Hi folks online. Can you hear me? Sort
of. Yes, I'm seeing. Okay. Um, we're
having some technical difficulties in
the room here at the manor. So, I'm
working through some of those. And no
one can see you but me. Um, so I'm going
to work on rectifying the
Oh. Oh. Oh. Okay. All right. second
screen. There we go.
>> Promising.
>> I wonder if they can see.
>> Can any of you see the room or you only
see me? And also you see nothing because
my
>> Oh,
>> so now you can see me.
>> You
>> and probably your microphone is the only
microphone.
Can you guys
>> Can you say something again? Keep
talking.
Hi.
Is
>> that pretty?
>> I'm sorry. Not Diana, Dan. Hence.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Can you hear me? I can hear
Jeff pretty well, but
>> yeah, you're coming out of my computer.
>> And not the room.
>> Okay, hold on.
So, they
kind of locked some of the stuff down.
So that we didn't have to do this, but
then the stuff in the room's supposed to
work. So
>> now connecting to
>> Yeah, it should
our typical teams console is
It's dead. It's plugged in.
>> Power.
>> Yeah.
>> So, you slip it under me.
>> Sure.
>> You did.
>> Then we go like this.
>> Okay. And then maybe plugging this in
here and see if that works. Maybe.
>> Test test. Dan, can you say something?
>> Yep. Hello. Hello.
still coming out of still.
>> Um, I'm gonna try one thing and try and
>> try and change the speaker.
>> Speaker,
>> can you talk again?
>> Yep. Hello. Hello. Hello. Sound check.
That seems like a good reaction.
>> Progress.
>> Positive.
>> But progress.
>> Um,
okay. I cannot get the video to connect
though. So, you're not going to be able
to see the room. Um, but you get to see
me
>> and um
>> we can raise hands while we speak. Dan,
you can I guess PowerPoint will be
interesting. And that um
Santi, you can navigate the PowerPoint
on your screen. I guess Dan, you'll see
that, right? You'll see it.
>> I should
have on my own, too.
>> I think we'll make this work. Do we want
to press record? And
>> it's already recording because it's a
Microsoft Teams thing. So, I'll fix
that. I have to stop later. Sorry, guys.
>> Welcome back.
>> Something so good to have you back.
>> Nothing changed. Oh gosh, please don't.
Um, sorry that this is so strange and
wild. Um, but with that,
Ryan David,
>> welcome
on November 24th, 2025.
>> Chair, I call this meeting LTS club park
board to order.
>> We'll start with a roll call.
Ryan Olson uh present. Oh yeah, please
say here. Present or make yourself
known. David Lou here.
>> Katie Bell
>> here.
>> Chris Kovac
>> as an excused absence.
>> Tim Mley.
>> Anna Novakovic
>> here.
>> Diana Ren.
>> Sorry. Present sorry Jane Tushi
>> here.
>> Marlene Waxy
>> here.
>> Paulair
>> here.
Martha Gner
>> also has an excused absence.
>> Jeff Newell
>> present.
>> Thank you.
Sounds like we have a quorum.
>> Yes.
>> Excellent. Thank you.
Um, has everybody had a chance to review
the minutes from the last meeting?
If so, are there any corrections or
edits?
Um, if there are no corrections, then
the minutes are approved.
Work, so I'm having to do this a little
bit.
Um,
public comment that's correct.
>> Yep.
>> We have one in the building. I think
none online.
>> This is serving as a microphone as well.
>> Question mark.
>> I'm just trying to get honey and you
might want to Yeah, certainly come close
enough that we can get your voice.
>> Yeah.
>> Come on over.
>> Sorry, I've been polishing jewelry. I
All
right. I'm Connie Marsh. I live on
Squawk. Squawk has trees, you know, and
I seem to be talking about trees a lot
when I come here. So, that may be what
you all think I'm about all the time.
It's just not true. It But you probably
don't have the same memory that I have
of Isiqua. And so I was just going
through our Isqua Environmental Council
newsletter from 2003
and uh it shows the newly cleared Isiqua
Highlands.
And right after the newly cleared Isiqua
Highlands, then they were going to build
on Park Point. Um, and they were going
to build a southeast bypass that was
going to going to run an eight lane road
behind Isiqua High School and allow
access to development up on up on uh
Tiger Mount. And so this this
was
isqua eroding away and the idea that it
could be deforested because you'll see
when it gets around to you how naked it
was. That's that's the view out of our
window. It used to be a forest and then
it turned into that. So when when
someone like me says trees, it's because
we've worked for 25 years to protect as
much of our forested nature of this town
as we can because it is part of our
culture. It's the outdoor recreation.
It's our part of our reason for being
and it's our financial attraction.
People say, "Oh, it's beautiful. Oh,
it's so green." And it makes it
expensive. It makes it hard to develop.
But it is a core value of our town. So
when I talk about the tree code, it's
because I have reread the tree code like
10,000 times and I see the failures of
it. And when I read the heritage tree
thing that I was the last person who
tried to submit something for, which
actually never made it to the park board
except for me coming here at Jeff, never
officially made it to the park board
because they said it actually did not
adhere to the standards at that time.
And that is why they've tried to change
the the application form to make it so
that it would be more functional. So I
read the because Jeff did bring it to
Parkboard. It was just it didn't make
it.
It didn't go any further. And so for me
um that was a waste of my time except
for the fact that we might get something
better. So I read this I say is it
better? And I have to say no.
It's not better because as a person who
reads code in the language, I cannot
protect
a heritage tree
on a public piece of property in any
particular form that I can understand
because I I wanted to get the trees that
are around Tibbitz Valley Park
protected. And so the first step is you
need the uh approval of the land owner
which is public. So
I don't know what that means. Don't know
the criteria. Don't know how it works.
Don't know who decides. Don't know if
you all get to see it. Right? And then
and then it goes through a process to
see if it's good enough. Right? If it's
not good enough, then the park director
can just say it wasn't good enough. And
there's no thing that I'm paraphrasing,
you know,
>> it's all good. Keep going.
>> Um, but there's nothing saying it has to
come to the park board so that there can
be an explanation of why it wasn't good
enough. So maybe there could be
discussion about it. And so it's only if
it's approved by the land owner,
potentially the city, and then approved
by the parks director, that you all
might get to see it. And I disagree with
that. I think it needs more eyeballs
than that. Now, if we don't want
heritage trees,
then we just say we don't care, right?
There's also that snappy bit of code
that we just had the uh a code change on
our tree code that basically added the
ability to take
pretty much all the trees out of some
areas of the central Isiqua plan and
that includes all heritage trees. So
currently and so I think some language
needs to be added if you think that
maybe in the central Isqua area there
might be some heritage trees that you
want protected because right now there's
no way to protect them. Okay. So my tree
passion continues. Maybe one day I'll
talk about something like the aqua.
