##VIDEO ID:7wXKgJ4ZGmI## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e meeting the order in accordance with the uh open Public public meeting Act of 1975 adequate notice turn on turn on your phones or turn on your microphones adequate notice meeting has been provided uh please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice of all welome oh all right Carol will you do the roll call please sure uh Jay here uh Shane uh not here um Carol York's here Carol siik here Barbara premer here George W here uh George a is excused Jim Van Pelt is excused Frank no absent okay excus excused and Ron is okay you have the minutes from the uh August or the minutes from the uh August meeting in front of you if you haven't taken a look at them please take a look okay I'll entertain a motion to so move Jay approve as presented so move do I have a second I'll second okay all those in favor I any any abstentions any rejections all right pass I just have a comment about the minutes yeah just a comment about the minutes uh on the last page where it talks about two uh locations on Virginia Avenue um the minutes are correct but I was incorrect on the address of one of the trees the one that says 1122 should be 1110 10 and so I will contact Ron maner and and also get get a hold of County too and have her so it's 12 1110 right it's 1110 the second did he look at did he didn't get back to you yet did he no he got back to me on the other tree 1222 okay all right but there is no tree at 11:22 okay all right thanks all right we have some guests here today uh gentlemen you are whom myet sorry Albert marot okay and you're here I'm here yes no for what purpose 905 905 KY yes and turn that turn that press the button so that light goes green yes yes yes I'm I'm here uh my house is at 905 Kierney Avenue 905 Kerney yeah KY I was I was at the last meeting uh also and U at that meeting you were going to have a arborist come to yes this is the Pine Tree close to the garage yes all right he did and uh and I think we he his report because of the upheaval of the ground uh over the course of several years uh indicated that tree is likely to fall in a high wind and so he gave approval we gave approval I think did we not for removal of that tree okay so so what happens now where do I go from here you hire somebody to take the tree down I'm good to go you're good to go okay no no more permits or anything like that is there anything was there another I think you already you already submitted a check for $75 for that's all you need to do okay can I in that regard my next door neighbor Wayne Connor the guy to the little bit to the west of you yes just like facing my house next house that guy who's the tree is going to fall on his house right he that's his that's his garage that's his garage yeah yeah okay the uh he had paid $75 also we sent him his money back did we sent him his money back cuz we was in question who really owned the tree I understand so it turns out you owned a tree so you got whacked for 75 that's okay and we we agree anyway we're we're good friends we agreed all right okay Mr Mar we had quite a spirited discussion about that okay I want to ask know about the money thanks very much thank you thank you sir appreciate that let the record show that Shane is here yep hello everybody and you sir with me is she with you you can stay if you want you can turn thank you no leave it on okay ma'am you want to come up yes pull are you together from lower Township pull up another chair it should always be to the right hey how are you good to see you mark to after the Mee thanks for your patience how are you guys good and would you state your name for the records please Becky Chamberlain Mark Chamberlain oh okay all right and you're here from lower Township because lower Township is interested in forming the shade Tre commission no they are not we are oh we haven't approached them yet well I have here find out information about it okay we've had a commission to shade to a commission of one form or another in case May for around I think uh 48 49 50 some odd years and we've evolved the procedures and whatnot over that time until a year year and a half ago and we really needed we had to re we had to change our ordance uh to keep up with what the builders and whatnot were doing uh we had started out uh the shade tree commission what by ordinance was responsible for trees 8 in or more in diameter measured mean chest height which is D defined as four and a half feet above the ground mean chest height okay of 8 in diameter we necked that down several years ago to 6 in and the ordinance that we passed last spring uh is down to 3 in now so on private property private property not just public property but private property the Shad Commission in Kate May has the ability to say yes or no on removal of a tree three in or more in diameter on private property yes so do they have to ask you if they like what if somebody's you know doing construction and they just take if somebody just takes the treat and you have an ordinance passed with that degree in it whatever inches you guys choose or whatever is passed by your city commission you can take them to Municipal Court then remedy is your code enforcement I think you have have code enforcement officers in in lower Township your code enforcement or your City attorney can issue a a municipal court order it would go to court and the value of that tree no matter what it is is $27 a basil inch a basil inch is the number of square inches measured 4 and A2 fet above the ground let's say a 10 inch they took a 10 inch straight down because it was in a way uh and no reason for all it didn't you weren't involved but you had an ordinance pass 10 in the radius of a 10in tree 10 in diameter is 5 in but squared is 5 * 5 is 25 time Pi that's 3.1416 no no no times $27 an inch is it so it's a deterrent is that deterrent exactly so let's say somebody took down like a regular tree a regular tree say like this and it was very tall what would that roughly cost them in F 3,000 some OD dollars 3,000 or more it's s can I say something you know if you're going to approach this you want to approach