Only I understand Some people run from a possible fight Some people figure they can never win And although this is a fight I can lose The accused is an innocent man I am an innocent man Oh yes I am an innocent man You know you only hurt yourself out of spite I guess you'd rather be a martyr tonight That's your decision but I'm not low Anybody I know If there's a chance of resurrecting a love I'm not above going back to the start To find out where the heartache began Some people hope for a miracle cure Some people just accept the world as it is I'm not willing to lay down and die Because I am an innocent man I am an innocent man Always I am an innocent man Thank you. She really loves heaven with me again. I can't remember what she liked. Thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Let me welcome you to our November 20th Planning and Public Works Committee meeting. We have achieved quorum, which is a major thing for today, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We have several items on our agenda. First up is the summary of our October 16th meeting, which has been added to the packet on pages 1 through 5. I would ask for a motion. We have a motion for approval and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed, like sign? We've already done business. Thank you. We have passed the summary. So now we have an item placed originally by Council Member Martin into the committee, a review of the Street Tree Ordinance and the Street Tree Protection Ordinance. he had at the time made a trip to Greenville and noted the vast amount of urban forests that they have and how they take care of it, and wanted to be trying to foster more of that feeling here in Lexington. So in his absence today, and happy Thanksgiving, no, did I say it? We're going to have a presentation that will start off with Tim Query. Are you going to head this up, sir? Or Dave Leonard? You all are the best tag team in town. We're glad to have you. No, no, you have our complete undivided attention, sir. And we're glad to have you here. This is an important topic to our community. So I appreciate your expertise and your time with us today very much. Well, I appreciate the opportunity. Yes, sir. From Councilman Martin and the opportunity to talk to everybody here. So I was asked by Councilman Martin several months ago, and we've been going back and forth with dates because we're both obviously very busy, to present on this report on Lexington's urban forest condition and what we plan to do about it or what we suggested things that we might be able to do about it. And a couple of things we came up with were the challenges and recommendations needed for a healthy urban forest. That's your first page there. And I suppose this is my little clicker. I can change those as I need. Great. Yes, yes. Definitions. Tree canopy. We talk about canopy coverage. Like if we were looking down on a tree, the canopy is the total spread of the tree. And the more spread of the tree, healthy trees, the more canopy coverage we have. American Forest Reassociation really recommends for healthy cities that we have a 40% canopy coverage in the average for the city. Lexington right now, we don't know exactly what it has, but it has considerably less than that, we are assured. And estimates run between 7% to 20%. So we have a long way to go to get good coverage. The 7% is because we have a lot of pasture incorporated in our urban county area. So we're still a long way from 40%, though. But you said 7 to 20 here in Lansing. Okay, thank you. So we have a lot less. So let's see. Quick, quick, quick. Find out which button does this. Looks like that one. So a healthy urban forest provides a lot of things normal people don't even think about. It has environmental, social, and economic benefits, all three. So of the environmental benefits, we have reduced energy consumption. Certainly three trees planted strategically around your house can save 30% of energy use for a single household. So given time, that will happen. I have a lot of clients that don't turn air conditioners on. So don't need to. So it's a lot of energy consumption reduction. Decreased stormwater runoff. Tree crown intercepts, stores, and slows runoff. Also reducing erosion. So we have a lot of that. That's good. If we had more canopy, we'd have to be better off, of course. Improved water quality. Certainly a big one. And that's basically by absorbing pollutants and minerals that are not wanted. improved air quality by removing nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, ozone, other pollutants. Actually, trees actually turn them into wood. They take the carbon that is our major pollutant and turn it into the wood. So trees are what we call carbon storage units. Big tree. They just store it and it's there. So it's not polluting anything when it's there. It's actually serving us. so reduced heat island effect is certainly a big thing every time I happen to stay awake and look at the news I see Lexington's 73 Louisville's 78 degrees high temperatures at night Louisville is using a lot more energy than we are to stay cool because it has a bigger mass but it also its urban forestry canopy isn't keeping up with it they can't plant enough trees Like since it's much smaller, it would be a lot easier to do for our size, but we're still not there. But when you see, actually, Louisville has its own heat zone. It's a zone 7 where the rest of Kentucky is a zone 6. So they actually can grow trees from a warmer climate there than we can. Interesting. So improved aesthetics. Well, I mentioned wildlife habitat as well. We don't want to forget the birds and the squirrels and things like that. some good, some bad. Improved aesthetics. A young, vigorous urban forest really indicates a good, healthy, growing city. When you come into a city like that, you feel good. You see a lot of nice, healthy green trees, well-kept, well-maintained. It hits you, as it did Councilman martin when they were in was it greensboro or different greenville greenville yes and um so he saw that and said okay i need to report on it so it's just and again just opposing like a decaying trees standing dead trees along our streets um leaves people wondering about that city when you come in and see it and um one day i plan on doing a calendar and sending it to all the council members of trees in your separate districts but i haven't had time to do that well that would be up to you wouldn't it if there if there are only good trees in those districts it would be then nothing but good. I look forward to it. Thank you. Yes, well, I'm sure you will. So, social benefits. Traffic. Actually, trees slow down traffic. It gives you a calming effect. Trees do, kind of subconsciously, but you slow down. So, trees slow traffic. Proven deterrent to crime, certainly. A neighborhood that is cared for with visible sidewalk activity has less crime and fewer break-ins. That's documented. So our police should know that. Advance your slide, if you would, for those. Oh, sorry. Perfect. Well, you went too far. Well, how did I do that? You're that good. Thank you. No? Is that it? That's it. That's it. Good. One at a time. Yes, sir. Okay. Encourage healthy social interaction, certainly by families and children. People are encouraged to be out when we have a neighborhood forest. I always love Slash's median and the neighborhood gatherings that they have out there. And it's just, you know, great design went into that back in the 1900s. So economic benefits. Certainly a healthy urban forest increases consumer business activity. We've done a lot of research on that. It's been done a lot in the Pacific Northwest where they show that people come and shop longer, stay longer, and even pay more for items in an area that's shaded and with trees. It's pleasant to be there, so it also increases tourism, of course, which brings more money to Lexington. Increased property values. Increases your property values of tree in your yard from anywhere from 5% to 20%. In Portland, Oregon, street trees in front of a house at an average of $8,870 to a sale price and reduces time on the market. So, plus, plus. Lower utility bills. Again, we talked about three trees properly planted. Can cut your bill up to 30%. Creates jobs. Certainly not jobs to keep me busy. I've got plenty of work right now. But by creating a more desirable place to live, new businesses and people are attracted to town. Certainly that's why Chattanooga just got to the Nissan plant this last year. And we were, they said it was a comfortable place to live. and that's where they wanted to be there and locate rather than somewhere else. It was a nice environment. So let's go to next. We face some challenges. Our urban forest certainly does. We've got trees that when we take them out of the city, I mean out of the forest, and bring them into the city, they're kind of like they grow wild. So we need to maintain them, and we're not doing as good a job as we could. So when we take trees out of the natural habitat, we just need to care for them. That includes pruning for clearance, obviously, here, though that is an ash tree and it will die before too long. Clearance, structure, and to develop a long life. Well, I'll kind of tell it like it is. So we've got the tree on the right. I hope you can see better than I can. Yeah, this picture is much better. That one has lights on it. so trees and power lines often conflict and we just heard some more news about that but trees and sidewalks and streets well the trees lose so we always say plant the right tree for the site squirrels aren't very good at that it seems that landscape architects aren't either so we're trying to teach them to say this is what we do we don't plant tall trees under the trees Sorry, Rob. No, you know what you're doing. We've been on the tree board and you've listened to us for years. So we have decline of our existing tree canopy due to pest and diseases. On the left, we have a large pin oak and a median with anonotus root rot at the base. Causes the tree to fall over. Not a good thing. it enters the tree through a lawnmower wound. So people would mulch their trees properly, maybe not hit them with lawnmowers. We would have that. We wouldn't have that. Also, you see where a sidewalk was heaved and replaced. That itself could have introduced a wound. So more damage, fungus enters, wound causes root rot, tree fails, hopefully not on somebody. So just a scenario we don't want. We've had a lot of trees fall in winds, and we've had a few branches fall on people. And I know of one person that's been killed about 10 years ago, but I don't know anybody recently. Emerald ash borer is the picture on the right. That looks like a little tapeworm there. Under the bark of the ash trees, that's one-tenth of her street trees. So it's a higher population, I believe, in the neighborhoods. Ash was a very popular tree in the 80s and 90s and