Wouldn't that be exciting? Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah. Has anybody caught up online at
all?
>> No, doesn't look like it. These are just
our members.
>> Thank you for comment as well as the
artifact
that um with that we can move on to
regular business. We have on the agenda
item.
>> We do. I'm happy to to give an
introduction. Dan Hint is with us
online. Hi Dan, our urban forest
supervisor. Uh Dan will be um going
through the the presentation tonight. Um
I guess just as as way of introduction,
um I know we've had a number of
discussions about the Heritage Tree
program. Uh we are excited to bring this
to you because we very much are looking
forward to a staff of getting this
Heritage Tree program um out and
available. Um and quite frankly, what
you'll hear tonight is we really want to
position it more publicly. Um, you know,
this has been a program, as Dan will
highlight, that uh started in 2005.
Um, pretty much every tree that was has
been nominated and selected uh was done
by city staff. Uh, we want to change
that. Uh, we want this to be much more
outward- facing uh program. And so, the
intent tonight is to talk through
content. Um, hopefully get your approval
of content. Uh, we then will turn around
and put promotional materials together.
um greatly update the promotional
materials and um get this out and
promoted um charted in 2026 so we can
have a series of trees to talk about or
nominations to talk about um in 2026 as
as Dan is um going to share. Um another
thing I really want to emphasize is um
this is a program. This by itself is not
policy. This by itself was not code. Um
um but as a program it is really
intended to celebrate the trees that we
hold dear. Um and thankfully you know
from 2005 to now we have um a more
holistic urban forest program. Um and
and certainly a a strategy to take care
of every tree whether it's designated
heritage or not. Um a far more robust
tree coat exists now too. Thanks Maronei
and and community. Um, is it perfect?
Probably not. But, um, it's certainly
pro progress. So, this program is not
intended to,
um, do the work by itself. It's it's
meant to play a role in a much more um,
collective cohesive approach to taking
care of um, the trees in and around
Isiqua. So, with that intro, Dan, um,
thanks again for for joining us tonight.
Great. Thanks, J.
Forest supervisor. Um, a handful of
slides. We talked about this just a
couple months ago. So, I want to kind of
get into discussion, but these will be a
little bit more specific on, as Jeff
mentioned, kind of content and process
for the heritage tree program with the
goal of getting this relaunched and
reactivated in 2026.
So, Sy, we can jump to the next one,
please.
So, you all saw the slide back in
September, but just to kind of set the
baseline again here, um these programs
exist across the nation. There's quite a
few of them in in Washington. Most our
neighboring cities have some form of
heritage tree program. um really you
know kind of uh looking at significant
trees to the community you know and that
is where we'll get into that kind of
content here on the next slide but you
know really meant to recognize celebrate
certainly elements of protection and you
know education around you know those
unique trees that embody is aqua or you
know they they might be heritage trees
elsewhere too and then some of them tell
a very specific community story too so
there's there's a little bit of both
there um and as Jeff mentioned you know
this was developed initially in 2005
five um but have not had a heritage tree
nominated or added to the catalog since
2012. We have about 25 uh trees give or
take currently in our heritage tree uh
program.
Next slide please.
Okay. So this is where we'll get into um
characteristics the three categories
that we have defined a few changes from
what was uh produced about 20 years ago.
Um I can give a few kind of reasons for
those justifications but certainly could
be part of our discussion at the end of
this presentation. Um so specimen is
really looking at a tree of exceptional
size. I did want to emphasize for its
species. Um we have a lot of obviously
large growing long live trees like our
Douglas furs or a lot of our native
evergreen or conifer trees. Um and those
are great. I'm not to say that those
shouldn't be considered and they have
been quite heavily already in this
program. But there's a lot of tree
species that can be far on in maturity,
contribute a lot to our tree canopy, uh
but not necessarily be giant trees, but
for for it species, um might really
stand out. Um that relates to age, of
course, too. Older trees generally are
going to be bigger. Um could be
different growing conditions, so that's
not always 100% the case, but age and
size are definitely pretty closely
correlated. Um form, and then rarity. So
talking about tree species that uh may
not be real common in Isiqua, you know,
for instance, we have a big leaf
magnolia tree at Gilman Village as a
designated heritage tree and that is the
only one I know of within the city of
Isiqua and even in its native range is a
pretty rare tree in the southeast of the
United States. So guess kind of an
example of of a species rarity there. Uh
historic um a tree recognized by its
association with a historic location,
structure, person, or event. I'm going
to kind of hop ahead uh to changes down
there and come back to ecological value.
But we specimen we've kind of uh you
know looking at other programs in the
region here and just thinking it's a
little bit more accurate than purely
size or age is the category we had
before. So that is a change uh while it
still encompasses size or age it's a
little bit more broad to emphasize uh
form rarity as well. uh historic too. We
removed you know specific call out to
early settlers which was in our kind of
first uh version of heritage trees
created 20 years ago. Um to really just
just make make it clear this is not
purely a you know kind of European 1890s
on early Isiqua. There potentially could
be other historic trees that are
associated with cultures or events prior
to then. Um we've discussed some we're
not going to get into depth tonight that
culturally modified trees for uh tribes
here are not going to be included in
this program and that is off of
consultation with both the Muckleshoot
Indian tribe and Snowquami tribe and
concerns of publicizing what are very
sacred trees to their people. Um we
would like to provide highlevel
education on culturally modified trees
probably as a complement to this program
but won't be identifying or or
nominating specific uh culturally
modified trees but we we did want to
kind of update the historic category
there um to make that a little bit more
inclusive. Uh ecological value is the
last one tree that provides special
ecological benefit not commonly seen in
Isiqua. Um
there could be more added to that. We're
trying to keep these pretty short and
concise, but other cities that have
similar and and you know, this is stuff
we could we could, you know, write in
into the, you know, considerations when
we're designating trees or considering
what trees to designate, but often
you're talking about habitat for
wildlife. You're talking about air and
water quality benefits or, uh, storm
water benefits, uh, carbon
sequestration, which might relate to
bigger, more long live trees, but is
certainly an ecological benefit provided
by trees. So those are often the um uh
categories that you're looking at when
you're talking about ecological value.
And I want to highlight before we move
on here that you know heritage trees
should and likely will encompass
multiple categories and there certainly
overlap. So that isn't to say that it
heritage tree couldn't just specifically
be a historic tree, but likely that
might be a older tree, a large tree, um
similar with overlap with ecological
benefits too. So, we're kind of looking
at these as really kind of interwoven uh
characteristic uh categories for our
heritage trees. Um so, the ecological
value didn't uh change much, but you
know, wanted to provide a little more
context of what that generally is
intended to mean around, you know,
wildlife, uh storm water, air quality,
carbon sequestration. Those are the
those are the type of things that are
highlighted in in similar programs that
use that that category.
