Trees again (planting and plaints); Takoma Junction task force

Just a quick note (ah, but that's impossible for me) before I endeavor to revive Endangered Species & Wetlands Report, the newsletter I've published for 15 years this month. In fact, the actual 15th anniversary is coming up -- it might coincide with my son's 6th birthday -- October 9. That was when I launched ESWR, the most tongue-twisted acronym one could ever hope to come up with. It's been my cash cow (yeah, right), but hopefully also a journal of some value to people in the ESA, wetlands and takings (not so much) law communities. But lately (that's a loose use of that word) it hasn't lived up to expectations. If you're environmentally inclined, please check out the new site and offer constructive criticism. Thank you.

On to TP, the unfortunate acronym for Takoma Park. Trees are in the news again. Actually, when aren't they? This time the debate is over the costs and benefits of solar energy compared with the those attendant to the tree canopy.

Actually (there's that word again), the costs of trees are never discussed. It's always all those benefits, especially the miraculous way they cool the air. Did you know that it's not as hot in the shade?  The example I love is the one Catherine Tunis keeps trotting out -- the $2,000 of taxpayers' money she and the Greenhouse Gas Action Plan people spent back in 1999 proving that ambient temperatures in a treed backyard are lower than those you'd find in the parking lot of a Langley Park shopping center. Personally, I can't think of two more climatically different locations. But they proved it! Chances are, if you step out of your car to grab a pollo entero from Señor Chicken at 12:30 pm on a Wednesday when it's 97 degrees out, you'll be hotter than if you were sipping a cool drink in the backyard of your ----- Avenue home. Eu-friggin-reka.
But on to NEWS, not HERSTORY

"It's not right, it's not fair, I'm still a mess and you still don't care." Fountains of Wayne, Little Red Light

  
The latest re-iteration of this "research" took place at the city council's Sept. 27 meeting, where a good hour and a half was spent on the tree ordinance and hearing various complaints about its implementation (or lack of implementation). I'll offer a few documents and background here, but please also go to http://takomapark.patch.com, where my debut column is on this very subject -- the meeting and discussion. Thanks to Ryan McDermott for allowing me to disgorge my thoughts -- oooh, gross -- on the Patch site.  

The following item was updated Monday, Oct. 25

Appointments to the Takoma Junction Task Force were made Sept. 27 and tonight (it's going to happen, according to the agenda). A  bit more above-board than the sleight-of-hand involved in the selection of members of the Task Force on Environmental Action, which I was co-chair of (and that title and a sawbuck won't get me a coffee at Starbucks, I'm betting).


Twenty people were appointed Sept. 27 to the new body, which is charged with figuring out how to revitalize and redevelop that nightmare intersection.

The task force, which has been given a year (twice as long as the Task Force on Environmental Action got) to come up with a report, also is supposed to "create work plans with recommended near- and long-term actions for Council consideration that addresses [sic] the community’s interest in improving existing traffic patterns; resolving pedestrian safety concerns; increasing public use of public spaces; providing for the redevelopment  of city-owned properties; enhancing the physical appearance and condition of properties; and increasing the economic viability of area businesses."

Sounds simple. Have at it, guys. They just have to figure out how to balance the needs of Junction businesses, pedestrians, cars, the co-op, the city-owned lot next to the co-op, and historic preservationists. 

The environmental task force recommended something for the junction – a "roundabout" to ease the traffic problems. But that seems unlikely to occur, as it would necessitate removal of the "park" located across from the TPSS co-op, and its attendant mural, benches, etc.

Historically, it is an interesting structure, and that's important, because Historic Takoma Inc. (HTI) is well represented on the task force.

"Historic" members include Lorraine Pearsall, either HTI's vice president for preservation (HTI website) or president of HTI (city task force applicant list); Susan Robb, HTI board member, and James DiLuigi, HTI board member.

Also newly appointed to the task force is Howard Kohn, who lives near the Junction, is well-known as a political kingmaker and head of Takoma Park Neighborhood Youth Soccer (what Takoma soccer mom doesn't know 16 Jefferson Ave.?), and is married to HTI muckety-muck Diana Kohn -- not that we'd ever suggest Howard's objectivity would be influenced by something as pedestrian as marriage.

