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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-10-20 Arborist Advisory Committee Minutes Harry Kim Mayor County of Hawaii ARBORIST ADVISORY COMMITTEE Aupuni Center 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 Hilo, Hawaii 96720 ·· Phone (808) 961-8288 Fax (808) 961-8742 · Minutes Meeting on October 20, 2005 Planning Department Conference Room ‚ Aupuni Center ‚ Hilo, Hawaii AAC members: Chairperson Leonard Bisel, Jan Anderson, Carol Hendricks & Present: Esther Imamura (Planning staff) State and County Agency Representative: Diane Noda, Corporation Counsel Ben Ishii, Department of Public Works Public: Elfie Wilkins Vicki Vierra CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. by L. Bisel, Chairperson. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS The minutes of the September 22, 2005 meeting was notavailable. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1.Ordinance to Remove a Tree From the List of Exceptional Trees of the County of Hawaii: Corp.CounselNodaputtogetherthelanguageforanOrdinancetoofficiallytakethe Quinine Tree (which basically fell apart and had to be removed a couple of months ago) offthelistofExceptionalTrees.ThisOrdinancewillthenbeforwardedtotheCounty Council. Corp. Counsel Noda mentioned that when Parks & Recreation Director Engelhard was herewiththephotosandexplainingwhythetreewasremovedveryquicklywithoutit coming before the Committee, it would have been best for her to have asked for the Committees approval or at least concurrence with the Parks actions so that when she submits the request to remove that tree from the list, she could include with her cover letter that she explained it to the Committee and we agreed that for public health, safety and welfare, the tree was removed on an emergency basis without it being brought to the Committees attention. To document this concordance, J. Anderson moved that the Arborist Advisory Committee agree under the circumstances of the demise of the tree and the health and welfare of the public that the tree was removed as needed. C. Hendricks seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. J. Anderson also wanted to inform Parks & Recreation of M. Kraus comment that the main reason for the demise of the tree was that it had been previously topped. Corp. Counsel Noda stated that Chair Bisel could relay the Committees concern of over- pruningaspartofthemotion. J.AndersonmovedthatChairBiselinformParksandRecreationofM.Krausreasoning behind the original cause of the demise of the tree and that it be a reminder for future pruning projects. Seconded by C. Hendricks, the motion passed unanimously. Corp. Counsel Noda recalled that last month there was a generic question concerning Chair Bisel who has a consulting contract thats part of the Pohoiki Project. It was whether or not he had to recuse himself and not vote on the removal of the one mango tree. Her generic answer was yes. However, she stated that if he informed the Committee of his intention to vote on it because he did not feel he has a conflict, unless there is a motion by someone else on the floor to recuse him, he could vote on it. Chair Bisel stated that his involvement in that project is with the park portion only and so the involvement had nothing to do with the realignment of the road. Therefore, regarding the removal of the one mango tree, if there were no objections from the Committee, hes going to participate in the vote. J. Anderson, C. Hendricks and E. Imamura all stated that they had no objections. Chair Bisel then requested a recommendation from the Arborist Advisory Committee that the County Council approve the Department of Public Works request to remove the one mango tree and to include a sentence that addresses the Committees specific concern about this not setting a precedent for future removal of trees. C. Hendricks moved that the Arborist Committee recommend that the County Council approve the Department of Public Works request to remove the one mango tree. Chair Bisel seconded the motion. C. Hendricks then added to the motion that it include the caveat that this shall not set any precedent for the removal of any other tree in the Groves. It was seconded by J. Anderson. Motion passed unanimously. 2.Signage for the Mango groves: Chair Bisel reported that at the last meeting, B. Ishii and Public Works Director McClure were here and very helpful and willing to prepare and construct the four signs. Shortly after, B. Ishii gave him a draft copy of the proposed layout and language for the signs. Its a nice, full size plaque. Chair Bisel had some concerns about the weight of the text in some areas and, after consulting with B. Ishii, changed the text size a bit. The sign is going to be 4 long by 3 high. Each of these letters on the top will be 4 tall, so it should easily be readable from a vehicle. B. Ishii stated that it will be a metal sign with a green background and white lettering. At Corp. Counsel Nodas suggestion, €Hawaii County Code Section 14-65 was added to reference the actual ordinance. C. Hendricks moved and J. Anderson seconded the motion to approve the layout of the sign. The motion passed unanimously. ChairBiselthankedPublicWorksforhelpingwiththisproject. 3.LogoContest: J. Anderson reported that the contest was put out to the general public and advertised in the local papers. In addition to picking up the entry form from the Planning Department and art supply stores in East and West Hawaii, it was available at a couple of galleries, the Hawaii Community College Art Department and from numerous individuals. Submittal date is by November 10, judging date November 12 and depending on whether the winner is from East or West Hawaii, theres a County Council meeting on December 7 or December 21, 2005. It was agreed that the Council member from the district that the winner is from will acknowledge the winner and present the prize. The entries will go on display at the Mayors Office and Pauahi Place in January because the exhibit space is not available in December. Chair Bisel introduced Vickie Vierra who will be one of the judges for the contest. J. AndersonmentionedthatChairBiselwillnotbeoneofthejudges. Whileadvertisingthecontest,J.Andersondiscoveredthatalotofpeoplewerenotaware of the Committee and the trees, so she recommended that we take advantage of all opportunities to promote both. C. Hendricks suggested presenting copies of the book €Majesty II: The Exceptional Trees of Hawaii to the Council members. It lists the Haili Church Kamani Tree but it doesnt show the picture. The book also includes the Kohala Mauka Road Ironwood trees, though those are not on our Exceptional Trees list. Chair Bisel thanked E. Wilkins for her behind-the scenes work and also thanked V. Vierra for volunteering again as a judge. 