a small first get the Buy in you know from your from your residents uh we as a city of Kate may as part of this we pay a lot of money for tree maintenance especially the tree maintenance that's along the streetscape which is makes K me so beautiful so we also have uh control over private properties you know you know we we want them to ask us you know by the trees going into the house or the shed or it's in bad condition etc etc large or small trees are important to all of us here and I'm just of the Aon I'm not a voting member here just so you know um so I would I would if I were you I would look for trees of significance you know Street trees especially because you want those to be maintained by the municipality because that makes the town beautiful but also you want to get by and saying listen you know this is a beautiful tree we need to protect us you know they have a beautiful Park uh where the old golf course is yeah they just raped that whole area next those trees are just magnificent and uh and to go there for a couple times I was just so impressed you know the they the old trees that were here before we were did you see what they did though recent I I didn't you know about it you know about it right that was on that was a as I understand by reading the paper that was private property private and the approval for development of that property was done the approval was done three years ago and they're which still goes with the property and they're now fulfilling their their their right it was private property so there was nothing anyone could do yeah that's my concern in lower um I mean and I'll start looking to notice what the public trees actually are but we don't really have a walking Community as you know and lower it's different what I what we notice are the private trees that get torn down and what's the recourse there because I understand somebody buys a piece of ground a property a houses they want to take down their trees they feel like it's their right I understand that but then at the same time how do we preserve the rights of the trees that can't speak for themselves and for the rest of the community that might also be getting uh benefit from those trees how that you want mature trees you want to protect the mature trees yes you know invasive you know but how do we wantas trees but you you want to get your buy them from the neighbors so tell you listen your neighbor you have a pool in your backyard and your neighbor takes down a giant evergreen of somewhat now you have people watching your yard you know you have to you have to educate people the the importance of beauty as well as maintaining privacy but how does that happen you just to interject you should be aware that most we didn't have to adopt the new ordinance because we had a shade tree ordinance already adopted but most communities were required to adopt a tree protection ordinance as part of a d requirement so you should be checking in with your municipality that that that they're they're supposed to have adopted this already all all towns are supposed to provide a tree protection a tree pretty sure it's called a tree protection ordinance um and and a permitting process for that is there an environmental commission isn't there something different Carol I was talking yeah that's something different she said that all municipalities should have those two things in place already they don't no well you can Mo I wouldn't say most towns have environmental commission you can have no State requires a tree protection permitting process permitting permitting process permitting so for example just like here but instead of a town that does not have a sheet tree commission their zoning office or their Code Enforcement office would issue what do you mean they the Cod the code office and the no that you're not you're not just I'm tell I'm talk about something totally separate from the shade tree towns that don't have a shade tree commission have to adopt a tree a tree protection permitting type of an ordinance but that that's not run through the shade tree because you you wouldn't have a shade tree so if they don't have it they're probably in violation of their state permit them will probably get right well they H they have to do the permit process do you know how that I don't Rec I forget I know it's out there I didn't have to pay attention to it because because you had shade tree because we had shade tree and we already have those ordinances and those Protections in place so I I I don't even remember what who pulls the permit the owner or the tree removal person own it's up to the well it's ultim it's ultimately the owner of the property's requirement whether the owner has the the tree company company do it or they do it it's it's ultimately the property owners responsibility well I would think it would go better if it was the landscaper problem how can you if they took down a tree no ultimately it's the property owners's yeah problem think it's always it's always just going to give him a mic because oh who me oh oh thank you well take you can take you can take for example the tree we discussed um that the chairman was discussing that we just approved a tree removal a second ago Mr Marriotts um uh the homeowners applied to have the tree removed because it fit the criteria of what the removal needed approval of the shade tree commission uh we denied it they appealed it um we ended up engaging in arborist to make an evaluation the arborist indicated he thought the tree should be removed it was removed uh the homeowner has to have a permit now and uh and pay a fee to get the tree removed and once the permit's issued the tree will be removed how often do you find it happens that people don't pull a permit and they just take down the trees he didn't hear you yeah I was going to say speak how often do you find in your community that people don't pull a permit and they just take down the tree less and less now because it's pretty well known they can go to they they can get fined and wind up in Municipal Court if they take a three down out permit and who who in who finds out that they've done it who Neighbors The