6.4. SR 05-05-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Tree Program May 5, 2008 Page 2 buy up to four trees, with two being purchased and two of equal or lesser value being free. As you can see from the announcement, after the initial period for the selected neighborhood, a buy one -get one free offer was opened to the rest of the City. Some of the questions that the City staff has are as follows: Does the City Council want to subsidize the tree sale program as has been done in the past? If so, is the $5 - $10 per tree amount the right range? In previous years, the number of trees sold has been between 100 — 200, which would result in a subsidy of $1,000 - $1,500. If the City Council would like to subsidize the program, what is the right amount per tree and what is the total annual subsidy? Also, if trees are subsidized, should we limit the amount of trees purchased to 1 or 2 per household? Finally, in reviewing other communities' websites, there are communities that combine tree sales with a spring or Arbor Day celebration. Attached are four pages printed off the City of Ramsey's website which talks about their tree sale and environmental expo that was recently held on April 19, 2008. Would the City Council like a tree sale to be combined with a community event, such as this one? B. City Tree Planting Program In discussing how a City tree planting program for public rights-of-way might work, staffs' thoughts are as follows: • To make more of an impact on a street corridor, we would suggest that larger trees of a balled and burlapped nature be utilized. Generally, these trees would cost the City between $100 and $150 each depending on species. • If the trees are to be planted by City street staff, balled and burlapped trees would allow tree planting to be conducted in the fall of the year, rather than the spring, when the crews are generally busy with items such as pothole patching, crack -filling and street sweeping. • We believe our street crew of 4 to 5 people could plant 10 — 15 trees per day, assuming that the excavation for the trees to be placed in the right-of-way will all have to be hand dug, given the small utility conflicts that can be anticipated with items such as gas, electric, telephone, and cable TV. • We would anticipate planting 3 — 4 different varieties of trees to preclude any future disease wiping out all the trees in a corridor. The question staff has for the Council, is there a specific variety of tree that they would like to see used? In the past, there have been Council members who have liked flowering types of ornamental trees, and Council members would like larger trees that will eventually present a large green canopy for the street corridor. • The final two questions for the City Council are: what level of annual funding for the purchase of tree stock would the Council like to commit to, and how should the corridors be chosen? We assume that the Council would prefer that the corridor be chosen and be fully planted with trees each year, rather than spreading a few out across the City. Staff thought that perhaps starting with S:\PUBLIC WORKS\Fngincedng Division\Tree Program\05 05 08 cc memo.doc