CITY PARKS, RECREATION & CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Meeting held Tuesday, April 2, 2019
PROCEEDINGS BY AUTHORITY
State of New York, City of Jamestown
The regular meeting of the Parks, Recreation and Conservation Commission of the City of Jamestown, New York, was held on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 at 5:00 in Jamestown New York.
Those present representing the Commission were:
Commissioner Dave Anderson
Commissioner John Bauer
Commissioner Russ Diethrick
Commissioner Cindy DiNapoli
Commissioner Kim Ecklund
Commissioner Tamu Graham-Reinhardt
Commissioner Dave Reinhardt
Commissioner Bob Whitney
Others Present:
Julia Ciesla-Hanley, Recreation Coordinator
Dan Stone, Arborist
John Williams, Parks Manager
Absent:
Commissioner Chris Prinzi
Commissioner Aubrey Russell
Commissioner James Ventura
Commissioner Jim Walsh
The meeting was called to order by Julia Ciesla-Hanley.
Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting.
A motion was made by Commissioner Diethrick and seconded by Commissioner Anderson to approve the minutes of the March 5, 2019 meeting. Carried.
Opportunity for Persons to Address Commission.
None.
Reports of Committees and Projects.
Report from the Riverfront Management Council/Riverwalk Project Update: Dan Stone said the conceptual design for phase two is being drawn for the area by the Board of Public Utilities. The plan is going to the county next for revisions. Russ Diethrick asked what the plan involves. Dan said it includes planting more trees and planting out the river banks to deal with erosion as well as adding more seating areas. Dave Anderson asked if there will be rain gardens. Dan said there won’t be but there are drainage ideas being worked on. He said this will help deal with run-off from the BPU parking lot. Dan said they will also look at plantings for the north shore. He said the area between Panzarella Park and the BPU will be made into a kind of wetland marsh. Dan said they’re trying to do what’s best for maintenance. The height of the riverbank won’t change and they don’t want to plant anything too high. It’ll be more shrubs than trees, but it also depends on what the DEC allows us to do.
Easter Egg Hunt: Julia said Girl Scout Troop 20029 filled the 3,000 eggs last week. She said they also want to help at the event as well, so hopefully we get a good turn-out of volunteers.
Breakwaters: Architects Coryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik applied to Kaboom! for a grant to build a play piece on city park land, which the city co-signed on for the project. They were awarded the grant. The play piece is concrete dolos that will be placed on a rubber surface by the bike path near Weitsman’s. John Williams says we expect to do the installation in June. Julia said the grant money has already been received so that will have to go through City Council for approval. Dave Anderson asked who the couple is. John said they’re professors at State University of Buffalo.
Trees: Dan said he started planting past Thursday. There are 100 trees in the ground with 160 more to be planted. He said it’s a wide variety of trees. The Bird Cherry is a new variety that will be planted in Veterans Park. Russ Diethrick asked if there was a way to tag trees for identification. Dan said tags were left on some of the trees. He said Jamestown Community College is trying to do a tree identification program for the campus but it would be difficult to do elsewhere.
Tree Inventory: Dan said Davey Tree started their tree inventory in Ward 1 today. They hope to get Ward 1, 2, and 3 done. Dave Anderson asked if they needed more grant money. Dan said he hopes to get more since there is an annual cost to get online access to Davey. He said the city gets to keep the data though. He’s excited to see the update of the inventory list from the 1980s.
Ash Trees: Dave A. asked what was cut that was 3-to-5 inches in diameter and if it was Ash trees. Dan said it was mostly likely Ash and that the stumps would be ground in the Fall. Dan said 227 Ash trees were cut down, not including Ash trees in the park. He said a lot of Ash trees are still left in the parks. Dan said Long Point State Park officials found that Ash trees that were affected are sprouting out at the root so he’s hoping the same will happen in our forests. Dave A. asked if we’re in a tree deficit now. Dan said we’re still in a one-to-one state and that he reprioritized taking down Ash trees over other trees. He said when the Ash dies, the wood dries up with the limbs breaking and falling, so there was a priority in getting them all down.