Neighbors calls and we have Commissioners assigned to recycling districts and the Commissioners take a run through their recycling districts and they watch and see who's doing what to what to where to when do you mean why and and then the Commissioners have authority to stop like recycling the tree where they're taking day okay CU I'm just thinking in lower where I don't think that politics are the same saying so the lines drawn as districts the same as the recycling days is what oh okay gotcha gotcha gotcha so we use recycling districts to do our districts each commissioner is assigned a district they're responsible for goes people say I have a sidewalk problem with the tree the commissioner will go and determine if it's a street tree causing the problem and if it is they're encouraged to get two quotes for sidewalk repairs we or I pick the uh the like most likely candidate the homeowner puts picks 50% of that cost sends it to the city we let the contract out and when it's done to our satisfaction my city satisfaction we pay the contractor off so we have a 50/50 program we're at the age now of our trees we're getting more and more sidewalk tree conflicts in the new community it'll be years you know before little free trees start affecting well Becky I'm sorry as Becky was saying there's really not a lot of uh Street trees Street trees in that area most of your trees in Township are on private property and right now without a shade tree commission something somebody to offer some protection they have no protection none even if you even if you somebody issues us things this is a Monumental tree it's the largest oak tree for example uh that's in this area it's there's if it's on private property there's no protection okay it's going to take a municipal what do you think our U biggest um how do we get the township to buy in besides you you mentioned the law start small get supporters focus on the things that you that you cherish the most should we bring people to a meeting like this and then Focus then focus on find the people that are supportive of trees in your community okay so on Facebook Lower Town humongous yes and uh if there's I'm sure there's a lot of tree lovers out there yeah but there's a lot of non-tree lovers too that's okay yeah that's all right but then but that you know SP starting with the small stuff the things that are most important to you something that's iconic to you a giant tree in the middle of the parkway you know like you know we have a tree I think it's exit it's the uh it's one of the rest stop three it's a rest stop 23 the holly tree it's the oldest holly tree I think it's they think it's in the United States the Shoemaker yeah holly tree on the rest stop on the Garden State Parkway yeah wait is that the rest stop where you just rest there's no building yeah there's no building little circle right there the M find something like that make some iconic points get the people in support and then remind them this is a requirement anyway start small just build I have comment just what you're saying Shane is that you are interested in having a shade Tre commission but you are private citizens in other words so you have to actually get a committee that you can find for all the people that are interested in what you are interested in and with that committee then you could go forward to go into the lower Township office and and go through that process I know all of us here at actually even West Kate May would be happy to give you information that you need because we're mostly talking private you know citizens on private property and we do have we are responsible for that here at the shade Tre commission here are several copies of our ordinance okay this ordinance took 25 or 30 years to develop where it is now and hopefully if we're able to to get this word out to contractors and whatnot which we're going to talk about today uh will solve a lot of these problems lower Township compared to the prices of houses in Cape May is Affordable so you're getting a lot of people buying single family ranchers or or uh you know one-story houses cottages and whatnot in lower Township and they're they're tearing them down these are for tear Downs y now when they tear down a house has been there 20 or 30 years you got some pretty mature landscaping around that so what first comes down they take all the trees down they clearcut the trees with an ordinance in effect they would be required if the tree is not within the footprint of the house or within six feet of the footprint of the house driveway or out building they would be required to you those trees could be taken down because it's in the footprint but they're required to provide one tree for every tree that's taken down now you're taking a 10in tree down you're only going to put a 2 and 1/2 in sapling in it's not going to be the same for years but they're required to do it if they can't if they can't like in West k k b and K B if they can't provide six trees on a property say they can only do three they have to give money for a tree Bank in Cape May which we can buy trees and put anywhere we want okay yeah but see so there in lies the rub for me that they can take down these mature beautiful trees that took 50 60 70 years to grow whatever and then they can plant two little saplings I would I would suggest get a bunch of people to go around and this time of year be a good time to do it there's still leaves on the trees and take pictures in your area uh of some of the large trees on private property so that's the other thing when you talk about that like I can just feel the community over there like this is my property you can't tell me what to do is there any way to like incentivize them to designate their tree Municipal ordinance but I mean like could they get I mean do do they get any like tax breaks or anything so I think the first thing you do so I looked it up so each Community as part of their storm water permit that they get from the DP was required to adopt a um tree replacement tree removal ordinance by May 1st of 2024 so that's your first step really is to start communicating with can you send that to me here I