August 18, 2021 Meeting Minutes

August 18th, 7pm In Person Meeting 

MEETING HELD IN PERSON OUTSIDE BOROUGH HALL 131 Rosemary Ave, Ambler, PA 19002 

Meeting Minutes Link

​​Attendees:

Members: Jill Sanchez, Liz Rosencrans, Wes Pipitone, Nancy Roecker Coates, Hannah Lloyd

Visitors: Karen Sheedy, Judy Baigis

Excused: Shelly Grinar Boyd

1. Call to Order / Introductions (7:00-7:10)

2. Presentation: None

3. Public comments (7:10-7:20)

   • Council and planning commission involvement / attendance at EAC meetings could help create communication and form relationships.

4. Ways to Get Involved (7:20-7:25) 

   1. National Solar Tour: October 2/3rd (https://www.nationalsolartour.org/)

      1. How can residents get involved in this who have solar, work for solar or are interested in learning more?

      2. Sara Hertz and Nellie DiPietro have solar panels on their roof – possibly they may want to be involved?

         • Wes – Wes will reach out to council members above to see if they would like to get involved.

      3. Possible resources:

         1. Solarizesoutheastpa.com

            •  Advising resource

         2. Exactsolar.com

            • Installation resource

   2. Adopt-a-tree in a public or park setting

   3. Join Ambler Tree Tenders Group! Become a tree tender by completing a PHS Tree Tender Training:

      1. Sept. 22, 29 & Oct. 6 (2.5 Hrs over 3 days via zoom)

      2. Sat. Oct 2 in Philly (8 Hrs Live)

      3. Sat Oct. 9 in Norristown (8 Hrs Live)

      4. Register at: https://phsonline.org/programs/tree-programs

      5. Having more local tree tenders benefits Amblers trees including the ‘love your park day’ tree pruning events that have been taking place.

         • Tree tenders already have training on how to properly prune and maintain trees so this is favorable for having multiple pruning events a year without the need for repeat training.

   4. EAC at the Ambler Car Show: Aug 29th

      1. Rick of Zero Emission Musicians and Ambler Electric will be supported by the EAC.

         1. There will be EV’s, bikes and converted vehicles.

         2. EAC will table.

         3. Wes will seek information from sources such as Sierra Club for table support.

      2. Can we have a trifold or some sort of signage at our table with how to get involved with the EAC?

      3. Use tablecloth with our logo.

      4. If anyone within the EAC has certain brochures, paperwork or etc. they would like at the table please reach out to Wes.

5. Formal approval of minutes from July 21st, 2021 (7:25-7:30)

   • All motioned to approve

6. EAC Updates (7:30-8:00)

   1. EAC By-Laws (link) have been updated

      • Meeting to be held on this specifically at a later date

7. Committee Chairs (8:00-8:30) No new updates from Open Space Committee, Creek Monitoring on Rose-Valley Creek. 

   1. Education and Outreach Committee (Shelly) Start with this committee due to time limits at July Meeting

      1. Pollinator Program

      2. Flyers for Bees

      3. Website Updates- Hannah Lloyd/ Student Volunteer

      4. New Platform for Website- Updates

         1.  New website is live.

         2.   Hannah will reach out to Shelly about logging into the website for making edits and possible student involvement with this.

      5. Meet your EAC member interviews and highlights

      6. Interviews with council members

         • Email interviewers with council members that have an environmental theme.

      1. Social Media Posts- new ideas?

   2. Treasurer (Wes)

      1. New EAC t-shirts for volunteers

         • Jill reached out to place the order. Waiting for a response.

      2. ​​Website cost submitted

      3. Wes- please let Jill know what is left in the tree budget

      4. Nancy would like to purchase gloves for upcoming cleaning events.

   3. Keep Ambler Beautiful Committee (Nancy)

      1. Summer cigarette butt clean up event...

      2. Hatch LTK - Corporate Volunteer Day - Sept. 17

         1. 3 hours of clean up in the morning at Knight park and the surrounding streets

         2. Can Hatch designate a volunteer photographer for the day of the event?

            • Also, encourage volunteers to take and share photos of the day with the EAC.