And hop on to the next one, please. Um,
so really want to kind of just emphasize
and to really clear what is in our code
and and and what uh you know potentially
doesn't exist in terms of uh protections
around heritage trees. So this is copied
and pasted from our uh most recent
updates to the tree code um 188120
heritage trees. Uh so we're meeting
tonight on the first part of this you
know establishing a process to designate
a tree as a heritage tree. We might have
to make some small tweaks to this, but
for the most part, it still captures
age, size, ecological value, or historic
historic association uh within the city.
Um, publicly available tracking data,
including removal of all heritage trees
within the city. We have, to my
knowledge, never removed a heritage tree
that has been nominated. We have had a
few that have have died. And actually,
we have a couple that are still habitat
snag, so not living trees, but they're,
you know, they're they're still there in
some form, like one of our heritage
cherry trees at Pickering Barn. Um,
removal of heritage trees is prohibited.
So, this is really kind of getting into
the the protection part of it.
Regardless of size, except as provided
in IMC 1881250.
So, that is essentially what our um
approval criteria is for tree removals.
So that's removal of a tree meeting the
definitions of a nuisance tree. Removal
of a tree with the purpose of replacing
dead, dying or diseased trees. Um
thinning heavily wooded areas which I
don't think would likely apply here. Um
but that is also one of the removal
criteria that technically would be
eligible and removing trees providing
solar access to buildings incorporating
active solar energy system. Um, so
really the the caveat here and Connie is
certainly getting into some of the
nuances of this is that for the most
part heritage trees can't be removed as
part of development projects. Um, there
are caveats there. One of them is that
our whole tree code chapter has uh
language on variances. So you know
exceptional conditions exist to prevent
full compliance with this chapter. A
variance may be granted. So that that
could apply to heritage trees, that
could apply to other uh canopy targets
and things like that. And that sounds,
you know, kind of what's going on with
some of the uh centraliz uh uh
development code, too. So um but like
for the most part, like I said, the
biggest protection is that uh from from
development projects um with with the
18812 uh 120 heritage trees there. Um,
we've also kind of confirmed talking
through our community planning, talking
to other cities, you know, this is not
deed it down. So, if you do sell your
property, that is part of something, you
know, this this applies mostly for
heritage trees on private property that
the new property owner would still have
to sign on to. So, that'd be something
that we would need to do our best to
track uh connect with, you know, any
potential new land owners and really
kind of talk through the the program and
the process there.
Um, and move along, please.
question.
>> Thank you, John. Um, okay. So, now kind
of getting a little bit more, we've
talked a little bit about the, you know,
kind of content and categories, talked
about the code, and now we're kind of
talking about process. Um
so you know the the way it's worked in
the past and I think we continue to plan
to do it this way is you know
nominations can be submitted at any time
but we would like to set you know a time
frame and a kind of uh schedule annually
that we will uh review um uh all the all
the nominations coming in for heritage
trees. I guess kind of a step before
that though is we really want to use our
annual Arbor Day which is usually our
first Saturday in April as a really big
kickoff for program promotion. So once
again people can submit annually but we
would like to use that event as an
opportunity to really kind of push this
program out to the public. You know
really try to connect people with some
of their favorite trees while you know
emphasizing these categories that we
have for heritage trees uh
characteristics and you know see what
sort of nominations we can get. uh as
Jeff mentioned, you know, as much from
the public source versus, you know, the
the past city forester or from someone
like me who certainly has candidates in
mind, but I think that's more powerful
if that's coming from members in our
community. And keep in mind that would
be both be for trees on public property
and and certainly trees on private
property as well as a goal to build that
up. I would say right now it's about 25%
of our trees are on private property.
Several of them in Gillan Village, a few
that are truly on private residential
property, but the bulk of them are on uh
public property at this point. Um talked
about must having signature for property
owner, but this is kind of getting back
to where we want to set some regularity
that we'll have city staff uh review
annually in July. Um, I do think there
are conversations on how we could work,
you know, whether that is a parkboard
meeting or an ad hoc team where we're
really kind of working together with
myself to kind of review and and see
what uh trees we think best meet the
criteria and intention of this program.
So I think that's certainly worthy
discussion too uh here in just a little
bit how we want to kind of take you know
whatever nominations come in in that
year leading up to July for that review
and then you know kind of the process of
how that might be whittleled down to
what actually comes to the park board in
September for uh reviewing and approving
um possible designations of heritage
trees.
Dan, can I can I add something as well?
Just as you and I have talked through
this process and we want to make clear
>> um and I think the question has been
raised but uh the intent of this program
is that um as any any nomination all
nominations will come to the park board.
You will be shared with you. There's not
an intent of um only bringing before you
nominations that are recommended by
staff. um you would you would see any
and all nominations and this work that
would be done um in the summer uh that
um Dan would lead we would uh certainly
work with any other whether it's a
private property we need to do the work
with those private property owners if
it's on public property certainly do the
the necessary vetting we need to do um
so you would see those nominees nominees
that are being recommended will be
commun communicated it to you, but you
will see both those that are not
recommended and those that are
recommended for heritage trees. So, uh
there's no intent to somehow shield from
you nor the public um any trees um that
were that were nominated.
>> Great. Thank you, Jeff.
Jump to the next slide, please.
