for residents,
39:37 for entire neighborhoods.
39:39 And, you know, I really just wanna commend you guys
39:42 on your great work and look forward to continue
39:45 to assist wherever I can in my new role.
39:47 So thank you very much.
39:50 Thank you, Councilman.
39:51 And we're running up on time here.
39:53 So I'll contact you and Allison both
39:59 for a separate follow-up to do a download
40:03 as I can cut up on all the great activities you're doing.
40:06 What strikes me here is that you really expanded
40:09 the public education aspects of this work,
40:12 and that's important.
40:14 And I might have missed it,
40:15 but in addition to the number of trees given away,
40:18 how many people did we reach or households?
40:22 Well, it is a one per household,
40:24 although we have about a 10% redirect
40:30 for each of our giveaways where something happens
40:33 and people can't take it,
40:34 and then we end up giving it,
40:37 letting people have a second tree.
40:40 So easily 500 people, we can say.
40:43 And so that's significant.
40:44 And that's an asset, that's probably a good metric
40:50 for us to track in terms of our success
40:56 at promoting and maintaining urban forestry
40:59 across the city, right?
41:01 And that's a new layer that I think in the early days,
41:05 we may not have had as much focus on.
41:07 So good work and thank you for that effort.
41:13 So I'll save all the rest of my questions
41:17 And Allison, thanks for the initiative
41:20 on the Arboretum, Arboretai.
41:22 I wrote down that we could easily find multiple locations
41:26 such as Celeste Park, West Clifton and Clifton,
41:31 and Bernice Pike Park would be another great place.
41:35 You know, the possibilities are many, many fold.
41:41 Okay, without objection,
41:42 the Public Works and Sustainability Committee is adjourned.
41:47 Let's take a quick.