was entirely over-planted. So actually we have 360 ash trees in Shelatoe Park alone. And some of those are huge trees, three and four foot diameter, and we're going to be losing those because we're not taking care of them. We're not keeping the boar from killing the trees. So we have to look at the cost of removing the tree versus the cost of keeping the tree. And then we factor in the benefits of keeping the trees. There's a lot of things to work with. So we're having trouble with invasive insects. A disease called bacterial leaf scorch is killing most of her pin oaks. They're taking several years to do it, and it takes 7 to 10 years to kill them. Drought certainly exacerbates the bacterial leaf scorch and stresses the trees further. So here's one pest. That is an insect called the Asian longhorn beetle. And right now it's in Cincinnati, and they're trying to stop it. And if it gets to Lexington, like the ash borers bother nothing but ashes. And Dutch elm disease, that beetle that carried that only bothers elms. This one affects 13 different genera of trees. So it's going to be tremendously bad if it gets here. And we think anything is bad now. It's going to be a lot worse. So we have a lot of this, the wrong tree for the space or the site, and then we have a lot of improper maintenance too. I can't really call the picture on the right maintenance, though that's severe. We know that's illegal to do that to a street tree. I hope that person was sighted. So tree chopping is wrong. We do have door hangers. For that, and we've got several of those, if anybody wants them, we've got five different ones that the tree board has created in the Urban Forestry Department, telling it's illegal to plant trees, other things too that we've got, illegal to top street trees, I'm sorry, and plant the wrong tree. So trees are planted where they should not be in narrow easements. The pin oak there is just barely hanging on. It's right precarious, I would call it. And they conflict commonly with above-ground and below-ground utilities, so we don't want that. A couple of options would be not options but improvements. There would be encourage more people, landscape and tree companies to become certified arborists or actually make it a law. They are like plumbers and electricians, just a thought there. So that's something we could think about. Challenging planting conditions for street trees. Certainly we have them. In a forest, a tree takes care of itself. When we move it to the city, it doesn't happen. So if we plant trees and they don't live long enough to contribute environmentally to pay back for their installation, we've lost money. So we need trees to live 15 years, minimal, to begin to pay us back. And 75 or 100 wouldn't be a bad thing. So plant trees that can mature at a long age, an old age, and if we can do that, we can't plant that tree under power lines, of course, but we can plant large trees where we can successfully plant large trees. But if we have nothing but subsoil and compacted subsoil in the sites where we're trying to plant trees, they won't live that long. So we had a lot of trees dying that we're requesting or actually mandating be planted in the new subdivisions. We say you have to plant this tree to the developer, and then they plant the tree, and then it struggles and struggles and then finally dies. It never contributes. So we definitely need to change that before we do anything else. A lot of this or some of it may be addressed in the Complete Streets Manual, which I know is somewhere right now. We're talking about replacing subsoil with good soil, possibly moving sidewalks closer to the house, giving us more space, or changing our street tree site and saying it can be planted inside the sidewalk. So there's lots of things. But the city is a very harsh environment. We call cutouts like is on the right there. Those are little tree cemetery plots. They don't last very long. So however we have done well on Main Street and limestone, we've gotten some good people in there. We've gotten some nice things done and certainly heartily approve of the efforts there. We just need more of it. So if we took, for example, if we took a certified arborist like me and we picked the best tree in the nursery and we planted it and we planted it in crummy soil, all we're ever going to have is a crummy tree. You can't make a good tree out of that growing bad soil. It just doesn't work. So we have issues there. Another issue is, I didn't do that. Let's go back, go back, go back, go back. There we go. Lack of tree diversity. That's really pretty right now. That's autumn purple ashes. They won't be there very long unless that homeowners association neighborhood is taking care of them. and we're seeing a lot of them not taking care of them. So, again, they have 15-year-old houses and they'll have no trees in front of them. It's really strange. I've seen it in Chicago, up in Detroit. I've been to those cities and I've seen it when it's really strange to see trees or houses that are 50 years old and no trees in front of them. But people like symmetry. They like this look. And it's really, really hard to maintain. So we're trying to get away from that. If we do want to plant monocultures, which is really, really bad, if we plant block by block, that would be better. So how do we regulate developers into doing that? So we're trying to talk and get them to do things. So we could plant a different species of tree on each block. That's one way to do it. We have, right now, we have a lot of pin oaks that are declining due to drought and to bacterial leaf scorch. We have the pears that are all falling apart and diseased as well. We have the ashes. So we have three examples of trees that were planted extensively, and they're all falling apart and declining. So, again, we need to do something about this and diversify our planting. There's a lot of trees that will live in Lexington. And we don't need to plant any of the top three or four. Maples, right now we have way too many red maples. And then we have the Asian longhorn beetle that I passed around that's coming that his favorite food is maples. And you've all seen the glorious red maples that are out there right now. They won't last very long. So if we plant improperly, we don't manage our trees, we have a loss of trees, which means a loss of property value. which eventually comes back to roofs as a loss of tax base, if we think about that far. So the tree board has come up with some recommendations. How about that? Very good, sir. And the tree board brief history was developed in 1982 as an advisory committee to the city. That means we've been around a good long time right now. I was brought on in about the second year of the tree board, and I've existed throughout, So it's been, I think, we counted five mayors back. It's been a while. But Lexington, one thing nice about Lexington is it is the oldest tree city in Kentucky. We do spend a minimum per capita on people, and we've been a tree city for 24 years. So great. Part of that was probably the reason why we formed the tree board and wrote a tree ordinance. Those are two key items that we have to do besides spending so much money on trees. So we need to better utilize the tools that we have. We have a lot of tools. We have what we call our tree ordinance, subregs, the zoning ordinance, several things. And together these ordinances are what governs our urban forest. At present, they are not being fully utilized or enforced, and we need to change that. We don't have the people in place to even enforce the things that we have. What we have is good. Certainly it could be changed or altered and be made better, but we've got to work with what we've got to start with, we believe. So here's some solutions, possibly. We divided our recommendations into public, residential, and commercial. So recommendations for public property. Optimized planning conditions for street trees. We just mentioned that. We want adequate space and suitable soil. So many trees have a root mass equal to what you see above ground. So you see a young or medium-sized tree, you've got to think roots. The top is in equilibrium with the roots, except for the trunk. You'll stand out the trunk and the top and the foliage is going to be the same as the root system. They have to be to support one another. So if there's no room for roots, the soil is too compacted, trees will never go anywhere. They'll die. when they're maxed out with what the available space they have. So if we have good soil, that would encourage healthy growth, allow a tree to grow to full maturity, and help our environment, which we need. Promote the right tree in the right place. Certainly we've talked about that too. Overhead utility wires, spaces, and that's one of our handouts that we have that the Urban Forestry Department has developed. So we need to maximize tree's benefit to the community. And we want to open the dialogue to all stakeholders. That's part of why the tree board is here. We want to talk to developers, utility companies, commercial, public. Everybody's welcome. Get some good dialogue going. Residential property. we really need to develop a strong public outreach and education program. Street trees, we say, occupy about 40% of the urban service area. Well, we say 60% of the urban service area is residential property. So we really need, obviously, that's a lot of trees, so we need to work with them. We do have some good things. We have Live Green Lexington and the new urban forestry website. We've created many door hangers. We have the Woodland Park Tree Trail. Everybody should get out and walk through Woodland Park and see how beautiful it is. We have the Champion Tree Program we started several years ago, about 20 years ago. The other thing that we'd like to do is create an authority to compel removal of dangerous, hazardous, diseased trees on private property that are safety hazard. I know we don't normally step into that, but we do in the historic district. Other cities have done it, and we need to to protect our own interests. So commercial property. Several years ago, we lost our landscape examiner position when Belinda Labadee retired. Her position basically defaulted to building inspection, and they're too busy inspecting buildings to really inspect trees. So we would really like to get somebody back in that position. So currently we're only complaint-driven. We have a complaint, a tree that's bad. We call it in, and somebody goes out and checks it, and then we take action. But we need to be proactive, not reactive. That's the only way to run a good government. One thing, in the droughts of 83, 88, 99, even last year, we've lost hundreds, if not thousands of trees. And they're not being replaced, and we're losing a lot of them in these raised islands and little commercial areas. And I see them all the time that just aren't being replaced, so that's no good. We want to promote installation of a green infrastructure. If we can invest in some trees in the proper site, in the proper soil, they grow. So we pay for a small tree. Guess what? We get back a bigger tree. So it pays. So actually, if we have 100 mature trees intercept 100,000 gallons of rainfall per year, and for every 5% tree canopy added, storm runoff is decreased by another 2%. So you can really use green infrastructure, and we're not doing that. we would like to work with the city and business community to resolve conflicts between street trees and signage we're having a lot of people cut off the trees can't see my signs and they don't understand what's going on there but there is a workable situation we can accommodate both so I've thrown a lot at you in a few minutes and we're open for questions I was looking to see if any council members had signed up to have questions You have given us a lot to think about. Yes, sir. I appreciate that. Right now I'm going to defer to Councilmember Stennett, who's helping make part of our quorum today. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Chair. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to discuss street trees, because it's obviously been something that this body has talked a lot about, but we haven't done really, as you point out on some of your slides, that we haven't done enough. One of the things I'm curious, you pointed out the benefits of trees earlier in some of your remarks. There are actually a couple of negatives, and I'm trying to see how you all have discussed dealing with some of those adverse situations. For instance, when you plant a tree along the street, leaves fall into our sewer system, clog it up. How do we address that? When you plant it too close to a sidewalk, we have neighborhoods in all of our districts, the sidewalks are popping up. That's an added cost to homeowners. Their first inclination is to cut down that tree and move it. Have you all thought about that and addressed that? Certainly it is addressed. Hold on. Let me go through all the negatives because you didn't point them out, but I think there's an issue. And I don't want to do that. I'll answer them all. We have to address them. We have to address them because it's getting to the point where we're spending a lot of money. We're requiring developers, as you pointed out, to put them in. But after 15 years, everyone's taking them out. Or we're having to spend money to replace sidewalks as homeowners. The mailman is trying to ask us to cut the trees down because he or she can't deliver the mail. So there's a number of things that we need to address. The biggest issue is placement of that tree. It is a huge issue. Between the sidewalk and curb or other side of the sidewalk between the house and sidewalk. Have you all discussed on changing that? We have. So what's the solution there? Because that would not only help the sewer problem, the mail problem, the sidewalk problem. There are several things that have been discussed about that. I think the tree board, I'll speak for the tree board, I suppose. We have thought that, except for one person on the tree board who's adamant, that it would be better to move them behind the sidewalk and give the sidewalk more room. Actually, you're going to have a more balanced roof system. You're going to have less heaving of the sidewalks, but there's another issue for that. We want better sidewalks. If we have trees, we want better sidewalks. Well, people have started walking in the street now because the trees are overhanging the sidewalks. They can't get packed, et cetera, et cetera. Again, there are many, many benefits to that. We've told some of them that they need to be aware of, and people aren't aware of that. So the one big thing we can do is educate the public. So as to the benefits, I pointed out benefits, not the pitfalls. Certainly there are some pitfalls. But if we could plant well inside the sidewall and we had good soil, Trees don't surface root if they have good soil. They surface root in clay because they have no choice. Roots have to grow on the surface of the ground. That's the only place they can get oxygen. So we get a crappy root system. If we have heavy clay compacted soil, they can't go there. So if you have good soil, it answers a few of your problems right there. So who is inspecting the trees when they're planted for any commercial or residential development? Are we physically going out there and inspecting that tree is in good soil? Someone is counting the trees to make sure we have the right number of trees. But not how they're planted, not the location is exact. You know, we had one plant right next to fire hydrants, and the fire hydrant's leaking now. So, I mean, it's just I'm not sure who's watching out when we require all this money to be spent to plant landscaping. There have been changes made to that process beforehand, as Dave had mentioned. that inspection process was in building inspection. We had a landscape examiner that was the person out doing that. Then there was a period of time when we had lost that position, and really nobody was taking a look at that in new development. Recently, Article 610 has now transferred to urban forestry. So in residential subdivisions, our office is now responsible for that inspection, And I've actually got a door hanger here that we can share with you that we're working with the contractor to install the door hanger on the front door of the house who got the tree. So when you come home and there's a tree planted in that area between the sidewalk and the curb, there's a little bit of information there for you. And as Dave had just mentioned, too, it really all goes back to educating the public. That's our biggest hurdle here, whether it's low-hanging tree limbs over sidewalk or how to properly maintain a tree or emerald ash borer. It's all about us being able to educate the public on how to properly maintain the trees. I would have to say that the benefits of trees far outweigh the broken sidewalk. There's things that we can do to remedy those problems. uh let's make the easement area wider let's plant the tree in the front yard we've got a door hanger and your council aide has helped us before a council member stand in your district post those door hangers trying to let the public know here's our minimum requirement of seven feet over the sidewalk so i would have to argue that the benefits of trees far outweigh the the problems that we recognize and they do but my point is we're spending millions of dollars each year and requiring private industry to spend money and we're taking these trees out in 15 years or if the homeowner sidewalk pops up they're cutting them down and not putting one back so we have an issue i agree the benefits we got to have them but i think we need a change in our ordinance one on how you deal with existing trees and when they need to be removed and where you put it back but before you go build these neighborhoods before we build a new hobby lobby in hamburg what is realistic i mean what are we really going to require because putting a tree in a four-foot space that has a roof span, as he said, as big as it can, it's not going to work. We know it's going to fail, so why do we keep doing it? Who is working on changing that? We have learned from our mistakes, and I know Council Member Farmer can testify to this, pin oaks and three-foot-width easements don't work. That's why we have the LEAF program, right? As a matter of fact, one of the reasons it is, yes. I know. That's exactly why, because the LEAFs are in our sewer system. As Dave had mentioned earlier in his presentation, we are looking at the complete streets manual that planning has drafted. One of the recommendations the tree board has made is we need seven feet at a minimum between the sidewalk and the curb if we want the tree to live a long, healthy life. But right now, currently in new development, we only have five and a half feet. It's not really conducive for a healthy tree. we need more room or that tree should go in the front yard. Well, who is working on that, Tim, within LFUCG? Is someone working on changing that ordinance on moving the location of those trees either to the front yard or acquiring bigger easements? Because I'm not sure you're going to get a bigger easement, given the cost of land in Fayette County now. That might be a little more difficult fight. Well, currently the developer does have the ability to plant the tree in the front yard in a tree planting easement. The majority of the time the tree is located, the street tree, is located in the public right-of-way easement in that utility strip. The tree board is asking for that area to be widened. So that's being taken under consideration right now in planning. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair. I appreciate it. There are certainly a lot of issues. After all that, we really didn't need you for quorum anyway. Thank you, Council. If it ever has my bug, I want it back. I've got two more signed up before you. Next is Vice Mayor Gordon. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Don't go away, Dave. All right, Linda. Thank you. Just to ask one question to continue the previous conversation, and then I have a different question. So in looking at changing the ordinance, we're looking at acquiring more easement? That's one possibility. That's what you're talking about? One possibility. Okay. I mean, it was just, it's an interesting concept. I don't know that I would support mandating people to plant trees in their front yard, which was part of that discussion. That's tricky, yes. That's very tricky. Expanding the easement's a whole other. But then we still have the conflicts with utilities in the easement, which isn't a good thing. Yes. So, more issues. Yes. My question back on your presentation, Dave, is you said that we have 7 to 20 percent canopy. Do you have a number for the canopy inside the urban center? Well, that's the issues. If we take the whole area, no, we don't have current information. Okay, because I think it's... We would really like to have that. Yeah, I think it's not a good comparison. I don't mean good. I appreciate what you brought us, but the rural area is totally different. That's why 7% is more the rural, 20% is more urban. Okay. And those were both guesses. Okay. Well, you've got a good eye for guessing. But we would love to have the ability to use some of the new GIS data, and I don't know where that is, Tim, if we can do that or put time toward a study or hire a study done. There is Davey Tree out there that does a lot. It's not me, but does a lot of scientific research studies, and they can come in and do this and tell us where we are. But that's a figure, and Tim says, Well, we need figures to be able to talk to people, but I know we need trees. But then I know we don't need trees planted in the wrong place or