ECCO Meeting Minutes for June 2, 2011

ECCO Meeting Minutes for June 2, 2011 at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church

Minutes submitted by Monica Smith

Attendance 

Board members: Sarah Sponheim (Vice President), Blake Harper, Tim Norkus-Crampton, Jim Smith and Heather Wulfsberg.

Monica Smith (NRP), Meg Tuthill (City Council Member, Ward 10) and other residents and invited guests were also in attendance.

ECCO Board Vice President Sarah Sponheim called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

Announcements

Ingrid Remak, City of Lakes Nordic Ski Foundation presented a plan for the 2012 City of Lakes Loppet. The Mall has been used for the finish line for the Loppet. They will be moving the finish line to Hennepin Ave between Lake and 31^st due to construction on the Mall for the new Walker Library. There will be no access to Lake St from ECCO from 9 a.m. Friday, Feb 3 to midnight Sunday, Feb 5, 2012.  Two lanes of Lake Street will be used for car traffic and the other lanes of Lake will be used for the Loppet course. Residents will be notified of the street closures. 

Meg Tuthill (City Council Member, Ward 10)  

• Open Street Minneapolis, Ciclovia will take place on Sunday, June 12, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Lyndale between 22^nd and 42^nd.
• CM Tuthill authored an ordinance amendment about outdoor dining: requiring that establishments turn off amplified music by 10 p.m. (patios can, however, remain open until their allowable closing times) and set and enforce capacity for their patios. This will allow better enforcement by police and Regulatory Services.  Please email opinions to CM Tuthill. Best practices in other cities were reviewed; by comparison Minneapolis is very liberal with its outdoor areas.
• Uptown is adding 21 taxi stands in the Henn-Lake-Lagoon bar/restaurant area
• Public Works is retiming all of the stoplights in SW Minneapolis over the next two years.

David Hathaway, Mesa Pizza        

Mesa Pizza would like to open a business at 1440 W. Lake St. (in East Isles) and are asking support to be open until 3 a.m. daily. They currently have restaurants in Dinkytown and Iowa City. Their concept is pizza by the slice, they will have limited seating (15-20 seats) designed to turn over quickly. They will have between 1-3 staff in the restaurant as business warrants. Residents were concerned noise from bar patrons going even later into the night. Hathaway indicated flexibility on hours. Residents also encouraged them to offer organics recycling and to avoid plastic service-ware.

Ralph Sievert, Director of Park Forestry, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) and Anita Tabb, Commissioner District 4 MPRB

Ralph Sievert gave a presentation to regarding Emerald Ash Borer to East Calhoun residents in August 2010. He was invited back to present additional information to a broader audience.

Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is a proven killer of ash trees, killing tens of millions of trees since 2002. EAB is believed to have come to the US in 2006 via cargo ships from Asia (into Michigan) on ships from Asia in 2006 and has quickly expanded to other states, including Minnesota. Minnesota has over 900 million ash trees (second only to Maine). 21% of the tree canopy in Minneapolis is Ash (over 200,000 public and private trees). There are 160 Ash trees on boulevards in East Calhoun (primarily on Irving and Holmes). The Park Board stopped planting Ash in 2007 and since then have updated ordinances to define EAB as a tree nuisance, requiring licensed tree services to apply pesticides and prohibiting the transportation of ash wood out of the county (quarantined to slow the spread of EAB).

The Park Board cooperated with Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) to set EAB traps. EAB is very hard to identify. One indications is presence of woodpeckers (they eat the EAB larvae).

The first confirmed infestation in Minneapolis was in February 2010, Tower Hill Park. 78 confirmed and suspected trees were removed. In May 2009, EAB was found in St. Paul. The EAB crossed the river and 177 additional trees were removed in Minneapolis.

Current eradication does not work and losses are inevitable. A MDA grant has allowed the Park Board to targeting defective trees, 1500 Ash have been removed and replaced in Minneapolis. They do not work on Ash between May 1^st and Labor Day to prevent to spread of EAB.

Treatment of public Ash by property owners requires a permit from the Park Board and treatment via trunk injection.

Options for private trees include: doing nothing, plant a replacement tree nearby prior to Ash dying, remove Ash and plant a replacement tree, or treat the Ash using recommended strategies. Homeowners need to determine the value of the tree and consider: the health of the tree, how long they will own the home, removal costs, treatment costs, etc. If treating the tree is the preferred option, a licensed tree service needs to apply the pesticide.

EAB handouts were provided about insecticide options and potential side effects of systemic insecticides.

Stingless wasp (eats EAB) will be released in St Paul in June in an attempt to control EAB population. It is uncertain how effective this will be.

The Park Board will remove and replace any boulevard Ash upon request from homeowner.

At the August 2010 presentation, concerned ECCO residents approached the Park Board about a phased removal and replacement of Ash trees in the neighborhood to diversify and maintain the tree canopy. The Park Board created a 5-year plan for Irving Ave (between 31^st and 33^rd  Streets). Nine Ash were removed and replaced in 2011 with the consent of the property owners. A need for a broader community discussion was evident and prompted the community meeting tonight.

Planting new trees between existing Ashes is not a solution because spacing is a concern and new trees should be located in ideal place (usually where current trees are located).

ECCO offers grants of up to $250 annually to treat elm and ash trees (through NRP funds).

The Park Board offers free watering bags for young boulevard trees. The bags are easy to use and help trees by slowly releasing 20 gallons of water. Watering young trees is property owners responsibility to ensure their health. Request your free bag by contacting the Park Board.

Option for East Calhoun include:

• Individual choice to replace boulevard Ash
• Block-wide decision regarding Ash on a particular block
• Street-wide decision regarding Ash on a particular street
• Neighborhood-wide plan

Sarah Sponheim proposed that the ECCO Board work on a broader neighborhood education plan to lead to a decision about Ash in East Calhoun.

Meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

Next meeting: Due to scheduling conflicts, the July meeting of the ECCO Board has been rescheduled to the second Thursday (July 14) at 7:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church.

Addendum to June 2, 2011 meeting minutes:

After the ECCO Board meeting was adjourned on June 2, 2011 the following petition was presented to Sarah Sponheim, Vice President of the ECCO Board.

21 East Calhoun residents signed the petition.

The petition reads:

“We believe that the program of accelerated boulevard ash tree removal is too drastic. If 20% of the trees are removed each year over a 5 year period, there will be no large trees in the boulevard canopy. We think this will adversely affect the boulevard appearance for everyone. The U of M Extension bulletin M1242 (regarding Emerald Ash Borer) states there is no reason to remove health ash tress, but keep them in your landscape

We also think that the methods of informing residents of this plan, and notifying them of their options, has been inadequate.”