mean so what you Barbara right what you were saying is don't don't approach lower Township until there is a committee don't approach lower Township until there is actually a committee or I I would I would agree with that you should really form since you are citizens you know not on so get together five to 10 people unofficial okay unofficial just until you can get enough people to be with you to form some committee that you can yeah we can do that I said earlier we are able able to hear us a shade tree even though there's public property we are also able to talk with other people who come in who want to remove trees for reasons on their own prop property so there's all that in that ordinance I think that Jay just gave okay that's where you go from there we're very restrictive though as as as our as a shade tree commission we are very very resp but you evolved to that is what you were telling us start with the public trees okay start with the trees that you love get people to buy into those trees then you can then you can work your way into the neighborhoods there really are no public there really aren too many find an historic tree find a his tree has to be an historic tree find a tree everybody go to the schools find a beautiful tree listen it's Arbor Day this is this one of our programs that we we're required as a commission we called a commission not a board or where we have funds we're in charge of these funds that's why we're Commissioners we're Commissioners and uh you find as part of our Charter is that we have to support tree education Arbor Day stuff you know going to the schools too say listen this is a be if you if you've seen this Elementary School over here we should as a commission consider an arboretum because there's so many diverse beautiful mature trees out there that if anything were to happened to them it would be tragic you know 20 some years ago I did a tree planting around mitnik around where mitnik School mhm oh midn so my daughter was in school in second grade then so we did a whole we planted I think 50 trees that day okay and then I also did a uh a project we did between McDonald's going towards the ferry we planted a lot of those trees one time like that was like 25 years ago and all those trees yeah well the the the ferry does their job in protecting them okay right now good buying I mean so we find a public tree and we protect it how do we protect it just that's part of your it's part of your your Beginning Charter these are trees that are important to us these are people that believe that these trees are important to the community you know you're required to have some kind of tree ordinance could we start small and start from there okay that's you know it's a huge Community yeah and I know what lower Township people are they're very uh Pro personal rights you know so we might to start with North Cap May and then maybe move to villas like that sort of thing I mean Villa getting Villas is getting U hit with a lot of trees taken down as well right now but North Kate May is by far the worst it's um second homes and the trees come down right away and we go to such a far extent that we've learned a lot of lessons from West K May too which is a very strict uh Tree City we protect our trees with a barrier when it comes construction mhm because that kills a tree in a year or two after after the fact yeah we've lost some trees on a teir down in reconstruction where the contractor drove between two double trunk maple trees perfectly healthy trees double trunk is not the best looking tree but it they were 40 or 50 or 60 year old trees and wind up destroying the drip area and the root structure of the trees they were going to come down uh and so so we're uh required him that he he had we gave permiss to take the tree on with the with the obligation that uh this before we put the ordinance in but with the obligation to put in two new trees we're still waiting on the two new trees which is something we're going to discuss today but uh he's obligated to put two new trees in the front of his property uh but that what Shane was was mentioning to a way to avoid damage during construction or demolition is to provide a solid barrier post and rail fence solid pieces of plywood or worst case scenario steel post with the plastic mesh uh one inch one inch in di one inch uh one foot from for every inch in diameter of the tree 10 inch diameter tree should be 10 10 feet out that's probably not going to be practical in some cases but that you're not supposed to have any construction material or drive any construction uh vehicles and whatnot in that area compacts the soil destroys the drip area of the tree and not right away but in three to five years or four years that tree will die because of the destruction of the root area right but with this ordinance before with our ordinance the way we have it structured now before they start construct demolition or construction they got to protect the trees now can I also start Mark you were the one who mentioned about you having uh people to that you know who are interested in this so I was just going to suggest that maybe that you mentioned it earlier that you attend some of the Sha tree commission meetings with this group that you may be able to get together that would give them an education good idea could add on to other people educating and that way I think you could really have a good group to be strong we're going to westcap May at 6 W May meets Tuesday meets tonight yeah we're meeting 6 o' how about the point do they have one they've got an environmental Commission on K May point that handles some of sha tree issues and they're running into some problems so I'm not sure they're going to expand their shade tree commission expand their environmental commission to cover trees also but they've had people cut down some Monumental trees in backyards because it TRS of view they've even had some people cut trees down on the dunes yeah the because on the third floor the Dune trees were getting so tall on the second or third floor of their Monumental houses they built they can't see the oceans they cut the trees down well I think