Um this is a a little redundant to the
last slide, but if people like
flowcharts better than bulleted list, uh
maybe this is a little more uh uh
fitting for for you, but um you know,
really kind of looking at this kind of
from, as I mentioned, you know, our
annual spring arbor day really focus on
program outreach form submitted. um they
could come in before that, but you know,
that's really going to be the
three-month window or so in the spring
and early summer that we're going to
really focus on driving uh nominations
from the public. Um you know, part of
the viability review, we'll talk a
little bit more on the next slide on,
you know, some kind of little bit more
nuanced considerations and purely the
characteristic categories we talked
about in one of the first slides. Um but
some of that will be, you know,
location. And we want to make sure these
trees are in relatively good health so
we're not nominating trees that are then
you know going to be pose hazards or be
kind of falling apart within you know 5
10 years or so. So that'll be something
that'll be on me is doing some you know
kind of uh you know both health and
structural condition assessments um as
part of that tree health assessment. Um
for public trees we are you know talking
about having directors keep in mind that
might be Jeff a lot of the times for
parks but you know certain trees are
within rideaways too. So there could be
conversations with um Emily Moon, our
public works director on this too. But
um private nominations of course is a
slightly different process. They're the
little blue bubble um you know working
to make sure they understand what that
kind of looks like on private property
and getting the information we need from
them uh before potentially moving
forward to that uh you know kind of
final review of a of a you know somewhat
whittleled down um collection of
heritage trees that we think are most
fitting for designation in that given
year. uh at the September park board
meeting. So those approved trees at that
point, this becomes more of the
formality, but they'll go to likely an
October or November city council meeting
where there'll be a mayoral declaration
uh designating formally designating
those heritage trees to the program. Um
once that's awarded, you know, we have
to add to the project map, photos,
descriptions to the website and public
facing. And this is a good point just to
kind of call out that, you know, in my
head, this is really phase one. H how do
we how do we get this up and running? uh
really try to, you know, get new trees
into this program. But such a big part
of it is after that, how do we make this
more engaging with the community? How do
we make it more educational? How do we
make it so people actually know when
they stumble across a heritage tree,
it's a heritage tree, you know? So,
we've talked in the past about small
little uh identifying plaques and things
like that, too. So, there's there's a
lot of work to do there um to continue
to build the visibility of this program
uh on that kind of public facing side of
things. stuff that in my couple years
with the city so far, we've kind of
dabbled with leading some um partner
hikes with Isiqua history museums on uh
heritage trees and cultural history of
Isiqua. Um and then there's been some
kind of one-offs reaching out to me
around interest to get more information,
updates to our website. We definitely
need a little bit better of an
interactive map versus, you know, just
kind of list of addresses, but uh things
that we'll continue to build out um as
we get this program up and running
again. So that's kind of the proposed
updates to process and timeline and
really trying to kind of solidify, you
know, some of the feedback we heard is
that a lot of this stuff just came to
the park board in September and then
kind of move forward. There wasn't, you
know, that opportunity to have a little
bit earlier touch point um or much
opportunity if there are public
nominations coming in to, you know,
really truly kind of review, vet, and
gather information, you know, about
those individual heritage tree
nominations. So um I think we just have
one more slide here if I remember right.
>> So just a few considerations that that I
think are important but this is
certainly worthwhile discussion. Um, and
I I I some of this based on feedback
I've heard from the park board recently
in the last couple months and as we sort
of brought this uh um up when I started
about two years ago um before um you
know kind of moving priority to the
forest management plan tableabling this
for a little bit and coming back. But
these are um definitely considerations
that I think are important when we're
trying to move nominations forward to
designation. And some of that is species
diversity. uh you know do we already
have a lot of these tree species
designated already? That doesn't mean we
can't add more, but I think you know one
goal of this program to me is to educate
around a wide variety of species. Native
species is a big part of it, but there's
certainly introduced species that are
really important for a lot of the, you
know, characteristics we're talking
about for heritage trees in our
community and I think are worthwhile
consideration as well. So, I I I put
that in there because, you know, we do
have a lot of Douglas fur. We have a lot
of uh redwoods, you know, trees that are
naturally very big. Um, but maybe don't
celebrate some of the tree diversity
that we have in Isiqua as well as we
could be doing with this program. So,
that's something to consider. Like I
said, it's not a we aren't going to
nominate more Douglas fur trees or or
designate more Douglas fur trees, but
something that I think we should just be
kind of sifting through when we're
comparing nominations against each
other. uh tree condition I already kind
of touched on, but you know, we want
trees to be in a good condition. That's
kind of looking at the health of the
tree and then also the structure of the
tree, which could relate to, you know,
potential hazardous issues. Um, tree
size. This is, you know, not something
that I I I think we'll ever have a, you
know, just like clear guidance on is
this tree big enough for a heritage
tree, but there's a great resource out
there called Washington State Champions
where most of our tree species, both
native and a lot of the common
introduced tree species we use in the
landscape um have have uh you know,
measurements for some of the largest
specimens in the state. So, you know,
similar growing conditions that we have,
it's in Washington alone. Um, and we
could use that as a as a point of
reference or point of comparison when
we're kind of talking about size uh of
trees here. And like I said, not
necessarily just the biggest biggest,
but of that species. It might be um
uniquely old or large, you know, for for
a given species. I'm thinking of
something like the Pacific Madrron that
doesn't grow very large, but you know,
can still be a a specimen tree. Um, so
that is a great reference I think that
we could be used as we're kind of
working through the nominations and and
trying to whittle that down to potential
designations. Uh, noxious weeds, you
know, there's several trees on the King
County noxious weed list. Um, so I think
it would probably make sense not to
include uh trees that are listed as
noxious weeds uh as part of our heritage
tree program, but that that's something
we could certainly discuss. Um and then
lastly, you know, number of
designations. Knowing that this program
has been dormant for uh a decade plus,
uh historically we limited that at
three, I do think it is important to
have some kind of higher bar in criteria
for uh you know, achieving heritage tree
status. The goal is not to just have,
you know, hundreds or thousands just
kind of thrown right back into the
program. But we also realize that, you
know, as we try to get more nominations,
try to get more people involved, three
certainly seems like a limiting uh
number to really kind of jumpst start
this program, too. So, we're looking at
uh waving that here as we as we restart
the program.
Um,
>> well said, Dan. Do do you have an
example of what a a noxious tree would
be?
>> Yeah, I mean, the first one that comes
to my mind would be uh English holly.
Um, horse chestnut is listed as a a weed
of concern on the noxious weed list.
English Hawthorne, I've actually had a
family reach out to me that has a really
large old English hawthornne on their
property and they've actually been
interested in not necessarily heritage
trees, but other ways to protect it. Um,
which you know, potentially. So, I think
these are the things that are
considerations that are that are out
there that I that I have been contacted
about. You know, you could you could
spin it the other way where it could be
used as this is still a you know, old
tree meets the specimen standards, but
we really educate around why we don't
propagate this or we don't plant this um
because of its invasive uh properties,
but those are a few that come to my
mind. Hawthorne, chestnut, holly.
>> Um there's probably a few more I'm not
thinking of. It's not a huge list for
what it's worth. You know, most of the
noxious weed list are are truly, you
know, herbaceous weeds or or or shrubs,
you know, things like blackberry ivy.
Um, but there are certainly a handful of
of species on the King County noctress
weed list.
>> Thanks for that.
>> Yeah,
>> I think the next slide, if I remember it
correct, is questions and discussion.
So, I will pause there and happy to kind
of chat through as a reminder. You know,
we're kind of talking about the that the
content, you know, essentially those
three categories. We talk about heritage
tree characteristics and some of the
small tweaks there and talking about the
code or protection element and then
really talking about uh process for for
um jump starting this program again in
2026.
