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� EN HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: June 1, 2011 TO: HonorabI� Mayor and City Councilmembers Patrick Klaers, City Administrator CC: Terry Maurer, Public Works Director ��'� FROM: Michel�e 01son, Parks and Recreation Manager 1(�(� SUSJECT: Tr�e Inventory Back�round The City of Arden Hills has begun the process to establish an Ezx�erald Ash Borer PIan. Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), az� invasive bee�le that kills ash trees, was discovered in St. Paul in the spring af 2009. Previous infestaiions of EAB have shown that the beetles will move out at a rate of one to two miles per year. At ti�at rate, the en�ire county will be �nfested in apparoximately 10 to 15 years. There are critical steps within this process that rnust take place before the City is ready to estab�is� a policy. Two crucial steps that the City needs to work on are cT�anges to the right of way ordinance and a tree inventory. 5taff is currently working on changes to the right of way ordi�ance and this �11 be bxought to Council at a future work session for review. A tree inventvey was placed in tYie Capital Improvement Program (CIF} for 2011. Tncluded in this inventory would be trees located in boulevards, right of way and parks. A tree inventory will assist staff in identi�ying the overall impact that Emerald Ash Borer may have on the City. Budget The 2011 CIP includes $20,000 from the Permanent Improvement Revolving Fund for a City w'rde tree inventory. Staff contacted ou.r 2011 tree contractor, Precision Landscaping who provided a quote of $65.00 per hour to canduct an ash tree inventory. This inventory would include identifying ihe species, size and providing aerials with the trees hand marked in approximate Iocaiions. They stated that they would not be able to complete this work continually as they have ather wark and jobs that will take priority. With approximately 31 n:�iles of Ci#y streets, it is difficult ta identify an exact timeframe of how long it would take to complete this work. Precision stated that if they wexe just identifying asi� tre�s, they gave a rough estimate of 88 houxs to complete ihe �vork. This would come to $5,720.00 plus tax. This did not �nclude City parks because �hat had been done last summer. They would only have the capa�6ility of manually marking the information an a map. Staff would then have to transfer the informaiion to an electronic format. 4lMetro-inet.uslardenhillsll'R&PWIParkslMemoslCouncilMemos406012011 Treelrrventory.doc