in the wrong soil. So we've got really a long way to go still. We just try to be positive and plant the right tree in the right spot and educate. Okay. Some neighborhoods have done a matching program with the government when there was money available. Certainly that helps. And there's still some of that going on to a minimum. But, yeah, that's great that we can help a little bit with that. And they are being fairly well policed, and they're planting the right tree in the right site. And they're planting a diversity of trees. Thanks to Karen here who's policing that in Fairway neighborhood. it so um small things we're we're doing good we can micromanage it and do it right but for the whole when you whenever you try and write anything for the whole city wow that's a problem you're telling us i know well i appreciate your hard work and the tree board's hard work and it's a it will never end you know we know because um i think the educating the education piece of it is really critical and you all have done a great job over the years of trying to educate our public and i think once people individuals understand the importance of trees and variety of trees and all of that then they're more likely to individually plant trees well that's the way i personally think is if we can get people to understand the benefits of trees, they will justify perhaps a little more money to take care of them or to plant the right tree. We know that you may not be familiar with Cincinnati's program, but I know something about it certainly that they have basically a tree assessment fee, that they maintain their entire urban forest, I mean, all the street trees with a minimal fee per capita. And basically, I would figure for the price of a Big Mac per household, we could run a hell of a forestry program. With fewer fatten. With, you know, but we could maybe change the Big Mac to something else. But it doesn't take that much to get it started, but we could do it. The council has in the past looked at that. I know Mr. Farmer is familiar with our efforts in looking at that Cincinnati assessment and how that worked. But nobody wants to float a tree tax. Well, it's difficult when we have pensions. A street tree fee. Yes. A street tree benefit fee. Yes. Let's get a better name for it, Bill. Thank you, Dave. Any other questions from the council? Dr. Blues. Dr. Blues. Dr. Blues. Well, let me just add on to the nature of this conversation about what's really at stake here, and that is if we recognize our diminished tree canopy and the attendant problems that that Council Member Stenner has kindly mentioned, as a crisis, then it would seem that it's the responsibility of the government to address the crisis. And so it doesn't seem to me that it behoves us very well to simply list these problems and ask who's going to deal with them, because unless this council deals with them, this administration deals with them, unless proposals are made in the budget, such as the Cincinnati program, then, you know, people like you and people like Tim and people like the tree board folks and Karen's group that have put in such good work over the years, it's just going to lose. Well, and then we all die a little bit earlier, too, because of the health or lung problem. You know, that is correct. I appreciate what you were saying earlier about the economic development aspect. of a tree canopy, about the energy savings. And I thought last summer I had my central air conditioning on three days, three days, because I have a substantial tree canopy. Now, of course, I'm paying for it now with dealing with the leaf harvest, but nevertheless, it does pay off in terms of money and in terms of comfort. It's a wonderful exercise. And in terms of exercise. Yeah. So, you know, as one of my colleagues who is not here today, who is fond of challenging various entities on various subjects, I think there is a serious challenge here for our government. have a responsibility, and I hope that going forward we'll address it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Dave. Well, there are some small steps that we mentioned that you could look at for recommendations, and we'll carry on as we have been for 32 years. I believe we will want you to do that, but Council Member Kay wanted to have a moment with you first, and then we'll have some closing comments. Yes, sir, Steve. Yes. Actually, I just want to make a comment and follow up on Dr. Blues, and you may want to comment in addition. But it seems to me there are really two parts to what you presented to us, and one of them is completely within the realm of government, and that is changing the current regulations and practices that we have regarding the planting and the maintenance of our street trees. Certainly. And then secondly, and I think at the moment this may be more in the way of a challenge or a threat, and that is the external threat of disease to the present tree population. What you said about the ash borer with a tenth of our trees being ash. A tenth of our tree population, yes. and the calculus of what it would cost to save some of those trees as opposed to the cost of eventually having to take them out and replace them with much younger trees that are damaged to the tree canopy. I think that's it. That work, those studies have been done by other cities already, and the documentation is available. It's very positive to work with the trees. that are there. Remove declining or dying ones, but work with the ones that are there and prolong them as you can to feather, basically, the difference between the tree loss and maturing canopy. I think that information will be useful to Council, especially as we go into the budget process. I can direct it to whomever is necessary. Yeah, I'm particularly interested in the, you mentioned other things, but the ash borer, it seems to me, is the immediate threat, and there are many places in the community where that is the dominant tree, and absent any action, they will lose the entire tree canopy. Lose their entire tree canopy. And the cost longer term of replacing those trees is going to be quite substantial. Yes, sir. But I appreciate your work. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, sir. Let me just make a couple of suggestions. First, you have thrown a lot at us, and this is an issue we will keep in committee. Secondarily, and I know I always and many of us have an open invitation to come to all the tree board meetings, I think it would be beneficial for the tree board to act in a similar fashion to what the Corridors Commission did during this past budget, was to set up a dynamic where they made a request very forcefully that if we were going to take care of corridors, we need some resources with which to do that. And during the budgeting process, they were successful. Am I correct, Doctor? I think that that's a dynamic we should try to set up for the tree board. And so that would mean that you all have some work to do in your next couple of meetings in terms of what it is you would ask us for and how you would use it so we can merchandise that during the budget process, which basically is kind of in certain degrees underway already, but it starts at the first of the year. Secondarily, in your all's deliberation, and I'm not trying to push the work of this committee off onto your board, but you all are in a unique position to make recommendations about changes in Chapter 17 or in Article 6, 18, or 26. Certainly. If you could kind of forward that to us. This has got to be a group of change chunks that we can, we don't get them all done at once, but we can continue to move forward on them. So I'm saying we want to keep this issue in committee because it's important to us. I think you all should try to coalesce around what would be some sort of an ask for resources from the government in the next budget year, and specifically look at what changes you all would recommend to us or for us to consider in Chapter 17 and in the separate articles that kind of govern over all this, so that we can use your rather educated work product to all of our benefits. And I thank Council Member Martin for opening the door for this, because we wouldn't be having this discussion had he not begun it. So I have not tried to overburden you all, but I'm trying to give you some specific things to come back to us with along the way. I'm not saying by this month, next month, or whenever, but if you will help us, we will help you. How's that? We will be in touch. That sounds wonderful. Thank you. Anyone else, anything else that you all want to add today? Yes, ma'am. I just see one solution where we give the contractors two choices where to plant the tree. And the real choice is to let the tree be within five feet inside the sidewalk. That doesn't mandate private property. That's still easement that gets the tree away from the street, away from the sidewalk, away from utilities. that if you talk to Marwan in engineering, he will show you how they take all the dirt from the outside of the sidewalk in. They take everything. Is that right? They take everything. So nothing's going to grow there. So the answer is five feet inside. Thank you. We will look forward to that recommendation as part of your other homework that we've given you here today. Okay? Thank you. Thank you all very, very much. I appreciate it. So does the committee and the council. Next is an item that doesn't really have a bearer's name next to it. It's working with Fayette County Public Schools to sustain road salt services. I was going to ask Mr. Wente to step forward. I think this is something, and I know this is something that came out of the Environmental Quality Link, and I don't believe we can get anywhere with this issue because we've never really asked the public schools for something specific in my estimation, have we? Not specifically. We had our annual coordination meeting, which consists of Fayette County Public Schools, the state, among our various divisions that would be most impacted for our snow plan preparation each year. We brought that topic up in discussion, but it was just more so from the standpoint of what requests are made of us and the ones that we're concerned about are if requests are made that are outside our program snow plan for schools to be open. Correct. Right. Correct. So I had a meeting with Mary Wright, who is the COO of Fayette County Public Schools. We had a great discussion. One of the things that came out of that was the topic of partnering with Fayette County, or excuse me, with Urban County Government in our salt purchases each year. It's something that they would be interested in looking into that option to lessen their costs for materials and so far as serving their 60-plus campuses that they're responsible for. In addition, we came to a conclusion that requests that we have had in the past, and I actually did a query with Pat Tatum of LexCol in the course of the last three years, looking back just in the winter season of 2009 to present, we've had over 1,300 specific requests for streets, be it on our snow plan or, you know, regardless, just somewhere within Fayette County. A number of people do call that would pretend, or at least we would be of the understanding they were with Fayette County Public Schools. She informed me that they will provide us a list of authorized requestors. That's good. If there is anything that is deemed necessary per their investigations in the mornings when they're going out to determine if precipitation is forecasted. And we're continually in our efforts to work jointly with Fayette County to make sure that we're doing as best we can insofar as making sure they can maintain either their delayed response or making sure the schools are open by doing our best to accommodate that. That's just good communication that maybe we haven't had before or sustained communication. Exactly. Exactly right. Another interesting point, too, is so far as Vice Mayor, with your request of the specific request that came from Fayette County, It was so hard to corn that out because we get so many requests per each individual district. It's hard to know who is the specific request or if it was Fayette County Public Schools, if it was council office, if it were direct calls to our staff, either at streets and roads or to our office. So I think we're in a better shape as far as partnering with Fayette County Schools and addressing issues of requests moving forward. The Vice Mayor has a comment or a question now. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, ma'am. So, Kevin, to follow up on what you said, Fayette County Public Schools will provide you with the names of the people who can make official requests. That's correct. So you have not had that in the past, so there's not any way to know who from the schools was requesting what? I personally have not. I'm not sure if Streets and Roads, Sam. if Streets and Roads had received a list in the past of those that were authorized through Bayer County to make requests. Mr. Williams, welcome. And I have one more question after that. Good afternoon. To answer your question, Vice Mayor, generally we have dealt with John Kaiser and his group, and it was more of an informal type deal, but it was generally channeled through one deal. But we always got requests, and you didn't know where they came from, and they were related to that. But generally, we had a pretty good working relationship, and I think what Kevin has worked out is going to work better for us. Okay, thank you. And then, Kevin, could you be more specific about what you said about partnering in the cost of cleaning streets? I don't mean cleaning, but removing the snow and salting that are requests from Fayette County Public Schools. I'm not sure I understood what you said about that discussion. There are certain areas where we realize, be it based on topography or traffic volumes, that are problematic. And Mary was very forthcoming with that. She gave examples, some of which I already could have told you where they'd come. Trent Boulevard, as an example. Armstrong, because of the amount of topography that we have along that as you're making your approach to the creek. Lansdowne Drive. If they feel that those areas are in need of additional treatment, then they would contact Sam's group or they would send us a note or contact me to alert us that we might want to go back and revisit those locations. And so far as partnering with regard to costs, we bid a contract, I don't know if it's once every other year, for SALT. And she would be interested or if they kind of would be interested in looking into partnering with us to perhaps order additional materials on our existing contract to lessen their costs for operations within their boundary. Okay, so it's not a partnering to help pay. Correct. It's a partnering to get onto the bid? Correct. Okay. I guess what I've been interested in through this whole discussion, one of the things is whether there are streets that are not on our plan, and we would not normally salt or plow, that are requested by Fayette County Public Schools, so they are above and beyond what our plan calls for. Correct, and that's where we would have cause for concern as well. Obviously, we don't have the resources to treat every street, nor does every street need to be, because it's relatively flat and people take caution and we'd be okay. I think everybody just needs to take a driving course up in Chicago per winter season and they know how to drive and license it. Actually, they could go to Ohio and get that. That's exactly right. But she did assure me that we would have that list and these requests would not go beyond our program's snow plan moving forward. And quite honestly, I can't verify if those requests in the past that were thought to be from Fayette County Public Schools were actually legitimate requests from Fayette County Public Schools. And quite honestly, as a parent, there might have been times where I would have called and said, hey, with Fayette County Public Schools, we need some treatment on this street. But I think that has been the case in the past. And when looking through these requests from LexCol, it's pretty evident that these are streets that would not necessarily want. We try to look at every request that comes to us, either by personal request through counsel, however it's brought to our attention. We do evaluate those, and then we'll deem whether or not it does require acceptance into our program guide. Okay. I appreciate that. Sure. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we would like to partner up with them. It's something other than them getting a better salt per ton. Well, it might help our rate, too, though. Well, I agree. I agree. but I'm cognizant of the vice mayor's point. I mean, if there's a time and place where we're doing something so that they can have school, I think that's where the conversation lies as to what is that service worth between these two entities. I mean, they have a larger tax base than we do, and the opportunity to serve the public lies on both sides of the ball there. So I think I appreciate the fact you're having better communications and kind of more orderly communications, as it were, in relation to what is requested and what's done. I think we may just have to watch through this winter to see where those differences are. Maybe we can look back to my initial commentary about asking them for something specific once we know what that is. And right now, I'm not sure that we do. All right. Very good. Very good. While you're there, next up is vacuum leaf collection. I actually get to defer that to my colleague, Rob Allen. My name is on the list. Councilor Stenet, I think, has rung in late and would like to have a comment. Hey, Kevin, what ranking do we give roads around schools? Are they priority one or are they priority two? No, the ranking really just depends on how it really is more dependent upon volume of traffic than the actual proximity to the school. For example, you look at Liberty School. Obviously, that's on both a priority one and a priority two route. Whereas something like Edith B. Hayes, it would be on a priority for because it's primarily just servicing those residential streets to where you have access to the school itself. And that was my point. So there are roads that we may not get to anyway that are around a school. We don't make a special priority for school roads. We try to keep that envisioned, or at least I do when I'm preparing the snow plan. We have another school that will be coming online out in, I believe it's your district, a polo club to where we would have to address that as well. The interesting thing is we try to get a list of roads with final surface every year, and the issue would be making sure that we had polo club completely finished with its final surface to this point. In that location where we see that construction, we don't have that this time. I think some people are under the impression that we reprioritize the road because it's a school. We rank, we pull it up higher on our list. And if we're not doing that, if we're just doing our normal process around there, then that's a big difference. Right. And case in point, with Hayes Elementary, there were a number of streets around that that did not have final surface to where we were getting a lot of complaints. But quite honestly, we would have had so much more damage either to our own equipment or to the road itself, we had to wait for that final surface to occur before we could treat. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, sir. You were in the process of deferring to Mr. Allen, I presume? Yes, for leaf collection, please a very important topic We're gonna get door hangers Thank you, Tim Welcome good afternoon good afternoon sir. Thank you I have a brief presentation about leaf collection for 2012. It's an adaptation from a previous presentation you all may have seen in the past, generously provided by Parks and Rec, who we have accepted the responsibility for vacuum leaf removal into streets and roads. We're excited about it, and we're glad to be doing it. Keep saying that, man. Keep saying that. Okay. Yeah, it is new to us. I'm going to run through this pretty quickly, and then certainly we'll answer any questions. Obviously, what is vacuum leaf collection? It's a collection of the leaves raked between the sidewalk and the curb or to the edge of the property from residential properties that receive city trash collection. And that is important to stress. There are numerous residential properties that receive private collection throughout the urban service area. They are not eligible, nor are commercial properties. This just goes over it. An important tool for citizens is the city's website, lexingtonky.gov. Under the Community tab, it has a lot of information about leaf collection, and there is a matrix where a citizen can enter their address, and it will tell you what your collection zone is and the approximate start date. When does leaf collection start? Next Monday. Monday the 26th. We have essentially four zones and a downtown zone. We'll get to a map here shortly, and you'll see the first one. But we have already hired 35 temporary workers. we have them oriented and ready to go that's in addition i'll get to the resources in addition to full-time streets and roads personnel here are your zones zone a is your starting zone for monday morning and it takes us approximately a week maybe a couple days longer to do a complete zone so we're projected to work with leaf collection into the first week of the new year What do citizens need to do? They need to rake their leaves between the sidewalk and the curb. Make sure there's no trash, sticks, large debris that would damage the equipment. The important thing we're trying to