Kate May Point took them to court on that but they did okay that's a good idea Barbara years ago get people together then come to this meeting then go to the again to Westgate May and then we'll have a United to start I think you'll see our ordinance this is very similar to the West Cape May ordinance because we took their ordinance and basically revised it a little bit and adopted it this past spring uh and uh it's in effect now and our now one of the things we're going be talking about today is how to notify the contractors or builders for tree protection before they start it seems to me they should have to pull a permit pardon it seems to me that the contractors should have to pull a permit again I don't care she said it seems that the contractors should to pull a permit we'll take the contractor or we'll take the well I think both homeowner I would I would say both so they're both liable we have a we have a uh a uh tree we have what do you call code enforcement people when my people don't carry guns or Badges and stuff like this we don't have the power to issue summonses but our code enforcement does he'll go and we'll show him his badge he can put a stop work AR on and things stop right then and there uh and then we then he can take he goes to court we'll show up and testify and whatnot uh but basically it's a uh you know it's out of our hands most likely then once it gets into code enforcement okay got it so you're welcome to look at those any questions you might have give us a call again or give us a call be happy to answer any second Tuesday of the month pardon second Tuesday of each month second Tuesday of each month we' be glad to have you back we' be interested in doing anything we can as I said before you've got some awfully mon nice Monumental trees on private property in the lower Township a lot of them I know and as I say I my suggestion is to take some pictures of some of these trees you just stand back and take some snapshots with their dresses uh and to be able to show uh the City commissioners that none of these trees have any protection I also suggest that you do go to the West Kate May uh shade we're going tonight we're going at adopted some things that they put into action so they are very Progressive and I think that maybe also because they're more Royal rural true you know the neighbors over there are very supportive of the trees exactly and that that helps with the you know and and with the publish with the shade tree ordinance and the publicity of a shade tree ordinance you'll get calls if people are taking trees down neighbors will call they're not ratting on the neighbors but they this tree is being taken down they have a permit and often often it's out of area people it's their second home they don't want to deal with the the tree limbs and the grass I mean the leaves and you know but it's I see some people now putting in fake grass I know AstroTurf instead of a lawn we sto that too oh good oh my God we got to stop that yeah oh you stopped as you're not a golf course we don't want it yeah all right okay off thank you all right thank you very much thank you all very much and we wish you we wish you a lot of We Wish You A lot of success I hope yeah we're going to do well I look forward to seeing you again absolutely good we'll be back thanks feel free to come good to see you mark all right too Becky hi guys all right I know them both real well my husband Dan used to go to Mar exercise CU all the girls were doing all the 905 Cy tree assessment I go back with yeah years ago all right 9005 Cy tree assessment we've taken care of that permission was granted to take that tree down uh 20 Patterson Avenue the and I think code enforcement is aware of this I think he has to like the 19th or so uh to put it put a tree in there there's nothing no activity in that area at all I went by it today uh and yesterday and the day before and the day before that uh this is the tree on Patterson Avenue to put two new trees in 19th of September uh pass thank you bye guys by thank you put two new trees in there I don't care whether it's on on Patterson or take the two Bradford pairs out on Mount Vernon and put the trees there it doesn't make any difference to me where he puts them uh he now he has to do something though very quickly I think we have it you want to I'll take care of this so you don't you don't need to come up or do anything but Mr pugia pul pulia P uh it's got trees at 1317 Maryland Avenue with a split and uh 1319 Maryland with some heavy branches it could split from the trunk I'll take a look at him if I can't make a judgment I'll have Ron maner take a look at them 1317 can you can you ask Ronda to do that 1317 Maryland and 131 19 Marland he would look at them also this may be a candidate for a wire job or a uh or whatnot or some removal of some of the heavy branches uh to take some of the weight off of trees what was 137 1317 Maryland and 1319 Maryland okay 1319 Maryland's got two heavy branches that could cause a split and uh 1317 Maryland has a split in in it okay now we've got trees with splits in it all over the place it's not an immediate cause for concern but it is something to look at um tree protection before construction and demolition nowhere in our ordinance I was reminded by uh the uh Construction office nowhere in the ordinance is a procedure for notifying the contractor that he must protect these trees before starts a construction and or and or demolition uh West Cap May has sent out a registered letter to All the known contractors that normally they deal with down here registered letter citing a the section our ordinance about tree protection uh before construction or or demolition begins we can do that also so we can also try maybe make a copy of that letter and give it to the Construction office they can hand out anytime they do it but I'm going to ask the Construction office to provide us with a a name or listing they should have a listing on file of all the contractors that work in Kate M uh maybe including pool contractors okay and we can send send them registered letters and Then followed up every time they set a put a set of plans