Shade Tree Commission schedules Tree City USA attendance, BioBlitz; approves contractor-certification change and moves code edits for review

The Athens Shade Tree Commission used its April 10 meeting to plan outreach events, discuss planting sites and approve a change to contractor qualifications that will require ISA certification or equivalent oversight for city tree contractors.

Commissioners encouraged attendance at the regional Tree City USA ceremony on April 17; the host this year is the village of Middleport and the city will cover registration fees for any attending commission members, a staff member said. The commission also set a BioBlitz for April 19 at noon at the Eastside Library as a pilot to gather citizen-science data for a street-tree inventory.

On planting and parks, commissioners discussed fall planting at the new Eastside firehouse site and nearby bike-path areas and noted drainage and compacted soils will require site preparation. Parks staff and volunteers will coordinate site prep and stewardship for first-year care.

On funding, a commissioner reported work on an application tied to IRA-related funding (referred to in the meeting as “IRA funding”), with an August 27 application deadline. The commission said mapping right-of-way widths and a more complete GIS overlay would improve planting-site selection and the city is working with planning staff to assemble those materials.

Code and contractor qualifications: The commission voted to ratify a proposed code change requiring that contractors either hold current International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certification or be under the direction of someone who does. The change includes an 180-day grace period for contractors to obtain required certification; the commission approved the change pending final comments from a staff member named Dave.

The commission also reviewed proposed code edits that would move pollinator and invasive-species language into Title 9 and suggested adjusting the current trees-per-acre calculation for development sites to better match canopy objectives. A commissioner noted that the code’s current tree-per-acre requirement is difficult to meet on many constrained sites and suggested revising the calculation to reflect canopy coverage goals rather than raw tree counts.

Why it matters: The contractor-certification change can affect which companies are eligible to bid on city tree work and can strengthen the city’s position in grant applications that require certified oversight. The BioBlitz and Tree City USA participation support volunteer engagement and the city’s Arbor Day/Tree City USA commitments.

Formal actions: The commission approved the contractor-qualification change (motion passed by voice vote) and later adjourned the meeting by voice vote.