emphasize this year is do not rake the leaves into the street. Please say it again. What was it you said? Do not rake the leaves into the street. Thank you. One thing that citizens need to be aware of, if that causes an accident, they could be liable for that. It's unsightly, and it's terrible for our storm sewer system and our water quality. And we're really trying to emphasize that from speaking with legal, and I'm not an attorney. I am a sworn citation officer, however. We do have the ability to issue a citation for that. We can also issue a fine after a notice of violation of $75 to $500 per day, or we can abate with the city's equipment and put a lien against your property for the cost of the service. So I'll say it a third time. Do not rake the leaves into the streets. Thank you, sir. What other options do citizens have? Of course, they can take advantage of the lending yard waste program. The yard waste bags are free through waste management in various locations. You have the ability to mulch your leaves when mowing. There's a lot of information about home composting, Bluegrass Pride, Live Green Lexington, provide a lot of support and information for that. You can take, Fayette County residents can take leaves directly to the Haley Pike landfill. And, of course, you have the option of paying for private collection. Do you have any statistics on how many yard waste bags we're using? Are we using more of them than we did before? Anecdotally, I know, and I don't have the statistics because the equipment was transferred, not so much data, but from speaking with the folks in waste management, the Lenny usage for the yard waste and the yard waste bag requests each year are increasing. So we're kind of on a sliding scale. I think citizens really see that Lenny and the waste bag program as a pretty convenient option versus we can't specifically tell you when we're going to be at your address. We can give you an about. And I know a lot of folks don't like to have the leaf sitting on the grass or blowing back into the yard after they've collected them. That's also why, as a cost conserving, it was elected to do leaf collection just one time per year versus the multiple times they did in the past. All right, Council Member Sennett has a question here also. Just to add on to that, has anyone tracked, are you picking up less sleeves to the vacuum program than we were three or four years ago because of these other things? Picking up more? Are more people utilizing or less? Yes. Yeah. I mean, I could speak anecdotally, but I did not want to speak for waste management. And also our street sweepers are picking up a lot of them. So I guess it adds to the long-term success of this program. If people are putting less leaves into this program, but we're still traveling down the roads with the equipment, the manpower we've got to hire, I mean, there's going to come a point in time where we maybe just need to concentrate on certain areas of town. I agree. There are certain areas of town, as Tim spoke to or Dave spoke to canopy coverage, where we do have large mature trees versus newer sections of town where the trees may be 5, 10, 15 years old, where you certainly have a lower volume of leaves. And essentially, Lexington's tree canopy looks like two concentric rings because there was a period where street trees weren't allowed. So it's like an inner core with a big donut as far as the leaves go. Yeah, if you all could track that and just see what our participation rates are, maybe next year we could talk about a different plan because obviously we need it, one alone for our sanitary sewer system because we don't want them going there. But also you have equipment that are picking them up that shouldn't be picking them, like the street cleaners shouldn't be sucking leaves up because that causes a whole number of problems with those. Thank you, Chair. Yes, sir. Go ahead. Councilman Sennett, I'll get into a little bit of what we're doing operationally. But how is this information communicated to the public? Government Communications does news releases. GTV3 is doing bulletin board. And Lexington Now, obviously, we have the website I mentioned earlier. The Herald-Leader has already put in two mentions about leaf collection and a start date that I'm aware of and probably more. Council members have gotten the word out. Waste Management has included information in their Waste Not newsletter as early as September, and certainly the folks at Lexcall are on board. We've already met with Ms. Tatum a couple times, and they're a big part of this. What changes were made? Obviously, the big one is Streets and Roads is the primary division in charge of it. We're still doing one collection. We've added temporary restroom facilities to our dump site to increase our efficiency and slow down our downtime. One of the big changes is street sweeping will be suspended. The street sweeper operators are actually going to be operating the leaf collection equipment, except for the nightly sweeping that occurs downtown and the once-monthly U.K. area sweeping. That's just too big a deal to suspend that program for UK. And I think that everyone agrees that the guys that do the downtown sweeping at night has really helped improve the quality of downtown. And also, as I mentioned previously, citizens can be cited for raking leaves into the street. This is just a brief list of the divisions involved in leaf collection. I've mentioned Parks and Rec and Waste Management, LexCol. The folks at GIS have been tremendous helping us, public information. And, of course, it wouldn't be possible without the folks at Fleet Services. So it's a pretty big deal involving a lot of people. And so far, knock on wood, the transition has been pretty painless. Certainly my counterparts in parks have been really forthcoming with advice and how-to. So we hope that transition will be smooth, at least for the citizens. They won't know that there is even a difference. I mentioned earlier, we have a couple managers, supervisors. It's actually going to be 20 full-time streets and roads employees, our two admins, and then 35 temp workers are all going to be involved in this enterprise. Some of the equipment we're going to use, We have five packer trucks and six dump trucks with leaf boxes and vacuums. Our part of it will also be using two of our street sweepers, and we do have one spare vacuum. And a bunch of pickups and things like that, but it takes a lot of resources. Schedule is just our normal work day, Monday through Friday, 730 to 4 p.m. one of the things is of course streets and roads primary function in the winter is snow removal and we talked about that these fellows that are street sweepers are also snow plow drivers so if we are in a snow emergency leaf collection will be suspended for that day and probably while leaves are are covered up by snow i mean so we have the option of working on saturdays or extending the day or extending a couple weeks into January. The problem is we run into, if we get precipitation on top of those leaves that have been out for a long time, they get frozen to the gutters or the roads, so it becomes pretty difficult. So we're going to try to hustle to get them done. And with that, I am done, and I'll certainly answer any questions. Council Member Blues has one. Just a quick question. And how much does the government spend on the leaf bags now to make available free to the public? Since that is not our area, we would have to ask waste management specifically. Okay. I think it's a considerable amount, isn't it? Yeah. About 350. Councilman, we'll check with Steve Feast's group and get you that number. Okay. I know it's a considerable number. I think it's over $300,000 a year. And I was going to ask whether we're getting a sufficient return on that. I think it's a good, really a good program, And it does help if citizens pack the bags rather than wait for pickup at the curb. In comparison, the budget for vacuum leaf collection is roughly $220,000. So if you're comparing $300,000 to $220,000, plus we have the intangibles that don't get logged into that, like streets and roads having to clean out or water quality clean out the storm sewers. We get quite a few flooding calls and things like that. So I think the BAG program really helps alleviate a lot of the secondary water pollution problems. Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. And maybe at some point, and there's no rush to have maybe some fairly precise estimate of the economy of that program, would be helpful to the Council. Okay. Thanks so much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, sir. Next up we have Council Member Henson. Thank you, Chair. What is the cost of this program annually? It's roughly $200. Annually? Well, it's hard to nail down direct. Sam can answer more to that. Council Member Hanson, we have allocated for the temporary employees the equipment that's specifically assigned to that. I think we have a line item in our budget for like $220,000. That doesn't include our internal folks that we're putting with that. It's probably in the $300,000 range if we look at all the effort that Streets and Roads is putting at it. Okay. Have we discussed, I can just tell you, I know in my district, putting the leaves on the curb has a tremendous impact on our storm sewers. And so I am not a big fan of this program. him so i i get i would just like to know if this is something i know water quality had been involved with this but i would just like to know what they might have to say about um you know we're telling the wind's going to blow it in there if we have any wind at all the leaves they're not going to put them in the easement and have them stay there forever until they get picked up. One thing that Rob mentioned earlier in his presentation is the amount of leaves that we pick up with our normal operation on our street sweepers. And I would venture to say that we handle six to eight times the amount of material during the fall that we do in a normal, you know, in the summer, spring time frame with the sweepers. I know probably each sweeper fills its hopper up five to six times a shift where in normal operations it's probably less than one time. So, you know, we pick up a lot of leaves with the sweepers starting in September, even this year because we had the dry weather. We lost a lot of leaves early. And that may be something that as we go forward that the council may want to look at is looking at revising the way we sweep streets and basically work with the citizens to do their own bagging, and then we take care of the extras that fall in our right-of-ways with the sweeping effort. Okay. Richard has something, I guess, that he... We're also looking, for instance, at neighborhoods where they don't have street cleaning allowed, but they do get the leaf pickup. We may have to go back behind that and clean those streets up after we go through and pick those leaves up. Because, for instance, you have concerns about a part in your district over in Addison where they go around and pick the leaves up there, and that could be an example. We are looking at those options, too, bringing that back. Because I think they stopped that about five or six years ago. Is that right? So we'll try to see if we can get that back up. I see. I, you know, again, I am just not a big fan of leaving the leaves on the curb, you know, because as the leaves started falling over a month ago, and they're swept to the curb and left there and they blow away or even traffic can blow them. And then the grass is dead once the leaves are finally vacuumed up, and if it snows, it's even worse. So, you know, I just think we need to rethink this. I can think of $200,000 or $300,000 could be put to better use, in my opinion. Well, this is going to be an education part, which we have, as you know, gone back to one pickup a year instead of two pickups. So hopefully as we continue to educate the public how important these bags are and all that, that eventually someday we may not be able to do it. But as of right now, we will continue to do the one-day, one-sweep. But we will continue to look for the next few years on a better way of doing this. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Chair. Yes, ma'am. Others would consider this a very vital city service that's already been cut in half. So it's a matter of point of view. Are there any other questions on this right now? Before we move forward, did you have something, sir? Before we move forward, Vice Mayor Gorton had something. Mr. Chair, this is on the previous issue. Yes, ma'am. The street tree issue. And I did ask Kevin Wente to investigate the comment that was made by a tree board member that the easement extends five feet inside the sidewalk. Many of us would like confirmed where the easement does extend, and Kevin said he would do that. Thank you. Mr. Allen? I can actually speak to that. Oh, you have the answer. If you're here and on deck. What Ms. Angelucci, well, as an arborist in Streets and Roads, and I used to deal with the street tree issue until it was moved to environmental protection, what she's speaking of is a dedicated planning easement that's indicated on the plan where a developer would choose to put the street tree behind the sidewalk versus the right-of-way between the sidewalk and the curb. So it's a designation, not necessarily a true easement. Okay, because I think the statement she made was the easement extends five feet inside the sidewalk, which I don't think it does. It doesn't, but the developer chooses to do that, and then that particular tree actually becomes regulated as a street tree. Okay, but technically there's no easement there. No, it would just be for the purposes of planting a street tree. Okay, thank you. I appreciate your clarification. Do you still want Mr. Wente to follow up specifically? Okay, you're still on. All right, last on our active agenda today is an update by the Design Excellence Task Force that's placed in committee and followed up by Dr. Blues. My pleasure to call on you at this time, sir. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. This will be, again, a kind of interim report from the Design Excellence Task Force on our progress since our last report to the Planning Committee on June 19th. Since that time, the full task force has met three times. Subcommittees have been at work over the summer. I'll report on their progress. The task force has been strengthened in numbers and in expertise by addition of three recently appointed new members. Professor Ned Crankshaw, who is a landscape architecture and chair of the UK Department of Landscape Architecture, Mr. Mike Moiser, an attorney and chair of the Courthouse Area Design Review Board, and Mr. John Rohrer, also an attorney and chair of the Historic Preservation Commission. One of the documents I have included in the packet for your reference here and there, and I'll be referring to them as well, is the full roster of the task force. Also in your packet, you have a document titled Design Excellence Task Force Timeline, which is a bullet point summary of our work since our formation, and the first meeting of the task force back in the summer of 2010. So you can look at that timeline and see where we are at this point and get some notion of where we are going. Now, in our June 19 report to the planning committee, I said that the task force, especially working in small groups, would be moving our work forward in certain areas. And let me update you on our progress in production. First of all, I mentioned a detailed inventory and analysis of the downtown B2 zones, which you see up on the screen, which is our focus area. And Downtown Development Authority urban designer Brandy Behrman, who is a member of the task force, led that small group, and we'll report now very briefly on what it produced. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Blues. Okay, there we go. Well, as he mentioned, we did break up into subcommittees this summer, and I led the one that was looking at the downtown inventory. My subcommittee's goal was to first make the first step at creating design guidelines. So in order to do that, we needed to look at what our downtown context is in order to determine what is it we're missing and what are our goals that we would like to set with design guidelines. My group met nine times over the course of a 14-week period, and they were very engaged in this process. We first started with something like this where we walked the streets. We documented street-by-street components that we noticed as we were walking. We have every street in that boundary, within the red boundary that you see there, documented. We then zoomed in and did some parcel data collection. So we have some very detailed information parcel by parcel of sampling areas that we determined were representative of different types of zones within our downtown district. Some of those being transition zones, some of those being in the core, and others being residential. We also then took all that information and looked at that study area to identify what do we see as sub-districts in our downtown. This then was our guide for developing what we think are the suggested components that should move forward with design guidelines. So the subcommittee had multiple conversations about the positives and the negative components that we see within each subdistrict, and we made recommendations, which are available in a fairly lengthy document with all this inventory, that will then be used in our next steps of creating the design guidelines alongside with a consultant. So this was the basis for our next steps in design guideline creation. along with several other subcommittees that were created. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Another subcommittee headed by Jeff Fugate, the executive director of the DDA, did a review and analysis of the current courthouse area design guidelines in order to assess its strengths and weaknesses and gaps. That review was conducted, as I say, under Jeff's leadership. The key finding in that is that our guidelines work very well for rehab projects. I think you've seen many of the rehabilitation of older buildings within the courthouse area have been extremely productive and have brought some really new life and vigor to downtown. The guidelines are less reliable for larger, new, from the ground up projects. Jeff is here this afternoon, and if there are any questions on that, subcommittee's work after I'm finished with my report. I know he'd be happy to answer them. I also reported back in June that we would work toward the selection of a consultant, which, of course, involves the drafting and publishing of a request for qualifications. I'll come back to that in a moment. The text of the RFQ, which was released not very long ago, on November 5th, in fact, I've included here in the packet, because the consultant we seek is going to advise and assist and collaborate with our task force members in taking the next steps in our process. I want to quote a couple of passages from the RFQ just to illustrate the way in which we frame this proposal different from most requests for proposals. The purpose of this project, and I'm quoting now from the RFQ, is to synthesize current community goals and previous downtown efforts and policies, provide a clear guide and predictable framework for both developers and citizens, and serve as a powerful graphic tool for visualizing preferred downtown rehabilitation, infill, and redevelopment. The respondent will exhibit the capacity to provide professional consultation to the LFUCG and LDDA design staff as they create and document the results in the desired physical form and responds to the social needs of the community. So in brief, LFUCG and DDA professional staff will do the writing of the guidelines and corollary documents intended to establish a design review process for the B2 zones, which you just saw on the screen. The consultant will advise and assist in the process, and the task force will serve as the project steering committee, meeting as needed to review and approve steps toward its completion. Now, the decision not to turn the process of writing the guidelines in total over to the consultant, but to assign that person or group a collaborator role in the process was based on three key factors. First of all is the budget. The council allocated $50,000 to the budget for this project. It is a goodly and helpful amount, but it would not extend to cover the costs of a consultant doing all of the work, such as was done when the downtown master plan was created. Second, in addition to the work that Brandy's group produced over the summer, that detailed downtown street inventory, and Jeff's subcommittee's work on the review of the current courthouse area design guidelines, We have a small mountain of previous studies and documents that provide really a significant library of materials for reference in going forward. In the appendix of the RFQ, which is not in your packet, we list for the information of prospective consultants 13 documents, including the Downtown Master Plan, the Downtown Streetscape Master Plan, the Courthouse Area Design Guidelines, the Rupp Arena Arts and Entertainment District Study. the downtown building survey that was done in the Newberry administration. So we have a number of studies that have already been done, which will be of immense help to us and to the consultant going forward. And third, we actually have considerable expertise available for this work, both in LFUCG, particularly in our Division of Planning and Historic Preservation. I'm happy to see Betty Kerr is in the audience this afternoon, and also in the DDA staff, as I just mentioned, and among the task force members themselves. So we've got a lot