in put that give them a copy of that letter that they have to protect the trees before the or before the ordinance West CAP may also suggested in an area where that that would restrict the process the the property a access so much with such a wide barrier you could use a smaller barrier but they're used they're going along with put a layer of mulch down and put uh plywood or or particle board on top of the mulch and then you can drive your construction equipment it's not the best thing but it prevents the the Compact and the destruction of the drip area and of course once the construction is done up comes the plywood out Rak off the uh whatnot so that's that's a good idea also absolutely because because the minimum around the tree should be at least 6 feet uh best would be 12T but in some areas in particularly areas in East Cap May where these smaller houses are being torn down for very large properties uh you you you've got trees that are relatively close to the house or driveway that have to be protected one way or another so does anybody have any other comments on that or way of doing it yes I I just have a question Jay what did you say about the plywood where would that go they West Kate may say another way of doing it to protect the drip area of the tree outside the boundary of a fence or protected area is Lay put put mulch down in addition to that fence and put no put mulch down and then put plywood or or or particle board on top of the mulch instead of the fence if they can instead of the fence you have still have to put the fence up still need the barrier still have to put the fence up but in areas where the where where the drip area is much wider than that fence is going to be put Mulch and plywood or particle board down and then you can drive your construction material over the top of it I mean any contractor should know it but we got to get we got to get them when they first come in with for their application for their board to remind them they have to do that because they might have to change their construction plans or even costs to allow for protection of the trees that are not allowed to be taken down for one reason or another so so do we because it's now Demolition and construction time yes it after Labor's day so now is the time where all this activity is going to happen so we got yes so should we put this in our ordinance is that what you're saying these they do what should we put this now in our ordinance about the plywood and no we'll just go ahead and do it we should do have to be any ordinance we'll what we'll do is we'll just I'll just contact the Construction office put and get and get copies of uh and get addresses we'll send a registered letter we provide them with and George and I will write the letter George A T I will write the letter and uh we'll do probably similar to I haven't seen the letter that they've they've written in cap at West Gate may but uh I can I can draft something up uh and uh I want to I would have S it out before the next meeting but I'll have it available to the next meeting good idea yeah all right does anybody else have anything for the good to the order I think we I think we've covered everything no you didn't get the city manager update oh than you skipped the city manager update the what you skipped the city manager update oh city manager update yes time for the city manager update and and our Council liaison report and Council liaison yeah new business I sat here the whole meeting and you're going to new business so um the city applied for a Grant with the us or not the US the New Jersey Department of Agriculture for uh spoted Lantern fly control um we received a $220,000 grant for spotted Lantern fly control you guys are the proud recipients of a $20,000 grant for spotter Lantern fly control so my suggestion for shade tree um and how to fly swatters fly swatters um would be would be looking at um because the tree of Heaven is not only an invasive species it is a host species for Spotter and Lantern fly um I would think that a good approach for the city would be is let's go out identify as much many spotter Lantern fly I mean um tree of Heaven trees within the city and then use the 20,000 to REM have those trees removed even if they were on private property um like hot spots replace as well let's get them removed first I think I think the I think Imus would be spending you know let's get rid of you let's get rid of those species because why create a have an attractor for that um so my ask is every District person start scouring and looking around and you know we'll do some social media outreach on Facebook you know that if a resident feels they have um you know tree of Heaven on their property reach out to us and we'll start collecting names and you know then we'll um work on you know a once we have a list of properties then we can work on you know getting those trees removed because you know I'm sure you're all aware and I'm saying this probably more for the public that may be listening in the removal of tree of Heaven is not just like going in your backyard and cutting the tree down there's a specific removal process that you must follow for removal tree of heaven where actually you could make it worse for your yard um as opposed to better um so it is a you know it is a you know difficult procedure um unless you unless you can really get in with a back ho and dig up every route that you can find um it is a process of you actually have to poison the tree um over several months to um before you can remove it so well would you recommend that we engage a particular either tree removal organization or such an entity I think use one we would designate one group as the official I think I think the first step is let's get an inventory and see how many I mean are we talking about one tree or am I talking about 10 trees um and because of the dollar amount you know that we're spending $20,000 upwards you know it is something that what I would most likely do is we would get the list and put that list out for a price quote because I you know for public procurement anything over $6,000 I have to get two quotes So I mean that that