And while you're all thinking uh
questions or having discussion, uh Dan,
maybe you and I could could tag team
this u because I know it's it's a
discussion we've had as a group um a
couple of times as we've talked about do
we want to consider groves or stands of
trees? Um, and Dan, I just thought maybe
we could talk about this a little bit
and that um, as we've done some sort of
comparing with our peers, looking at how
other cities handle roads and stands,
um, we feel like there's more work to
do. Uh, we we don't feel like we're
ready to to
um, sort of put some boundaries or
understanding around how do we recognize
the stand of trees? Does that mean every
tree has the same um the same
protection? Um are we recognizing the
stand or are we recognizing each
individual tree? Um and so um it's not
that we don't want to uh we would like
to do a little bit more work and um in a
year or two be able to come back um when
we feel that much more informed and know
how to you know do we create a
subcategory or is it the same category
and just you know how do how do we treat
that and so um and I guess an example to
that is as a program we don't want to
leave this untouched for the next 20
years um like any program that we do um
in many divisions of this department,
let's let's review the program every two
or three years um and see how we might
want to adapt um add to it, adjust to
it. So, I just wanted to give that as an
example. Dad, anything to add to that?
You know, your last point kind of nailed
what I, you know, wanted to emphasize
too is that, you know, this is something
that to to me guess kind of use the
phrase a lot, you know, maybe a little
bit of pace over perfection. really
trying to get this going again, trying
to get trees uh you know, new trees into
the program, trying to engage the
public, use it as an educational tool,
but know that there's certainly things
that we might need to change or tweak um
moving forward and making sure that as
as Jeff you mentioned, we're setting
aside that time, you know, in the next,
you know, one or two years after
hopefully rolling this out in 2026 to to
kind of revisit and readjust as needed,
including the groves of trees, which
which I would say it's, you know,
there's not that we have to follow other
programs. It's it's probably, you know,
50/50 out there in terms of cities that
have some elements of collections of
trees or groves or stands of trees. Um,
and then ones that really look at the
kind of individual uh heritage tree
status. So,
>> thanks. Looks like we have some raised
hands, Ryan.
>> Yeah, Jane, I think you're the first one
I can see.
>> Yeah. Hi, everybody. Um, this is
awesome. I'm really excited about this.
There's a uh there's a tree that I walk
by every morning with my dog Walter that
I say hello to that I'd love to
nominate. I'm just thinking through how
I might approach this if I wanted to
nominate this tree. It's on somebody
else's property and I'm looking at the
um Isqua Heritage Tree brochure that's
on the website currently. I it sound it
looks like it needs to be updated which
I think is part of this conversation. I
just had I I just had a couple of
thoughts on that. one is it in order to
make it easier for somebody like me to
nominate a tree that's not on my
property. Um
uh I there's a field in here that says
description of the characteristics of
the tree. I'm kind of curious if we can
just like amend that a little bit to
give like a little checklist of the
criteria that we listed before in terms
of like you know s all the stuff that
was on that slide of like what we're
looking for. So that's like idea number
one. Um idea number two is that same um
uh that same brochure. Uh right now it
says I understand the heritage
designation does not limit my my ability
to prune, remove or otherwise maintain
my tree. So if I'm understanding
uh slide two or three of this deck, that
might need to be updated.
And then um idea number three was just
um again like if I wanted to nominate
that tree that I say hello to every
morning and I hope you all don't think
I'm crazy for doing that. Um is um if I
if I wanted to just use this pro
brochure to go up to knock on the
property owner's door and say hi I love
your tree. I'd love to nominate it. Like
a few quick bullets that say here's
property owner here's what you're
signing up for. if you say yes to this.
So like it'll be on a map, it'll you
know, whatever whatever it might be. So
you know, just something that says that
makes it easy for eliminates friction
from that conversation. I may be
reticent for whatever reason to go up to
my neighbor and say, "Hi, I dig your
tree. I'd like to nominate it." Or
whatever. So anyway, those were just
those are just some suggestions, but um
otherwise, I think it's an awesome
program. I'm excited. Thank you.
>> Great suggestions.
>> Thank you, Diana.
>> Hey, sorry, I was muted. Um, so my
comment I guess is about the engagement
with the public or um your
uh suggestion that we might put up some
kind of plaque or um signage to inform
the public and educate them about the
specific characteristics of this tree
and why it's included in the program.
Granted that not all of these trees may
be accessible to the public because they
could be on private land, but for the
ones that are, um, I live by the
reindeer trail. I see a lot of people
coming to visit the troll and they are
often on kind of a a you know process of
seeing all the trolls in the area. It
would be cool if we could have some kind
of um stamp to be collected at each
location or a QR code to scan, something
that encourages people to engage with,
interact with these trees and actually
go visit them um learn more about the
program.
>> Love it.
Dan, I know you've done some
brainstorming around that.
>> Take that
simple hopefully fairly. Yeah, Diana,
totally great point. There certain we
have three buro trees that are in
someone's backyard in the Sycamore
neighborhood that I don't think they
want people just you know kind of
walking in willing to so yes there
certainly are ones but then there's
private trees that are more publicly
accessible as I mentioned we have three
heritage trees within Gilman village so
that's certainly something we probably
could work on you know with them um but
yeah I I to me once again this this is
such a such an important part of the
program as I sort of kind of mentioned
phase two is how do we build that
awareness of our existing heritage trees
ones that we're hopefully nominating
next year and and and adding to the the
catalog um would be small little even
like 4x4 plaques that have a QR code
that do that takes you back to our
website where we have more information.
It certainly could be something as it is
a little bit of a you know kind of
collector's thing where you can go out
and try to visit all of them. Um, a
little aside, you know, one of the best
emails I got in the last year was from a
mom and her seven-year-old daughter who
is super into trees and asked for, you
know, more information and maps and
details on heritage trees because she
wanted to go visit all of them. So, I
mean, that's the type of stuff that I
really want to continue to like be able
to build out and offer to the community
to do independently and then certainly
as part of like organized events as
well. So, yeah, a little 4x4 that has,
you know, maybe the, you know, is aqua
heritage tree. it has the species name
and it has a QR code that can both, you
know, be a sort of, hey, I' I've visited
this and also here's more information on
on why that tree uh got designated. So,
to to me, that's definitely a big a big
project. Um, well, not necessarily big
project, a big important part of, you
know, really getting recognition and and
educating the community around these and
having, like I said, hopefully little
just I don't think they need to be big
signs, but just small signs that kind of
call out awareness of the program, the
tree species you're looking at, and
then, you know, opportunity to QR code
to more information.
>> Yeah, right on.
