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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-09-2009 Regular MeetingCommittee: Date & Time: Place: Subject: Public Meeting Notice Tree Committee Wednesday, September 9 , 2009 at 3:00 p.m. Mayor's Conference Room 161 North Section Street Various Issues Notice must be stamped, dated and initialed before posted on bulletin board. Fairhope Tree Committee Meeting Mi nu tes September 9, 2009 Members P resent: Bobby Green, Tom Elli s. P aul Fontenot, Jennifer Fidler, and Maria Gwynn Members A bsent: Rick Kingrea and Skip Jon es Guests: P aul Ripp , Susan Davi s and Ed Skinner The minutes of the April 16 , 2009 meeting were ap proved with corrections . Jennifer stated that the numb er of trees given out on Arb o r Day were actually several hundred more than that which is repoited in the minute s . Tom made a motion to approve with corrections ; motion was se conded b y Maria and pa ss ed unanimously. Tom presented a book to Jack ie Frods ham to thank h er for her years of se rvice on the Tree Committee. Vacancy on the Committee: J ac kie recommend ed in January of 2009 that Harriet Gutknecht replace her o n the Tree Committee but some eight (8) months later the Mayor has not act ed on tha t recommendation. Jacki e stated that Mayor Kant had indicated to her that h e wanted to app oint a member from th e Wis teria Garden Club and the Fairhope Garden Clu b. Bobby sug ges ted writing a letter to the Mayor asking that Harriet be approved. Paul s ugge sted su bmittin g more than one name to th e Mayo r. Jennifer suggested Troy Strunk a Landscap e Architec t and Paul s ug ges ted Kath erine Pate who works for Walcott, Adams in their En vironmental Gree n Di vis ion. Tree Survey Issue -Shoppes at Fairh ope Village: Bobby pre sented the Committee with a tim e line of all th e eve nt s which have occurred concerning the Tree Survey Issue going back to October of 2007 . Jennifer stated that she had ridden the property with Arthur Co rte in 2007 and didn 't see any large trees on the property. On December 3, 2007 Planning & Zoning gave Preliminary Site Pl an Approval of the development. The minutes of that meeting refl ec t the appro va l was given provided the following conditions be met: I ) a revised Land scaped Plan be done; 2) a Tree Survey be completed; and, 3) a Tree Protection Plan , meeting the approval of Jennifer Fidler, be submitted. Paul Ripp s tated th at once these condition s h ad bee n met that it should have gone back to the Plannin g & Zoning Commiss ion for final approval. The probl em with thi s development is that P&Z did not have all the documentation before a d ec is ion .wa s m ade . Th e Tree Ordinance s tates that the Tree Survey ha s to be done and th en overl aid on the Landscape Plan indi cating the trees to be retained and the tree s to be remo ve d and an explanation of why the trees must be removed . Jennifer stated that when an engineer tell s her that the only way a site can be developed is by removal of the u·ees she doesn 't know what to do because she is not an engineer. The bottom line is that the Planning & Zoning Commission needs to have all the documentation before they mak e a decision. P a ul asked if certain steps are followed by the Plannin g & Zoning D epartment. Bobby stat ed that a checklist should be provided to Jennifer, th e Planning & Zoning Department and the Planning & Zoning Commission that would include a ll th e documentation cited in th e Tree Ordinance that need s to be included and reviewed prior to P&Z approval. Bobby stated that he needs to repo1t back to the City Council on recommendations to avoid the kind of mi stake s that were made with The Shoppes at Fairhope . The next issue is how the sa me mi stak es can be avoided in Ph ase II of the Arthur Corte development. Maria stated that before the dev e lop er doe s anything it should be explained to the developer exactly what do cumentation mu s t be provided. This again goes back to the need for a checklist. P aul urged th e committee to ge t a checklist in place before Phase II begins or th e sa me thin g will occur ag ain . Mari a will draft the checklist for the committee to approve. Maria mad e a motion for Bobby to write a letter to the City Council explaining exactly what we think happ e ned and m ake recommendati o ns to prevent the same from occurring in the futur e. Paul seconded th e motion which passed unanimously. Bobby will e-mail the letter to th e committee memb e rs for approval pri or to submitting to the Mayor and Council. Susan Davis -Tree Behind Her Shop: Mrs. Davis presented the Tree Committee members with copies of the minute s of the informal July 2009 meeting discussing the issues she ha s with th e large Oak tree behind her shop in the Hampton Inn Courtyard. Jennifer had denied he r the ri ght to cut the limb s in her airspace which hang over her shop. She is askin g the Tree Committee to rev iew Jennifer's denial and let her know what she c a n and cannot do . Mrs. Davis wants to know if she would be able to cut the limbs to add a seco nd sto ry to her building . She a lso expressed concern that the limbs might fall o n her building. Mr. Skinner stat ed th at he and Mrs . Davis each hired an attorney and tri ed to work with th e City on thi s but got no response. The attorneys advi sed tha t the onl y reco ur se was to sue . Th e committee advised Mrs. Davis that they would hav e to get a lega l opinion from the City Attorney and get back to her. It was suggested th at Jennifer, Rick Kin g rea and Torn visi t with the City Attorney. Jennifer will set up the mee ting. Ms. Davi s and Mr. Skinn er agreed to postpone the appeal until the legal opinion is obtained. Bobby suggested th at may be an allowance could be made to cut the limbs up to a height of 35 feet the max imum h e ight all ow ed for buildin g a second story but Jennifer stated she would hav e to have buildin g plan s in hand before app roval would be granted. Letter Concerning Regency and the Tree Survey conducted by Tom and Paul: The Tree Committee submitted a letter back in April to the Mayor and asked that the letter be se nt to Mr. Corte and Regency Centers. Bobby got a response back from the Mayor that the letter wo uld not be sent. Tom s ugges ted that the inventory of the trees in the right-of- way be sent to the Mayor wi th a request th at it be sent to Mr. Corte, Regency Centers and the State Highway Department with an understanding that the trees and vegetation in the right-of-way are not to be c ut acco rding to an agreement made between the Committee, Mr. Corte an d Regency Cen ters in exchan ge for all owing the Live Oak to be cut for their driveway . They h ave now asked th at the buffer in the right-of-way be cut. Tom and Paul then perform ed an inventory of a ll the trees in the right-of-way. Bobby will se nd a letter to the Mayor stati n g the Tree Committee's position with the Tree Inventory in c luded. It i s the co mmittee 's position i s that none of the trees or vegetation in the right-of-way is to be cut. Tree Removal on Publi c Property: The Mayor and the engineer hired by the county made the decision to cut the Live Oak near th e Satell ite Courthouse. This tree was in the City of Fairhope right-of-way. The Mayor gave Jennifer an order to cut the tree during the meeting with the county. J e nnifer and The Planning & Zoning Commi ssion suggested that the tree might be saved but the county insisted that it had to be removed. The Mayor sig ned th e order for removal of the tree. The meetin g was adjourned at 5:55 PM. Attachments: CoITe c ted minutes of April 16, 2009 meeting Report/Recommendations-Shoppes at Fairhope Village Recommendation s for deve lopment of checklis t C it y Attorney Opinion-Trees on private property