City seeks $50,000 state grant to remove stumps, restore at least 33 urban tree pits

City urban forestry staff presented a request Sept. 16 for authorization to apply for a Chesapeake-region Community Catalyst Fund grant to pay for preparatory work before tree plantings, including stump removal in existing tree pits.

Urban forester Jim Bender told the council that past tree-planting grants restricted funds largely to planting rather than the site preparation needed in many city tree pits. He said the new Community Catalyst Fund will allow work such as stump extraction and pit preparation. Bender said staff has identified at least 33 existing tree pits with stumps that could be re-used after stump removal and that the city would apply for the $50,000 maximum under the grant track and match it with $10,000 from the city’s stormwater fund.

“No, most of the grants that we get for tree planting, you can only do a little bit of site preparation with that money…This fund is specifically set up that we can do some of that preparation,” Bender said. He explained removing stumps is expensive and that using this grant would allow the city to remove stumps and then use other grant funding to plant trees back in those prepared pits.

Council members asked about community volunteer involvement; Bender said volunteers have participated in tree plantings after contractors deliver and dig the pits. No formal vote to apply appears in the meeting transcript; staff requested council authorization to submit the grant application under city grant policy.

What’s next: Staff will prepare the formal grant application and, per city grant policy, return the application for council authorization. If awarded, the project would combine state grant funds for site preparation with other planting grants for tree installation.