4.Hawaii County Planting Plan: J. Anderson reported on her work with the archives. She had a question on duplicate items and what to do with them. Corp. Counsel Noda responded that as long as you have one, youre not destroying the record. J. Anderson also mentioned that shes retaining all the information on trees that were proposed even though they werent accepted. The trees that are Exceptional Trees all have their own numbered folders and whatever relates to that tree is in that folder. Therell be an index to reference it to other files to prevent the need for duplicate copies. GPS data and photographs will also be included when theyre obtained. Amendment to the Agenda to add to Unfinished Business J. Anderson requested that the agenda be amended to include the letter to Haili Church. E. Imamura said that it was inadvertently not included. Corp. Counsel Noda stated that the agenda could be amended to add that item so long as its not a matter of significant importance that would affect a great number of people. J. Anderson made the motion to add the Trimming of the False Kamani Tree at Haili ChurchDraftLetter.SecondedbyChairBisel,themotionpassedunanimously. J.Andersonreportedthatsomedatesstillneedtobeconfirmed. Corp.CounselNodaclarifiedthatforenforcementundertheSection14-62,underthe Exceptional Tree article, an investigation into whats happened for them to be cited for not doing it correctly would need to go to the Planning Departments Zoning Inspector because the investigation would be done out of the Planning Department. The Committee would ask the Investigator to check if all these things had happened and if there had been an unlawful act of substantially damaging, removing or destroying an Exceptional Tree. Further, if that was found by the Planning Director, the Inspector would then give them a citation which could be up to $1,000. J. Anderson moved that the Arborist Committee request that the Planning Department investigate citing Haili Church for the pruning job on the False Kamani Tree. It was seconded by C. Hendricks. J. Anderson stated that she wants to know what message the Committee wants to give in the long run when anything happens to the trees. We have actual documentation that they were at our meeting when M. Kraus offered to draft up a response to them. Chair Bisel stated that its worth going through the process of having the investigation whether or not there is a violation thats worth pursuing. If that turns out to be the case then he thinks we should go ahead with it. But all of the details should be correct before we give it to the Zoning Inspector. J. Anderson amended her motion to ask that the Planning Departments Zoning Inspector investigate the pruning of the False Kamani Tree at Haili Church, that was done against the recommendation of the Committee and that our documentation of prior correspondences and activity be submitted to the Inspector upon verification of those events. It was seconded by C. Hendricks. During the subsequent discussion on the revised motion, Chair Bisel stated that the Inspector would have copies of the before and after pictures of the tree as well as a copy of our recommendations and the full report that M. Kraus did. Corp. Counsel Noda wanted clarification that it was the Committees position that this over-pruningsubstantiallydamagedtheaestheticqualitiesofthetree.ChairBiselstated it went beyond aesthetics. According to the arborist on our Committee, it went beyond aesthetics to the health of the tree. Chair Bisel will help J. Anderson with the letter. The motion on the floor carried unanimously. NEW BUSINESS None. ANNOUNCEMENTS 1.Chair Bisel reported that C. Hendricks will resign from the Committee. C. Hendricks stated that her on-going health problems have limited her participation in this group. Members stated their appreciations for all of her time and effort as well as her experience that helped in making decisions. 2.Chair Bisel recalled that at our last meeting it was pointed out that one of the primary responsibilities of the Committee is to document via maps the location of all the Exceptional Trees. We have about 1/3 of them and gave the GPS coordinates to Roy Takemoto of the Planning Department. Some of the other individual trees would be easy to document that way. Both he and M. Kraus have handheld GPS so whenever theyre out theyve agreed to document the individual trees. The problematic ones are the Groves. After the last meeting, R. Siracusa mentioned that the Hawaii Community College has a surveying curriculum. Chair Bisel will check with Clyde Kojiro and Gail Cho to see if the mapping of the trees can be a class project. E. Imamura reported that the location maps that are part of the Ordinance would be prepared by the Planning Department. Chair Bisel stated that we can help the process by providing the GPS coordinates so Planning can insert the information into the computer to generate the map. The college students would also get coordinates for the trees. 3.In reference to the archives, J. Anderson wanted input as to which files would be working files versus back files. Chair Bisel suggested that it be according to the current Committees term. 4.The next meeting will be held on Thursday, November 17, 2005 in the Planning Department Conference Room at 10:00 am. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:20 am. APPROVED: April 13, 2006 Hawaii County is an equal opportunity provider and employer.