Tree Misc: Dan said workers will be going out into the parks this week. Dave A. asked if they will be tackling Hazeltine Avenue. Dan said not this year. He’s had a high demand for tree plantings this year. He’s more willing to plant when people ask for a tree because they’re more likely to take care of the tree. Russ Diethrick asked about the new invasive. Dan said the Lantern Fly is a big concern for grape vines. They don’t seem as selective as the Ash Borer. Dan is hoping the government will be more involved with dealing with this since it’s affecting a commercial industry. Russ asked if the Japanese beetle is still here. Dan said it is. He hopes to be done planting by next week. Russ asked about black spots he’s seeing on maple trees. Dan said it’s just fungus on the air and seems to mostly affect Norway Maples.
Allen Park Trees: Dan said he cut down some big trees by the bandshell last week. He said it will affect that area visually and sound-wise. Dan said he lost a Spruce last year and when you lose one, it makes it hard to keep the other trees around it. He said a Cherry tree nearby was hollow and the Maple tree next to it also had to come down. Five trees in total were taken down. Dan is looking at money through the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation since they’re concentrating on neighborhood revitalization in that neighborhood going down to the hospital. He hopes to plant in new trees while gradually taking down other trees. Cindy DiNapoli asked about the stumps. Dan said he will have to grind them down. He hopes to get it done before the concerts begin since the trees do affect sound.
Dan just cut down a Cherry tree in Veterans Park. That’s where the new variety of Cherry will be planted. He said the Hunt Avenue Apartments is purchasing that tree. Dan said he did inform Chuck Telford and George Spitale on the Veterans Commission.
Arbor Day: Dan said he will be scheduling Arbor Day celebrations for May. Dave A. asked how the trees planted at Roseland last year were doing. Dan said they’re doing well. He is thinking about doing the ceremony on the bike trail by the overlook since beavers cut down the trees he planted last year. We are trapping beavers with five caught so far. Dan said the beavers have been very destructive this year. Russ asked if the Lawson Boat Center has reached out to Dan. He said he’s received no contacts from them. Dan said he’s hoping to trench out the canals when the weather is better. Dan asked if area tree experts ever meet up. Dan said they do sometimes. There is a JCC tree committee that meets. Dan added that Jamestown will be a Tree City for the 38th year. He wishes he could meet up with other experts but schedules make it hard along with trainings. Cindy added that there are less workers than before. Dan said he has to send more workers to hole digging training now.
Hands-On Jamestown: Cindy DiNapoli asked if the event was on May 18th this year. Julia said she looked it up but it was on the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation website yet. Kim Ecklund found the page and said it’s taking place from 8am to 12pm this year. She said you can register online too. Dave Anderson said he’s going to get people to help clean up the Riverwalk.
Frewsburg Soccer Club: John Williams said the FSC had a huge tournament last week. There were 44 teams from all over at the Allen Park Ice Rink. Dan Stone said they split the rink into two fields and that games went all day.
Garden Show: Dan Stone said he had a table at the event at the Northwest Arena. He said there were 60 vendors on both rinks and the turn out was great.
Run/Walks: Dave Reinhardt said the Home-Run for Recovery will incorporate the Riverwalk. It will start at Friendly’s, use the Riverwalk, loop out to Harding Avenue and then end on the Riverwalk. It takes place April 27th and benefits individuals needing life skills and recovery. Kim Ecklund said the Veterans Walk is on April 13th on the Riverwalk. Dave R. said he’d like to use the bike trail for a run/walk in the future.
Good of the Order:
Julia said that PRC Commissioner Jim Ventura is currently at Heritage Green if anyone would like to visit.
Adjournment
The next meeting is Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 5:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Julia Ciesla-Hanley