Other members:

Roz Grigsby, Executive Director of the Old Takoma Business Association; Roger Schlegel, who captured 40 percent of the vote in the mayor's race last year; Jeffrey Trunzo, a Sherman Avenue resident, Silver Spring-Carroll neighborhood association member, and regulatory analyst at the Food and Drug Administration; Lorig Charkoudian, chair of the TPSS Co-op; Ellen Zavian, SS Carroll Association's chair of Subcommittee on Junction Function; Hailu L. Aichehi, a real estate agent for Heymann Realty Inc. (at least, according to the Web); John Salmen, owner of Universal Design, at 6 Grant Avenue; Kay Daniels-Cohen, head of the SS-Carroll association;  Steve Dubb, membership director for the co-op; Megan Gallagher, 7331 Carroll Avenue; Seth Grimes, ubiquitous local activist and former mayoral candidate; Andy Kelemen, who has been a member of the informal "Fireplace Group" that had been meeting to discuss the future of the Junction; Linette Lander, Katrina Oprisko, William Coulter, and Jennifer Sisane.

At this point the distribution for the task force is:

Ward 3 (the location of the Junction): 10 members (Councilmember: Dan Robinson)
Ward 1:  4 (Councilmember: Josh Wright)
Ward 2:  3 (Councilmember: Colleen Clay)
Ward 4:  1 (Councilmember: Terry Seamens)
Ward 6:  2 (Councilmember: Fred Schultz)
Washington, D.C. - 1

Alas, the task force has no representatives of Ward 5 (Councilmember: Reuben Snipper).

Once again, Ward 3 dominates a task force, just as it did with the TFEA (the environmental task force).

Colleen and me, talkin trees

in which a Takoma Park City Councilmember and I engage in a civil exchange of views on the relative merits of trees and solar panels in the realm of energy savings.


This happened on Facebook after the Gazette ran a story  about two Takoma homeowners who wanted to install solar collectors on their roof. To do so, however, they needed to remove a tree that didn't look too healthy anyway. 


Jeremy Arias reported on July 7:


"At the heart of the matter is a decades-old silver maple growing directly in front of the Earles' house at 231 Grant Ave. While Patrick Earle has argued, among other things, that the tree is rotting internally and will soon present a safety hazard anyway, City Arborist Todd Bolton remains rooted in his stance that the massive maple is far from dead. Because the tree in question is defined by the city's code as an urban forest tree—it measures more than 24 inches in circumference at a height of four feet from the ground—it falls under the ordinance's protection, according to the city's code.


"It's not dead, it's not hazardous; he's choosing to remove it to put in his solar panels, and if you want to do that, there's a cost associated," Bolton said of the Earles' tree. "That's not my decision, that's not stuff I just made up; that's in the ordinance."


"Since Bolton did not classify the tree as a hazard, the ordinance states that the Earles need to either replace the tree or pay the city the "fair market value" of 23 replacement trees. Because of the tree's size—roughly 50 inches in circumference—the ordinance's formula dictates that the Earles would need to plant 23 replacement trees to make up for it.


"It seems completely unreasonable," Patrick Earle said.


He added that, according to the city, fair market value for 23 trees would cost him about $4,000 at $175 a tree, much more than the $2,000 estimates he's received from contacting private landscapers."


Earle's comments on his experience and recommendations for changes to the city's unforgiving tree ordinance make for interesting reading.


Earle tells me about (and sends along) arborist Todd Bolton's decision to "rate the trunk of my tree as a 3 on a 5-point scale. However, the table in section 12.12.100 of the Tree Code implies that if the trunk is severely hollow that the rating should be a "1". When the tree was cut down we discovered that the trunk was very hollow. One of the major branches that was leaning over power lines and my neighbor's house was dangerously hollow."


From the code:


12.12.100 (C)    The basal area of the replacement trees, measured at caliper height, must be no less than a percentage of the total basal area of the tree to be removed, measured at 4 1/2' above the ground. The percentage is determined using the following health quality analysis rating scale.

CRITERION	VALUE		RATING
	5 or 4	3 or 2	1
Trunk	Sound and solid	Sections of bark missing	Extensive bark loss and hollow
Growth/Rate per	More than 6 inch year twig elongation	2 to 6 inch twig elongation	Less than 2 inch twig elongation
Structure	Sound	1 major or several minor limbs dead	2 or more major limbs dead
Insects/Diseases	Normal pest presence	Moderate affliction or infestation	Severe affliction or infestation
Crown/Development	Full and balanced	Full but unbalanced	Unbalanced and lacking a full crown
Life Expectancy	Over 30 years	5 to 30 years	Less than 5 years
			Total Rating

After the article came out, my fellow Task Force on Env'l Action colleague Sat Jiwan Ikle-Khalsa wrote a sensible letter to the Gazette advocating a recommendation contained in our report that would establish colar co-ops on city buildings.