of talent, and over the past many, many months, I think the task force members have demonstrated a real desire to contribute and to be critically and closely involved in this process. Now, the deadline for responses, proposals in response to the RFQ is November 28th. Last week we had the pre-proposal meeting. Six firms were represented there. So we anticipate that by the deadline we'll have received some, and I'm hoping a good number of competitive applications for our project. Finally, Mr. Chairman, I included in the packet a document entitled Design Excellence Task Force. Now, this is a work in progress, a draft document, which is designed to provide for the general public and for other entities going forward, a rationale for the task force's existence, a description of the task in which we are engaged, the characteristics of excellence in design, the conclusions we have reached regarding the guidelines we believe are going to be required, and the chief elements of the design review process that we hope to create. And I'm sure that the task force looks forward to reporting even greater progress in the months ahead. And I'm hoping that before council recesses for the holidays, that we'll be able to provide you with how we are doing. And we may have a winner for the consultant group. That would be wonderful news. At present, we're scheduled to meet again on December the 11th, I believe. So if we're ready by that time, we could do that here or certainly at a work session. I could do it much more briefly than I just reported. So thank you very much. I'd be happy to answer questions if I can, and I know Jeff and Brandy and Betty would be as well. This work is not complete, but the opportunity for it to be so in the coming months is there. We're moving really into a new phase. I mean, the actual production now of the guidelines, which we would hope to bring forward back to the planning committee and subsequently to the full council for adoption. Is it my general understanding that you may have agreed to remain as a co-chair of this group in some capacity? Yes. So we would look forward potentially for you to be making those updates to us in the future. Or backing up the co-chair. I've been made aware of it. Unless the vice mayor appoints you, you may not be slated to serve, but we would look forward to seeing you. I am not twisting her arm. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Any questions, thoughts or comments on this issue? Anyone? Thank you very much. Then just turning to the last page, which is the Planning and Public Works Committee Referrals, there's an item at the bottom of the page that staff has outlined in red, so to speak, because it's an issue that I believe that we took out of committee last time, based on it being associated with a different council member's name, and upon research believe now that the amendment of Article 5-1A, quote-unquote, the right of reentry, was actually placed in committee by Vice Mayor Gordon. And we had removed it thinking that it was complete based on it having been placed in committee by Council Member Stenet. So I was wondering if it would be the pleasure of the committee to reenter it into our group of work via motion at this meeting today. And Vice Mayor Gordon. And thank you, Mr. Chair. And there was also the separating of the two issues, I think. It was two different issues. Your staffer has researched this to the nth degree, and it was two different issues. Right. And they are, or they were? One got moved on for full approval, I believe, and then this one got placed in this committee by Gordon, which is the one that's on your referral list. So it should be in the committee. I believe since this body voted to remove it, I believe this body has the ability to vote to bring it back. I move we bring it back. We have a motion by the vice mayor, a second by Council Member Kay. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed, like sign? You know, there's several things on here that are for kind of quarterly updates and things that are on our December calendar and a couple things we're keeping in committee. Unless there are specific actions or comments about any one of them, I don't believe there's anything else to be done with this today. Vice Mayor. Well, I wanted to ask about, and I know that Council Member Martin isn't here, but the large utility poles in the right-of-way, what is that issue? other than can we not have them? We're going to explore that at our December meeting. Is that the issue? I believe this was a reaction to the placing of the large utility poles in the right-of-way going down Euclid Avenue in the aftermath of the building of the new Chandler Medical Center. So I know why it was placed in committee. I don't know what derivation we may have for it once we have heard it next month. Okay, thank you. You're most welcome. Anyone else? Then I'll ask for a motion for adjournment. All those in favor? Opposed, like sign. Thank you for a very good meeting. Happy Thanksgiving. To love I want a slow hand Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh On the shadow of the ground With no one around And a blanket of stars in our eyes We are drifting free Like two lost leaves On the crazy wind of the night Darling, don't say a word Cause I already heard What your body's saying to mine If I want it all night, say it's all right Ooh, we got the time Cause I got a man with a slow hand I got a lover with an easy touch I got somebody who will spend some time Not come and go in a heated rush I found somebody who will understand When it comes to love, I want a slow hand If I want to go now Please say it's alright It's not a fast move, but a slow move On my mind Cause I got a man with a slow hand I found a lover with an easy touch I found somebody who would spend some time Not gonna go in a heated rush I found somebody who would understand I found a lover with a slow hand You love her with a slow hand And I'll be all excited with this easy touch I found somebody who will spend the night Not calm and broke in a heated rush There's something I want to tell you There's something I think that you should know It's not that I shouldn't really love you Let's take it slow When we get to know each other And we're both feeling much stronger Then let's try to talk it over Let's wait a while longer Let's wait a while Oh, it's too late, let's wait a while Before we go too far Remember the special night When all of the stars were shining bright We made our first endeavor to stay together We made our very first promise To love, to share and be honest If on that very first night it wasn't quite right Let's rewind, before it's too late Let's rewind, our love will be great Let's rewind, before we go too far I didn't really know Not to get on my feelings show To say something later So our love can be greeter You said you would always love me Remember I said the same thing you do You don't have to be frightened with my love Because I'll never give up on you Let's wait a while Before it's too late You know you can't rush love Love Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh And let's wait a while So good Should we never see it? And let's wait a while Before we go too far I promise I'll be waiting You You Wake up, little Susie Wake up Wake up, little Susie Wake up We both win sound asleep Wake up, little Susie, and we The movie's over, it's four o'clock And we're in trouble deep Wake up, little Susie Wake up, little Susie Well, what are we gonna take for your mama? What are we gonna tell you, Bob? What are we gonna tell our friends? It's when they say, ooh la la, wake up, little Susie Wake up, little Susie Well, I told your mama that you'd be in by then Well, Susie, baby, looks like we do again Wake up, little Susie Wake up, little Susie We gotta go home Wake up, police, Susie Wake up Wake up, police, Susie Wake up The movie wasn't so hot It didn't have much of a block We fell asleep by a goose A scooped eye, a reputation he shot Wake up, police, Susie Wake up, please, Susie Well, what are we gonna tickle your mama? What are we gonna tickle your father? What are we gonna tickle our friends when they say Ooh, la, la, wake up, please, Susie Wake up, please, Susie Wake up, please, Susie There she was, just walking down the street singing Do-a-di-di-di-di-di-dum-di-di-do Papping her fingers and shuffling her feet singing Do-a-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-di-do She looked good, looked good She looked fine, looked fine She looked good, she looked fine And I nearly lost my mind Before I knew it, she was walking next to me singing. Holding my hand just as much as to me singing. We walked on to my door. We walked on to my door. Then we kissed a little more. Oh, I knew we was falling in love. Yes, I did, and so I told her all the things I'd been dreaming of Now we're together nearly every single day singing To our diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-dum We're so happy, and that's how we're gonna stay singing To our diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-dum Well, I'm hurt, I'm hurt She's mine, she's mine I'm hurt, she's mine Rating bells are gonna shine Oh, I knew we was falling in love Yes, I did, and so I told her all the things I'd been dreaming of Now we're together nearly every single day singing Do a diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-dum Oh, we're so happy, and that's how we're gonna stay singing I'm hurt She's mine I'm hurt She's mine When he knows we're gonna shine Oh yeah Do what did it did it Dumb did it do Do what did it did it Dumb did it do Do what did it did it Dumb did it do I've got the world on a string, sitting on a rainbow, got the string around my finger. What a world, what a life, I'm in love I got a song that I sing, I can make the rain go Anytime I move my finger, lucky me, can't you see I'm in love Life is a beautiful thing, as long as I hold the string I'd be a silly so-and-so If I should ever let it go I got the world on a string Sitting on a rainbow Got the string around my finger What a world, what a life I'm in love Life is a beautiful thing As long as I hold the string I'd be a silly so-and-so If I should ever let it go I got the world on a string Sitting on a rainbow Got the string around my finger What a world, man, this is a lie. Hey, now, I'm so in love. I see what you're doing Come here So you think you're ready? I just need you to What's the deal? I'm gonna get up and shake your butt, take Come and take me there, come Everybody's like you, but only you do Everybody's like you, but only you do We're gonna have a good time Me and you gon' get it tonight Baby, you make me move Show me what you do, make me move Baby, you move, make me groove Show me what you do, make me move Baby, make me Don't stop it, baby, don't stop till you get it up I see you against the wall, boy What you're waiting for I want you to take control