would be my recommendation on how we utilize those funds I'd be more than happy if if the you know the commission wants to look at it and and come up with a different idea on how to use grant money for Spotter and Landy control obviously fly swers we could get everybody a shiny pair of boots and cuz you know go out there and squish them um you know maybe we could have uh public works also look when they're out on their normal uh calls and on their normal work they could take a look at also is somebody here going to do the training class to educate my Public Works people on identifying tree of heaven right right at the front I mean I mean I know I mean there was like when I mean we don't have them very bad here and trust me I've with I've traveled a lot like when you get the last few days actually I to run one over on my let me speak so up in Bucks County Lancaster County like four or five years ago they were so infested with them they they were like swarming on the ground like and and different places were having contests to see how many you could Squish and record I was I was at one location and within like at my daughter's soccer game and a practice and and I and I literally stomped over a hundred of them just in the hour that I was there and those are the ones that I could even get readily not including so trust me when I say we have not seen an infestation in Kate May City Kate May County yet not like what some of our neighboring what other communities what other host trees did they have that's I mean they they love um fruit trees like okay like grapes um grape Vines so that is they they love mberry yeah any probably but I but as far as I mean the tree of Heaven I think is a I mean obviously we're not going to go around eradicating fruit trees and great you know so that's why I suggest the tree of Heaven because that's an invasive species in an unknown host I mean there are other ways that you know I don't think we want to get into I mean you know combating this bot and Lantern fly directly because then you're talking about trying to find out where they're at using poisons and you know you know using spray control but it's so localized you know they're not at a spot where I don't think treatment is going to be effective for us at this point in time Paul um I know a couple people at the ruter um extension programs that uh deal with trees um what if we'd ask a couple of them to come down on a on a given day and perhaps educate us all on on what specifically to look for um how to if we want to try to get them or you know just put put together a plan of attack sure you talking about for tree of heaven or you talking about spoted ler F both both okay I mean that's I and that's really I that was just my suggestion I I'm I'm really bringing this back to you say hey this is the opportunity we have I think the you know the shade tree commission is obviously you know the the proper vehicle to to to to determine how to best utilize these Grant funds um because the spot plan fly affects trees and you know um you so I think this is where we want to have that discussion so if we're going to take these trees down do we go on to private property they notify the owners you have a tree that has to come down well that would be part of that would be part of the discussion yes I mean and technically the having the tree of Heavens in violation of our ordinance under the invasive species control you're right it's like so Harborview Park yeah yes what's coming up over there I understand that they're going to be doing some Renovations at hiview Park I just want to remind you there are several two or three dedicated trees in that park with plaques uh I'd like to make sure that they they remain or if you're going to change them that the plaques get re resettled and any new trees that are coming in there so what's going to what's happening at planning at Harborview So the plan I believe there's plans up on the website well there was something in the paper or something and we're going we're going later next week I think to the county to to get grant funding to do the work we're going to the county to get grant funding to help pay for the park right but I'll make sure that those those trees arei there's one for Holly Le the wife of one of our former members uh is a plaque in one of the trees closest to the ocean or closest to the to the harbor and I think there's one or two other ones in there it's so overgrown that it's hard to to find them in there now okay uh that's all I have anybody else have anything for go yes I just have a question about a tree on 1360 Ohio okay um they want to take the tree down because it's the roots are affecting their sewer line that's the one with the Union L plumbers or something that came in no they haven't been in here but anyway um I just wanted to give everyone a heads up I was going to deny the request to remove the tree because I think their sewer line is pretty compromised anyhow and a tree's taking advantage of it I think they have to replace their sewer line well they probably do but I don't know whether I was not going to approve removing the tree this a street tree it's a street you're absolutely you're okay in doing that yep yep but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up because I'm sure they're going to appeal good okay Jay um everyone probably saw an email that Connie sent out last week regarding Atlantic City electrics ume tree pruning schedule okay um it's my understanding that manir can trim some of the branches or uh uh uh yeah some of the branches away from the connecting lines from the the power source are from the uh P sweet Pole to the house he can trim some of those uh branches off but any major trimming that has to be done for the power lines that come in that's the lanic electric responsibility I I think Connie's concern I'm not certainly speaking for Connie but I think her concern was trying to prioritize or attempt to prioritize what Atlantic City Electric was going to do with perhaps what we saw as Commissioners as a priority list within our districts of things that should be trimmed well we can we can compile a list yes