In any case, here's my exchange with Clay. She delivers a pithy, loaded statement, tries to reword it, and then declines to defend it and bows out of the conversation. Politicians in Takoma Park need to get thicker skin. Leather's out, so maybe recycled plastic bags?

Forest for the Trees

Sweet gums, willows, oaks, poplars, tulip poplars, Silver maple, gingko, serviceberry, hickory, et -- other species. I love you all. I hug you, I kiss your bark. 


OK, now on to writing about Public Menace #1 --trees, of the deciduous variety.


But first this -- I don't know whether anyone took to the podium tonight to laud trees for reducing air conditioning costs. There was an estimate quoted in the Takoma Voice, both online and in the newspaper, that claimed D.C. residents were saving $26 million a yr in lower AC costs because of all the trees in the nation's capital. 


Reporting on a symposium held "a few years ago" at Brookside Gardens, a Voice columnist wrote: 

"DC's trees filter out 540 tons of harmful air pollutants per year," according to Mark Buscaino, executive director of Casey Trees Endowment Fund. Mark also told us, "DC's trees also give us $26 million in annual air conditioning savings." Trees provide stormwater mitigation. They also offer direct economic and quality of life benefits. For instance, one study showed that urban streets with full tree canopies had more pedestrians. Trees pull people outdoors and subliminally encourage neighborhood interaction, which in turn lessens the local crime rate."

Not true. Casey Trees confirmed today that the correct number is indeed the one that has been on their website since before the Voice article was published.


Here's what they say on their site:

Cooling Shade

Cities typically average 10 degrees hotter than suburban areas. Trees provide shade and give off water vapor to cool the city in the summer. Homes shaded by trees have 10-30% savings in air conditioning costs compared to homes without shade. The shade trees of DC save us more than $2.6 million in air conditioning costs per year.

Some links for Takoma treenauts:

http://takomaparkmd.gov/clerk/agenda/items/2010/092710-9.pdf  Packet for city council worksession is here (includes Tree Commission comments)


Patrick Earle's comments
City staff comments


Arborist's rating of Patrick Earle's tree: 


"Note that he scored it a 4 out of 5 on structure, even when a 26" diameter branch was hollow enough to make it fall within a range that made it highly likely to fail," Earle said in an email today transmitting Bolton's scoring.

http://www.eswr.com/docs/tfea/aqweb.htm    my air quality chapter for the TFEA

Email sent today to a university expert -- I should probably get his OK before I post all this, but I don't think he'll mind. I've called him "Dr. C------" (or is it Dr. C-----? Gettin' hard to read these dashes.)


Dr. C------:

As requested:
http://www.eswr.com/docs/tfea/aqweb.htm   air quality chapter I wrote for the Task Force on Environmental Action report, which is available at that link minus the aqweb.htm (www.eswr.com/docs/tfea)   That page also has a lot of links to other documents
www.greenourcity.org is a web page another fellow and I did about the quest to get leaf blowers banned
http://www.eswr.com/docs/tfea/blowersagin.htm a piece I wrote to convince the members of the Task Force that we should recommend banning gas-powered blowers in the city and move twds addressing lawn and garden eqpt's contribution to air quality problems.
http://nrs.fs.fed.us/people/dnowak    USFS David Nowak's pagehttp://nrs.fs.fed.us/people/dnowak#pubs    w/ publications
http://www.arborday.org/replanting/partnership.cfm   Arbor Day Foundation and Forest Service's partnership
http://www.arborday.org/trees/benefits.cfm  Benefits calculator from ADF (whoops, nope that's the one for public consumption)
http://www.arborday.org/calculator/index.cfm?utm_medium=TreeGuideMenu%2Bfeature&utm_campaign=TreeCalculator
http://www.davey.com/ask-the-expert/tree-calculator/national-tree-benefit-calculator.aspx    probly the same thing from Davey Trees (heavily involved in Arbor Day Fdtn) (I figured out that the serviceberry planted in the right of way near my house is worth $11 yr in benefits.)

If it grows to 9 and a half feet, it'll be worth $24/yr


More to come on the topic of the decades in Takoma Park.

MWCOG.org - Air Quality Forecast

MWCOG.org - Air Quality Forecast: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"