>> Uh, question. Is there any financial
impact to nominating let's say 100 trees
in 2026? Is there beyond the plaque is
there any other things that either the
city has to take on as a burden or parks
department
>> and Jeffy please jump in if you have
different thoughts or or anything to
add. Um I think that's definitely part
of you know kind of the the the lessons
learned if if we get to the point where
it is just an excessive burden on staff.
you know, my intention is to be the one
who's, you know, receiving and doing the
initial review and kind of contact with
whether those are trees on private
property or publicly managed trees. But
yeah, if that gets to be 100 trees that
I have to go look at, as much as that
like sounds really, really fun, I do
have other, you know, responsibilities
where that would be pretty timeconuming.
Um, you know, the idea is giving
ourselves a couple months, you know, we
could spread some of that out, but um,
yeah, I think I think there are some are
some considerations on just the uh,
sheer scale. I mean to me though that
would be really awesome if we can get
the community that engaged but then you
know we might have to think of some
guard rails to to keep that in a you
know reasonable level for you know being
the only forester at the city to do some
of those initial reviews and and really
kind of putting together information to
have folks like you on the park board
help you know kind of make those
decisions how to get it down to a
certain amount of trees that we actually
want to designate. So, yeah. So, I mean,
I've been I've been trying my best not
to use them interchangeably and
sometimes I mess up the words. You know,
nominations very different than
designations. You know, more nominations
is is is great, but yeah, thinking about
the the the time and and resources to go
in to, you know, essentially review and
all those. Um, we, like I said, we still
want to have a fairly high bar. We're
not going to set an exact number on it,
but we still want to have a fairly high
bar for how many actually end up
designated annually. And just because
it's nominated and doesn't get
designated, to me that's a really cool
database we could kind of keep
information on and and we could
potentially consider those trees again
in future years, too. So, um, yeah,
Jefferson, I don't know if you have
other thoughts on that, but
well said. Great question, David. Yeah,
I don't I don't see in the foreseeable
future a huge cost to to this program.
Um and and um
I think Dan said it really really well,
right? You know, there there's the
process for the nominated trees and a
and a and a a resource cost, right, to
to sort of processing that bringing that
information to you all for for um you
know, final consideration. Um and then
yeah, a a tree designation and and I
don't know that we're trying to set a
cap. I I suppose eventually there would
be some inherent increased cost but it
would be relatively nominal. Um I think
the the importance of that designation
is the significance that it holds right
and and um again understanding the
relationship this program does have with
the tree code. There is a protection
that that goes with that and an
additional protection. Every tree in
this community is protected to some
degree, but it it brings an additional
protection that um again doesn't have a
a cost, but it has a um
Yeah. It has a
impact.
>> Yeah. I was thinking more of after it's
already been designated.
>> Yeah. Okay.
>> Five or 10 years down the line, let's
say it is on private property and it's
dying. It's a tree that's dying.
Something happened to it. like whatever
it is, property owner can't maintain it.
They're like, I need to cut this thing
down. Like, does the city step in in any
case or it's still
>> No, that would still be the
responsibility of the of the land owner,
whether it's private or public or if
it's on other if it's on school district
property, right? We're not the only
public land owner, right? Uh it would be
the responsibility of that owner um to
to maintain, manage, or again if it
became diseased or needed to be removed.
So, it's truly a program for celebrating
the
>> Exactly. Well said. Educating and
celebrating our trees. Yep.
>> Again, I hope it all sounds great, but
I'm curious if we explored are there
unintended consequences or cons to this
program? Like I hear all the good stuff
sounds really great, but I'm like what
are like or have you guys talked about
like what are I 5 10 years down the
road, we have all these trees
designated. Are we then spending a bunch
of time trying to figure out when we're
growing a squa what we're going to do
about these trees? Like what is the like
long-term bureaucracy that we're
creating?
>> It's a great question. I'll I'll take a
first stab at this one. Dan, please jump
in. Um
I don't think it's a con. I don't think
it's a con. I I think it's it's the it's
the inevitable tradeoff to this program
is how I would put it. And so when we
think of recommending a designation to
you all, there's a lot of vetting that
needs to do because with that comes that
responsibility and and um uh when we
think about um the city and and our land
constraints, I'm going to I'm going to
say this um as um your steward and
manager of your public lands, right? Um
um as we look at um and I think it's
important in in 2005 I don't know that
the city had a strategic park system
plan. We have one now. I think it's
going to be a really important reliance
and relying on that park system plan to
say hey not only what does that
neighborhood park now but what does that
neighborhood park need to possibly do in
15 or 20 years? Um, and as we think of
that nominated tree that's in that
neighborhood park, is that complimentary
to what that park plan system plan or
what the community saying they want that
neighborhood park maybe be in 15 years?
Um, let's try as best we can to be
complimentary. Right? So, I don't see it
as a con. I guess I just see it as the
responsibility
that's going to come with that
designation
um on on a on a public park. I I say
neighborhood park, but a community park
or you know somewhere that we know or
we've identified might need to to handle
some growth um in the coming years. We
need to try and be smart and and and
balance those realities. Is that in the
um criteria that we talked about
earlier?
>> That meaning
>> um like understanding the longterm
future use of the land
sort of land use. Dan, do you want to
talk about sort of the land use aspect?
>> I I think Jeff kind of summarized it
pretty well. I mean c c c c c c c c c c
c c c c c c c c c c c certain areas I'll
have an understanding on but I might
need to work with Jeff or Robin our
planner or if it's trees that are on
public works but I think it's for
especially private trees or trees on
other public lands that's not city just
making sure folks are aware of the
protections that are added and then you
know what is eligible removals um so
like I said it doesn't mean if the tree
is you know declining rapidly that you
can't get rid of it if it's posing a
hazard um so I think just being really
really clear with folks applying that
you know this this this is what is you
know kind of protected with heritage
trees and then this is where it still
kind of falls under uh you know
allowable removals. So I think I think
Jane asked the question around you know
some of the language there. You can
still prune, you can still do a lot of
tree health care for your heritage
trees, but just to just outright be able
to remove is I think something that has
uh changed since the 2005 program
developed. Um, so yeah, I I think it's
just being real clear with folks and and
that's where it can be a little tough on
private property. There might be areas
that are just no plans whatsoever to to
do anything to. So having heritage trees
there would be great and having that
recognition might be something that
people would be really proud of. You
know, like having a certificate, having
that mayoral designation, you know, that
could be something that would be really
cool to people. Well, then there'd be
other people who might still love an
individual tree, but they might hesitate
to do the nomination just because just
just to be safe, you know, hey, we we
might do something, you know, kind of
land use wise. But but I don't know. I
think that comes down to to kind of each
individual scenario. And I think it's
just really making clear that whoever
kind of the decision makers there are
are informed of of you know what what
does uh kind of add protections and you
know what is allowable for um heritage
tree car and removal. I feel like I
didn't do the best job explaining that
but um yeah so it's it's really needing
to work with with the the folks who are
actually signing off on the on the
nominations.
