Borough of Point Pleasant Beach Point Pleasant Beach Environmental Shade Tree Commission
October 3, 2022 Meeting Minutes
Meeting Attendees: Anne Lightburn, Dennis Mallazzo, Mary Ellin Mallazzo, Peter Ritchings and Councilwoman Caryn Byrnes
Absent: Peter Renner, Dave Smith and Louise Stillufsen
Guest Attendance: Bill O’Shea and MJ Gradel
Anne opened the meeting at 7:00 pm. The September meeting minutes were approved as submitted. Anne thanked Louise and Mary Ellin for handling the Big Beautiful Tree and “Nominate Your Block” programs respectively.
The commission members that participated in this year’s Seafood Festival felt it was a worthwhile activity. The Save Breton Woods folks were a positive addition.
The commission OK’d the idea of a joint meeting with other Shade Tree Commission. Anne will set up. Pete Ritchings will be attending this year’s Shade Tree Federation Conference on October 14th. It was mentioned that Muskrat Jack would like to volunteer with tree watering. Caryn will pass these items on to Chris Riehl.
There was a discussion on the failed “Christmas” tree planted on Bay Ave. by the borough. As this was not a commission project, it is hard to pinpoint why the tree died so quickly. Given the summer drought, consensus was that watering was not sufficient for the size of the tree. Other compounding issues maybe the size of the planting area and soil condition.
Other trees that did not survive include several at the NJDOT traffic islands at the south end of town. Anne will contact the mayor regarding the possibility of the town assisting with watering next year as it was felt that the trees were not watered at all or insufficiently by the state. Additionally, the commission recommended making a strong recommendation to the NJDOT to not plant crepe myrtles. Anne will do so and resubmit the proposal for native trees one by Bill Brash.
MJ reported on the Memorial Tree Program and several borough locations were suggested including: traffic islands on Laurel and Parkway and the lakes. MJ will remain in contact with JCP&L to get them to plant trees along the fence, close to the RR tracks, on New Jersey Ave.
Mary Ellin reported on the results, which were light this year, from the “Nominate Your Block” fall program. She recommended trees for several properties and had some issues with two properties. Bill O’Shea will take a look to determine the suitability of the sites.
Anne thanked Mary Ellin for submitting an article for the borough’s fall newsletter and starting the do not plant list with native replacements. Anne suggested that she, Mary Ellin and Louise work on this off line to get a starting document.
Bill O’Shea looked at the Antrim School Chicago Ave. tree planting. Due to its narrow width he recommends 1-1.5 inch caliper dogwood, little leaf linden and flowering cherry trees. Anne will check with Fernbrook for those trees and caliper for a spring planting.
In his research, Pete Ritchings recommended that the text for the Peace Tree Plaque be a school “contest” for 3-5 graders. The commission liked the idea and Pete handle developing an approach and contacting the school. Pete will send his “Leave the Leafs” article for Anne to handle with Chris Riehl for Ocean Star and social media submission.
Caryn reported that the town does not have an ordinance for dealing with hazardous trees as it does unkempt yards and that council feedback was not positive on including trees. Due to public safety issues, the commission felt minor additions to the current unkempt yard ordinance be done to include trees that present a public safety hazard. Anne will make those edits for the commission to review/edit and Caryn will take the final version to the council.
Pete Ritchings will proceed with securing the tree identification tags for the Arnold Avenue business district.
Meeting adjourned 8:15 pm.
