Beautification Commission Minutes

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Attendees: K. Hurst, S. Poulson, D. Spencer, R. Larue, A. Cumming, J. Steketee, M. Maupin, A. Tanner, J. Lattanzi, B. MacDonald, D. McGill

Minutes of Nov. meeting read and approved with the following corrections:

Under Project Site Report, add Tom Arnolds, Parking Authority Director to the first sentence.

Under Tree Board, remove the sentence following the words “90 days” and in the last paragraph, add the word “downtown” at the end of the first sentence.

Presentation of Rawley lane Pedestrian Corridor. Erin Hager of Biafore Landscaping circulated a drawing of a plan to create a pedestrian corridor on the paper street the commission is calling Rawley Lane. Following revisions the next move is to take this plan to the City Manager. Final selection of plantings will happen at a later date. We asked Erin to research and add information with regard to the parking on the school property and how the proposal would affect that parking lot.

Old Business:

Renaming and Redefining of Beautification Commission: Our City Council representative distributed a new Article 163 with changes related to renaming and redefining the responsibilities of the Beautification Commission. We made several changes and the secretary will re-type the Article and it will be distributed to the members for review before the next meeting in January. The Commission members voted and approved the changing of our name from the Beautification Commission to The Landscape Commission.

Speger Lot: Our Chair has received no reply from Main Street as yet. It was noted that the fencing around the lot has been removed.

Mon Garden Council and the Blue Star Memorial: Our Chair has talked to Mr. Goff, Senior Administrator, of the Armory and he likes the idea of this memorial being placed temporarily at the existing Armory and then moving it to the new Armory site when it is completed. He will take it to the State Armory Board for approval and get back to the Commission.

New Business:

Budget: We have not spent a lot this year because many of the projects have not yet come to fruition. There is the possibility that the Commission will need to pick up the cost of planters for the Speger Lot if that project is approved. That would be a significant amount coming from the budget.

We would continue to be involved with materials for the Rawley Lane concept, and we would have the expense of plant material for the Sabraton Gateway project. We will also have to cover the Beautification staff’s supplies for the rest of the year. The Beautification staff also needs another truck. The truck that is presently being used for watering will likely not pass inspection for another year. Our Chair, our Tree Bd member and our botanist will meet to work on a finalized budget. It will then be distributed to the membership to be ready for discussion at our January meeting.

Adopt-a-Street: No report

Tree Board Report: There has been no progress on drafting a letter regarding the festoon lighting on High St. trees The Tree Bd. presented an updated list of suitable trees to City Council. The list will not be shown in the Code but it will be made available to anyone who needs it. The Board is in the process of letting a contract to work on trees on the river front, they are working on their Website, and they are working on a public outreach project. Their next meeting is January 12.

Proud of Our Town Awards: The Dominion Post has been contacted and given pictures and information on Matt Hibbs who has been nominated for an award for the clean-up project he did on the steps on North Nigh St. We hope that there will be an article in the paper soon.

BOPARC Report: No report

Project Site Report: The Beautification Office has a new project site list and is working on the annual report. Beautification staff has asked our Chair for assistance in writing the Forecast and Summary sections of the report.

There is much clean up of plant debris needed at the various sites. The B.O. Staff was contacted by Americorp who is looking for information on city land available for a community garden. Issues for most areas are the lack of water availibiltiy and deer damage. Ms. Maupin will talk to Mark Wise (BOPARC) to see if he can help with this.

The Parking Authority Director has not made contact with Public Works about relocating trash cans on High St.

Ms. Maupin noted that the S110 truck she uses for watering will not pass inspection and she has talked to Public works to try to identify a facility for her to use to work out of, store her supplies and a place for her workers to park. It has been suggested that Beautification uses the garage on Valley Crossing off Brockway. This is an underutilized area and with some additions to the structure, this may be a good location. As an alternative to a replacement truck or in addition to another truck, Ms. Maupin is looking into a vehicle that she can more efficiently use on the trails.

Meeting Adjourned at 6:16 p.m.