>> Yeah. Another thing I just wanted to
sort of point out to that point,
Marlene, is sort of in this flowchart,
if you will, sort of this this part
here, the nomination reviewed by city
for viability. Some of that is is Dan's
work going out and like checking tree
health and and all of those things and
does it meet those other criteria that
he had, but this also allows the
opportunity for, you know, does this
tree fit within a plan that we may have
within our park system plan. So, that
review is also happening from staff. So
from, you know, uh I'm going to say
Robin, but from the park planning
perspective, um from our our long-term
sort of planning documents, so the park
system plan, you know, if it's something
that's a rightaway tree, is there
something in in like a public works
document for sort of long-term plans for
for say um road expansions or something
like that? Definitely is part of this
sort of viability review. um it's not um
called out in those specifications, but
I think that's kind of where we're
thinking that that work is happening. Um
because again, those specifications are
they're they're they're generic. They're
general. They're not like everything
encompassing. Um and and we don't want
to do that because we don't know what
these heritage trees are that people are
going to nominate just yet. Um so please
don't say I'm trying to like trees like
>> of course
like
Yep.
>> I think
>> great question. Yeah,
>> Dan, maybe you could just outline a
little bit more on what you believe or
your the thought on what the
actual submitt process will be because I
know Jane talked about the brochure from
2005 is what kind of revisions and
updates we made there.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, obviously having like an
online form which would make it really
easy for us to organize nominations to,
you know, whether that's through
Microsoft forms or some other platform
the city has. I would still like to make
it available for people that would like
to submit a written nomination, but but
absolutely um updating stuff to make
that a online submitt just that's you
know right on the heritage tree website
that we have already. Um, I think Jane
brought up a great point too that, you
know, instead of just really general,
yes, in the in the actual fields where
you're submitting stuff, you know,
really kind of reminding people, hey,
these are the things that we're hoping
that you touch on, uh, in terms of, you
know, that those categories for the
characteristics that we're looking for.
But, um, yeah, so that's something that
I think, you know, assuming this moves
forward, Hani and I would be working on
pretty quickly in early 2026 to get
something set up, like I said, that we
can really start pushing out for our
Arbor Day celebration in April.
Thank you. Is there any hands up for
people that can't see? Can you tell?
>> I don't think so, but let me see if I
can sh this.
>> I have a general comment. Just like
saying that I really like that we're
doing this we're doing this now because
I know about like a lot of like the
growth plans of the city and to like the
points I like saying I know that this
heritage tree won't be like this tree is
not protected forever because it's
always a baron this is this but adding
certain barriers to the growth of things
that we determine are special special
things community gets involved and they
like all these trees I know once growth
starts happening it can move fast as as
it's by you know conure when things got
crazy there. So, I like that we're doing
this now kind of as anticipation of that
to kind of protect certain things or at
least add a little bit of a barrier on
things that may special that may be
important to the city and trees on the
park.
>> Good point.
>> We have any
other questions, thoughts,
comments,
concerns?
This is an action item of ours.
So we
we have kind of Oh, there we go. Next
steps. Thank you. Opportunity.
>> Uh let me read the slide first.
>> It's just basically if you all feel
ready. Um if you want further
discussion, by all means, we can have
further discussion.
um if you would like, you know, some
more specific changes in writing um that
you want to see before you feel ready to
to take action as a board. um or if
you're ready to make a motion um to
allow staff to sort of continue and and
get this program open and and see what
heritage nominations we have and with
with the caveat that you know both Dan
and Jeff have mentioned that you know
once this is open that doesn't once
you've said yes that doesn't mean that
this is the only way that this program
is going to go if it goes and like David
said we get a hundred nominations and
they're all amazing and they all seem
like they could fit the criteria, then
maybe we need to come back and and do
another review and and make sure that
that happens within the next, you know,
one to two to three years rather than
like this the 20 years.
>> Exactly. And and so I think that's just
just to add another point to what S is
saying. I think the the the
recommendation, the the request tonight
is is um if you feel comfortable with
the content we're talking about, we
would love to bundle us up, get it
promoted, and push it out knowing
um it's a program. So, it it it's not
this isn't your only this is a different
than advis or seeking action on building
a park, right? We're we're going to
touch this again a whole lot sooner than
20 years from now. uh we're going to
probably touch this again in two years
and and see how things are going. So um
>> and also know that these trees are then
this program is is stewarded by you all
as a board. So these these nominations
are going to come to you at every
September meeting. If you'd like to have
an ad hoc committee, you can make that
designation in January and that can
happen and those can have meetings
leading up to that September meeting. If
September doesn't work for everybody,
you know, we can make those changes, but
that you all as a board feel comfortable
that that program is going to be in your
stewardship going forward as well.
>> Awesome.
>> You feel like we're in a collective
where we can recommend moving forward.
>> Well, then we'll make a motion to
recommend moving forward the updates to
the heritage program for relaunch in
2026.
Is there a
>> second? There a second.
Thank Katie. Um and then just a note
because we have two regular members
missing. Um both our alternates are
acting as regular members and voting.
Thank you.
>> Do we is there some type of input we
needed from those on that?
>> Um so
>> there's a second. So, if I if we can get
a hand raise for those that are in favor
of moving this forward from both online
and in room. And if you can keep your
>> I suggest stop sharing so people can
see.
>> That's a great idea. Chef
>> can turn their camera on.
>> Done this in a long time.
>> Oh, good.
>> Um and yeah, you can just use the little
teams um option to raise your hand um
online for those that are voting. if you
vote yes and then in room um if you can
keep them up because my brain is slow.
Two,
six, seven. Um and then any that are
opposed
and anybody that abstains.
Okay. Um
with seven votes, the the motion moves
forward. So thank you all.
>> Thanks for the discussion over multiple
years. Dan, thank you for taking a new a
new look and and your commitment and our
commitment to to make this much more
public facing. Um really really look
forward to seeing what you know how the
community responds to this um as we roll
it out in these new ways. Um I I'm going
to certainly make a commitment that as
you see in those materials, we'll make
it very clear as we spell out the
process that um park board will be
seeing all nominations, not just um um
some select few that staff think um make
it through that all nominations will be
brought forward, those that are
recommended for designation and those
that aren't recommended for designation.
Um you will see all of those.
Thanks again everybody.
>> I think that's our one item of regular
business.
>> It is.
>> Yeah. We'll move on our reports. Yeah.
>> All right. Well, hey, um happy
Thanksgiving week. Um hope you all have
a a wonderful holiday this week. Um
uh certainly a lot to be uh a lot to be
thankful for for for certain. It's been
another another busy, productive year.