      3. Sept 17 Afternoon at Ambler Borough Park - Red Tail Restoration will do invasive plant removal

         • If there is an overflow of volunteers, they will clean up cigarette butts on east Butler Pike.

      4. “Stop the drop” signage for hot spot litter areas.

         1. Does penndot have signage examples we can use / be inspired by?

         2. What kind of signage can we make and where are we permitted to display them?

            •  Thoughts: create a catchy slogan with a subtitle ‘fast fact’ about waste impact. Can order the same sign with the same header text but varying sub text messages. 

      5. Trash can tip over and storms before trash pick-up cause waste as well

         • Secure lids to prevent this.

   4. Climate Action Committee (Wes)

      1. EAC will sponsor group of EVs at the Annual Ambler Car Show 

         1. Ambler Car show August 29

         2. In partnership with Zero Emission Musicians and possibly Ambler EV 

         3. Wes is considering writing an article centered on his commission for Hometown News. Due Sept. 1.

   5. Shade Trees Committee (Jill)

      1. TreeVitalize

         1. Ambler EAC will be selling fall shade trees in August/September. Anyone interested in a tree can email amblereac@gmail.com

         2.  Jill is keeping a list of possible public spaces to plant trees when the opportunities present themselves.

      2. Adopt a Tree

         1. A few trees still need to be adopted

            • See the web page for more information.

         2. Program may be implemented at the new pocket park - TBD

         3. New trees to be added this fall/spring

      3. PHS Tree Checker Program

         1. Citizen science tree health monitoring and stewardship program for public and private trees.

         2. 8 volunteers went through PHS Tree Checkers training

         3. 47 trees that were planted in 2020 & 2021 were checked

            1. Determined vigor, circumference, tree pit care, proper staking, root flare exposure & bark health 

            2.  Got permission from residents to enter their property to check trees and left them report cards.

            3. Tree checking complete – takeaways:

               1. Root flairs are often too deep for trees planted by home owners and volunteer groups.

               2. ...are they planted that way or settling?

      4. Hannah & Jill will collaborate on an article for Hometown news about Tree plantings, adopt a tree, and what you can do to positively impact Ambler’s tree canopy.

   6. Stormwater Committee (Jill)

      1. Updates:

         1. Jill to request Monday meetings with Madge to check in on GAG. Open to all EAC members.

            • One-hour meetings with document of notes and updates in the EAC Google drive

         2. EAC will need to approve GAG activities and purchases.

         3. If you know of anyone who is looking for work or waiting for GAG related work please let the EAC know

            • The time available for completing work is shortening.

         4. Idea: any left over money from the grant close to the deadline could be used to do larger projects for local businesses / big ticket items that will burn up larger amounts of leftover funds versus finding a large amount of smaller residential projects

      2. Growing Ambler Greener

         1. Rain Gardens 38/75

         2. Riparian Buffer Planting (3)

         3. Rain Barrels 111/250

         4. DSP 30/60

         5. Permeable Conversions 10/22

         6. Planning initiated on Steep Slope

      3. Permeable paver laborers are becoming backed up for scheduling.

         1. All work must be paid for and completed before the grant is over (no paying now for work scheduled in 2022 possible).

         2. Possibly the permeable paver recipient could find their own contractor to overcome this obstacle?

         3. This is the biggest hurdle for GAG currently.

8. New business (8:30-8:35) None

9. Updates from Borough Council: Could the EAC come in every few months to give an update at Borough Council meetings (maybe 15 minutes)?

10. Closing Thoughts (8:35-8:50)

11. Next meeting: Wednesday September 22nd, 2021 at 7:00pm (8:50-8:55)

    1. DATE CHANGED

    2. Please post this on the website, update the Facebook and let Borough Council know about this change.

       • Hannah – can we share events from the website on Facebook? Let Nancy know.

12. Adjournment (8:55-9:00)