we can I would suggest we compile a list of three power line or Andor phone line and or cable TV cable L we can call it utility yeah requests from the poll in and then submit those to Atlantic Electric they're not due to come in for a major uh clearing of lines until 2025 sometime next year we have time pardon we have time what we have time to coordinate this with them so we should compile this when these requests come in give them to them and they can they can handle it uh it's not something I want to throw on to our our uh uh arborist ramener to handle those those types of things uh we've been doing some minor work I know min been doing some mining work when requested to take some of the lines they're usually hanging over porches that might affect the power lines coming into the house but normally we don't uh we don't ask specifically to do that for the arboris that's it all right and we're probably going to be planting 10 or 12 new trees more trees this fall so if you have any big open areas that need some trees get to request in to uh to uh conetta and can she get him to George Mr chairman yes I'd like to add something yeah go ahead uh I met with an individual yesterday that was interested in dedicating part of the Lafayette Street Park especially where the soccer field is which used to be a football field back in the 70s and 80s uh dedicated to Harry Gilbert uh he was a former mayor for you know yes he worked for the county uh he also had the football team the tornadoes which is named after he also had a hamburger place a hamburger place exactly and uh they were named the tornadoes because the tornado did come through Cape May and uh they were an undefeated team for 10 years so what they were what these family members were asking for was a something like a 15x five plot as you go enter towards the playground where there's currently porta potties um you know a nice a nice cement plaque that says you know Harry Gilbert fields to effect home with the tornadoes uh some uh Evergreens some knockout roses and some cray Myrtle and uh and he's he offered you know the family offered to do some of the you know whatever the city wants to partnership with and to maintain those trees and by the way those trees by that playground they survived pretty well have you noticed that yes the on Street trees no the trees around the playground oh yes yeah I was worried about years ago it was concerned cuz they look pretty Peak and I said let them alone just let them go and they they now they they've grown very well so uh you know I'll give you some kind of design once we work with our uh our our uh landscape designer that's doing the park uh program and uh I'm present it to you just so you you know we're all part of the program secondly uh I noticed right across from the do Park on Lafayette Street there is a small tree that is you know the tree the bottom of the tree is like this and the top of tree is dying and it's a little tree so could we put a work order into public works and just cut off the suckers cuz the suckers go all the way up the tree and then the top of the tree you can see it's all brown and it's all because the bottom suckers took all the water that that's the right term right I think so yeah it works so that's what my mom calls him at least they'll cut the suckers off we'll see what happens to the top of the tree what kind of tree is it that's the only Tree in that dog park no it's across from the dog park oh across the street it's a city it's a street tree and that's in a little concrete hole right it is in a little concrete hole but it's unbelievable how how branched out the bottom of it I think it's something that we've never noticed because we drive as we say as we say in Jurassic Park Nature will find a way that's true true I have one more thing here this is a you have it in your in your pile A Tree on Vermont Avenue 1229 Vermont it's been Tak that's going to take that's a Bradford pair it's sickly that's going be Tak approved that poor thing looks Beau y approved on Friday all right okay I have one more thing yeah that's that's yeah Shane has one more thing yes beautiful uh speaking we have a contractor that Waters our trees right or we did for the summertime uh we spent some pretty Pennies on that speaking with some of the people from West capap May because I happen to work over on that side of this island that they received a forestry Grant which supplied I couldn't believe this not just the bases where you fill up the water and it slowly drips out but for for multiple years worth of Maintenance so they got the trees they got those things that just described the bags the bags and then they got the person for multiple years to maintain them we need to find out what that Grant was they'll pay for that yeah that Forester grant that they got that is well we paid $44,000 this year a month right no $4,000 was it for the whole season no $4,000 for the 25 or 30 trees that were put in this spring or early summer uh up through September to water them at least once or twice a week so I asked how much do these these apparatuses cost that you fill up the bags and I said I don't know it was a grant that's a great idea I wonder who wrote that Grant up you know I knew midan set for the Arts used to do great great riding so you never know there could be somebody over in West Kate May who I need I need do more research or figure out how to do that research you know that's you know they did the lantern flies they got this fory grant we need to tap into this that's all I have that's good news good multiple years of Maintenance ABS greata absolutely that it's so valuable it's a good one Shane excellent yeah good idea good idea who writes all right okay fure out where it is first shall we try it again I'll make a motion but I can't you make a need a motion motion by George W second by Carol s all those in favor I I thank you very much we got a lot of we got a lot of cish today look at that in an hour I can't believe it a lot good time management check and it was exactly an hour guys don't forget if you possibly can don't forget Thursday and Friday oh turn those off in October off e e for