Minutes of a meeting of
The Old Lyme Tree Commission
June 21, 2012
Attendance:
Regular members present: Joanne DiCamillo, Anne Bing, Gerry Foster, Emily Griswold
Alternate members present: Joan Flynn
Ex-officio members absent: Tom Degnan, Tree Warden
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A quorum being present, Chairman Joanne DiCamillo called the meeting to order at 4:07 P.M.
REPORTS
Clerk’s Report – The minutes of the 4/19/12 meeting were reviewed.
MOTION: Gerry Foster moved, seconded by Anne Bing, to accept the April minutes as presented. Joanne DiCamillo, Anne Bing, Gerry Foster, and Emily Griswold voted in favor. Joan Flynn abstained as she was not present at the April meeting. Motion carried.
Transfer of the commission’s meeting minutes – 2001-2009
Martha Hansen scanned the minutes and saved them on a flash drive. She will give them to Cathy Frank who will transfer them to the town’s digital files. Mrs. DiCamillo has a number of Tree Commission files that will need scanning.
BUDGET REPORT
Balance & summary of expenditures YTD
Mrs. DiCamillo reported that as of June 15, 2012, the balance in the General Fund (Tree Commission and Public Works) was $3,334.08, with $2,255 allocated for contracted services. The total budget for FY2011-2012 was $11,010.
NEW BUSINESS ~
Town Hall – elm tree evaluation
Charlie Iselin, Iselin Tree Service, evaluated the elm tree which has been losing its leaves for several weeks. He reported to Mrs. DiCamillo the leaf drop could be caused by a fungus or Dutch elm disease. He will continue to monitor the tree for the next few weeks to make a determination. It may need to be taken down.
Town Hall – Norway maple removal
The Norway maple south of the Town Hall meeting room was removed. It has been in decline since its roots were damaged during the Town Hall construction project. Mrs. DiCamillo asked the members to consider planting a replacement and to bring a list of suggestions to the next meeting.
Academy Lane & Lyme St. corner – white ash
Charlie Iselin evaluated the white ash tree. It is losing its leaves due to a fungus. New leaves are beginning to grow once again. The tree should recover by the end of the summer.
Town Hall New plantings – Maintenance
Ed Adanti and Mrs. DiCamillo discussed the maintenance of the shrubs at the Town Hall. Mr. Adanti feels they should be trimmed at the present time to keep them in bounds and would like to engage Jack Kelly, Old Lyme Landscape, to trim them. The commission members discussed his request and decided the shrubs may need trimming in late summer. All members agreed to select a meeting date in August to lightly prune the shrubs.
Town Hall – dogwoods
Iselin Tree Service pruned the three Kousa dogwoods at Town Hall in early spring. The dogwoods have put out a lot of new growth. Mrs. DiCamillo asked Mr. Iselin to lightly trim them one more time.
Tantummaheag – tree removal
Tom Degnan has marked a tree for removal on Tantummaheag Road.
OLD BUSINESS ~
23 Hefflon Farm Road – permit request to remove London plane tree
The tree warden evaluated the tree in early spring and talked with Mr. Vitali. He explained the tree is healthy; therefore, he would not authorize removing it with town funds. However, if Mr. Vitali still feels very strongly about removing it, the tree warden agreed to authorize removal of the tree at Mr. Vitali’s expense. Mr. Vitali followed up in early June with a permit application to prune the tree, or to remove the tree and grind the stump down. The permit application was mailed from Town Hall to Mr. Degnan’s home for him to review.
MEMBERS’ REPORTS – none
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Care of Trees-annual Dutch Trig treatment
Care of Trees treated 5 elm trees (at 9 Lyme Street, 52 Lyme Street, 75 Lyme Street, 5 McCurdy Road, and 67 Sill Lane) in the beginning of June. They billed the town for treatment of 6 trees at a cost of $610.00. This figure is incorrect. It should be $531.00. Mrs. DiCamillo will contact Care of Trees for a second time to request a new bill. The chairman expressed disappointment with the Dutch Trig treatment program and asked members for their opinions in continuing with the annual program in the future. An elm tree in front of Town Hall was infected with Dutch elm disease last spring and had to be taken down. The remaining elm tree is in decline this spring, with the possibility of Dutch elm disease as the cause. The four remaining elms appear to be healthy. After a long discussion, the members decided to cancel
treatment.
Motion: Anne Bing moved, seconded by Gerry Foster, to cancel treatment of the elm trees for Dutch elm disease. All present voted in favor.
Big Y Community Volunteers – clean up of planting beds @ Town Hall
The volunteers did a wonderful job cleaning up the planting beds.
2012 list of young trees- members weed & mulch
A few trees are still in need of attention.
Lyme St. firehouse – screening of new transformer onsite
District 18 has an easement on the Town firehouse property where CL&P installed a new transformer directly next to a mature dogwood. No one filed a permit application with the tree warden or notified the tree commission about the project. The Historic District Commission received a request for screening.
Communications
The Tree Commission received a letter from the Sound View Commission describing the enhancements and improvements proposed for Sound View. The commission has a web page on the town web site.
Ann Brown forwarded an article from the Connecticut Law Tribune to the Tree Commission referencing an article about invasive bamboo. Golden bamboo is an aggressive, nonnative, highly invasive plant that is not included on Connecticut’s invasive plants list. The bamboo spreads by runners underground and is very hard to control or eliminate.
REMINDER - Next Meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next scheduled meeting is on Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 4 PM at the Town Hall.
ADJOURNMENT
Gerry Foster moved, seconded by Anne Bing, to adjourn the meeting at 5:15 P.M. Motion unanimously approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Martha Hansen
Clerk
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