Bexley tree commission reports: slate preservation work, community garden donations and fall planting progress

The Bexley Tree and Public Gardens Commission heard updates on several ongoing programs: historical slate preservation outreach, community garden donations and volunteer hours, fall street-tree planting and a draft memorial-tree policy.

Karen Volker, staff consultant, and contractors held a recent slate demonstration and inventory session for commissioners and two tradespeople; staff plan a street-by-street slate survey to add a GIS layer to owner records. “We actually didn’t have a lot of people at a 4 p.m. meeting, but we were able to touch and feel all the slate and understand the differences,” Volker said, summarizing the session.

Mary McMunn reported the Community Gardens donated 1,225 pounds of produce this season and that the gardens have donated 10,755 pounds since 2011. The gardens logged more than 750 volunteer hours this year and the community’s fund at the Community Foundation had raised $14,875 at the time of the meeting. The Bexley Bloomers reported about 860 volunteer hours this year.

Fall street-tree planting continues: staff reported roughly 30 trees installed to date and about 70 trees remaining for the current planting cycle. Staff and commissioners noted occasional resident objections to on-property plantings behind sidewalks; those objections were the subject of the separate 290 Ashbourne discussion and a planned code review.

Grama (city tree crew/staff) described planting practices: crews are removing the top two-thirds of wire baskets and cutting burlap/twine as part of planting protocol, and many recently planted trees are using watering bags. Grama confirmed installers generally remove synthetic twine and wire baskets to permit root development.

City staff are drafting a memorial-tree policy with the Community Foundation to standardize donations and plaques. Staff presented working figures: a suggested minimum donation of $500 for a tree without a plaque and $1,000 for a tree with a plaque; plaques would be installed in parks only (not in tree lawns) and recognized via an online mapping system.

Mayor Kara Kessler and staff also reviewed budget items in the draft city budget: an additional $20,000 for the street-tree program (bringing proposed street-tree funding to $100,000 total) and funding for invasive species removal on Livingston and Jeffrey parks. Commissioners discussed whether to pilot more species diversity on selected streets to reduce monoculture risk and asked staff to prepare species suggestions.

The commission agreed to continue working on a tree-planting and maintenance plan and to present recommended ordinance clarifications to the city attorney for review in December.