Planning Commission Regular Meeting/Work Session

James FeatherSecond. Second. We're moving a second to approve them as issued. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed passes unanimously. There are no items requiring a public hearing tonight, or not requiring a public hearing, nor are there any public hearings. So we'll recess our regular meeting and go into a work session. This is a work session for an update on the Urban Forest Master Plan. We'll have a discussion on the overview of the plan as it stands at this point. Welcome Ms. Stafford and company. I

Anna Saffordstaffwill put up the presentation. Tonight we bring to you an overview of the Urban Forest Master Plan project. We'll provide an overview of the work plan, the engagement plan, work done to date, as well as the project timeline. And then we'll open it up to discussion and any feedback you all might have at this time. With me tonight is Dr. Garrett Wolfe from the project team. He's been leading the stakeholder and engagement portion of the project. And so I will turn it over to him to provide the presentation.

Dr Garrett WolfapplicantThank you, Anna. Members of the commission, thank you for having me to speak tonight about the Urban Forest Master Plan. As Anna mentioned, I'm Dr. Garrett Wolfe. I'm the Director of Environmental Resilience and Ecosystem Restoration at Marstel Day, one of the project team members, leading the outreach and engagement portion for this effort. I'm briefly just going to mention the other primary team members. So the prime on this project is Davie Resource Group, or DRG. Matt Erb is the project manager. He's a senior associate consultant and an ISA certified arborist. He's also joined by Ashley McElhaney, an urban forestry planner and a certified arborist. Joining me as part of my project team on the community engagement is Madison Freiberger as a support facilitator.

So during today's meeting we'll provide a brief overview as Anna mentioned, work plan, engagement plan, and current current status of the project timeline. Following the meeting I'd love any feedback that you all are willing to provide. With that I'll go into an overview of the master plan. So to start an urban forest refers to all the trees growing within the city. This includes public and private property, street trees, trees and parks. The master plan, I'm sure I don't need to explain what a master plan is to the planning commission, but it will be a planning and guiding document that allows strategic planning and resource allocation for urban tree management in the long term. Generally, urban forest master plans explore tree maintenance, planting needs,

staff capacity and budget, invasive species, tree-related policies, volunteer opportunities and additional relevant topics for the community. This particular master plan will cover a 20-year planning horizon and it will identify the community's shared vision and goals as well as priorities and address specific challenges and opportunities within the city which are revealed in part through outreach efforts like these. This will be the first ever urban forest master plan for the city. It will create a to maximize the city's time and taxpayer dollars while responding to current and future conditions. Using a variety of recommendations, the master plan will address three overarching goals. Sustainability, to ensure that actions support long-term goals and use resources wisely.