Um couple updates. Um uh 2026 uh budget.
As you may know, this the city um adopts
city council adopts a banual budget. Uh
so they now adopt a two-year budget at a
time. So they adopted the 25 2025 2026
budget um last year in 2024. Um, as we
head into this second year of that
banial budget, of that two-year budget,
uh, there is, um, a more abbreviated,
um, sort of series of work that happens
with council to look at any budget
adjustments that we want to make. Um,
things happen in any given year. Um, two
examples I have that, um, as we
discussed with council over the last
month or two, uh, they recently adopted
some budget adjustments heading into
2026. um a couple that are are positive
for resources within parks and community
services. uh one namely in park
operations. Um so you all may be
familiar in August King County park levy
went out um countywide uh within that
park levy um there's a rather small and
I'm going to emphasize small I think you
guys have heard me really really small
portion of that levy that is allocated
to cities um um I'll save my editorial
yeah
I'll leave it at that but that
allocation will bring to for this 2026
this next sixyear cycle that allocation
is a little bit bigger for the city of
Isiqua. Um was about $200,000 a year in
the prior levy um um it will be just
over $400,000 $410,000 a year uh to the
city of Bisqua. So with that new
allocation of money and given that
starts in 2026, this is a great example
of why uh we went to council to adjust
the 2026 budget. Uh we are going to um
hire an additional maintenance worker
too, a a full-time maintenance worker um
and also um have increase some of our
operational costs pertaining to some of
the new parks uh that were just um uh
recently opened. So, um um great news
there and that um uh that those levy
proceeds um a portion of which so now
what the allocation was the split for
the $200,000 just so you know $100,000
of that went into our operational budget
our general fund to pay for maintenance
$100,000 of it went into our capital
program to help um uh with our capital
projects. uh that allocation with this
410,000 will be a 100,000 will continue
to go to parks capital 310 will go
towards operating costs thus um helping
with this additional staff person that's
uh that's needed um also in the 2026
budget as um operations and programs at
Pickering Barn have continued to
flourish uh you might remember about
five years ago we really set an
intentional goal uh to to really
recognize the barn as an iconic public
space and and break out of the shell or
the thought that that was really just an
event facility. We really see that as a
community hall. Um their programming has
been going um gang busters. It's going
really really well. And so with a mix of
additional revenues um and taking some
of what was budgeted as part-time money,
uh we proposed adding some additional
revenue into the budget, reallocating
some part-time money. We're adding a
coordinator position um at the barn to
just help um create a sustainable staff
uh to help keep a lot of that good
community use and community work um
happening um and programming happening
in the bar. So appreciate both of those
um um um support from mayor and council
on that. Um speaking of mayor uh with
the election that happened earlier this
month, uh we're in the midst of a
mayoral transition. uh within the city.
Um Mayor Paulie um is retiring. She
didn't seek re-election. So after eight
years of service, uh there's certainly a
number of celebrations that are going to
be happening. Namely, there will be a
community event on Monday, uh December
8th at the senior center. Um I should
have had the time. I believe it's 5:00
pm to 7 pm. I can confirm that, but um
I'm sure you'll see some invitations out
there, but um more than welcome to
attend that uh community event um if
you're interested in attending. But um
um seeing Mayor Paulie off and and just
the the service that she's provided to
this to you all and to the residents of
of Isiqua. At the same time, uh, Mayor
Elect Mullet is um um into his
transition
um as um department heads, as city
staff, uh we'll probably be seeing um
there towards the end of December after
as Mayor Paul is transitioning out some
additional work and understanding work
plan goals and priorities um of the
mayor. So, uh certainly look forward to
um just working through that transition.
Um, in my in my career, um, I' I've been
around long enough, certainly had a
number of mayoral transitions, um, and
and certainly look forward to this one.
I know as Mayor Mullet settles in next
year, he'll be interested in coming out
and meeting with boards and commissions,
so we can probably look forward to a
visit or two from uh, the new mayor in
the coming year. Uh speaking of 2026,
one one last quick update uh with Asanti
back. I'm so glad Asanti is back. Um
parks municipal code. If you remember
that conversation we had uh first
quarter as as um Assanti was preparing
for leave. Uh we are going to pick that
ball up. Assanti's already been working
with the city clerk's office and the
city's attorney's office to begin doing
uh some preliminary work um in both if
you remember that process. We want to
consolidate park code is sort of all
over the city code right now. Let's
consolidate that into one chapter and
then let's um add some additional park
code that really has never existed um or
been in place um um to make sure we have
code uh that pertains to park uses um
park rules, park functions. Um and so
look in the work plan as we begin to
shape that for 2026. multiple touches
with you all as the board that then as a
code um update will then go through a a
pretty rigorous process with a couple
other boards of commissions as well as
ultimately um city council adoption. So
um we look forward to that um getting
underway.
>> One last reminder, we do not have and
will not have a December meeting
historically. Um, it's usually some
holidays that happen that third, fourth
week in December. Um, but as I've
offered in in prior years, I would love
to take the month as opportunity if
you'd like to meet one-on-one. Uh, have
a chance to just talk through park board
or interests or priorities you all see.
Um, would um would definitely welcome
that. Um, I'll reach out to all of you
and see if that's something any of you
want to um take up this month.
We talked about potentially an ad
relates
that something that we want to talk
about the new year or how we
>> Yeah. So typically the board has sort of
designated ad hoc committees at the
January meeting if there are items in
that J in that work plan for the year
that makes sense to be ad hoc committee
and that way um you can sort of decide
what needs an ad hoc and then um solicit
membership at that same meeting as well
>> is on remains on the list for that
planning
>> to go by with
>> that planning planning process. Yes,
it's a great example for an ad hoc
opportunity as is heritage tree program
as Dan said. So, yeah, January to that
discussion.
Thanks, Ryan.
>> Thank you. Um, the youth representative
tonight's
person report. I don't have um much to
share out nothing from my end. Is there
anything anyone else wants to bring up
or discuss or
comment on or
>> fun to see the trees getting ready like
the new park by uh we call
>> Oh yeah.
>> Yes. tree lighting. Yes. So So for the
holidays uh that that park will be lit
up um a number of ways um for the
holidays. Yeah. Yeah. Y
>> um our next is January 20.
>> Yes. And let me make sure that that
date.
Yes, that's a Monday. Yes. January 26th
is the next meeting
>> in the new year.
>> Yeah.
>> Excellent. Um well, all right. Great
meeting everyone. I'd say with with that
we will uh adjourn this meeting at 8:13.
>> Thanks all. Great holiday season.
>> Thank you everyone. Sorry for
>> technical difficulties in the room but
we'll have it fixed for the next time.
Take care.