September 21, 2022 Ambler EAC Meeting Minutes

Written By Ambler EAC

Ambler EAC Meeting Minutes

September 21st, 7pm


Meeting Held at Ambler Borough Hall


Attendees

Members: Jill Sanchez, Wes Pipitone, Hannah Lloyd

Guests: Will, Judy Baigis

Absent: Kirsten Puskar, Nancy Roecker Coates, Shelly Grinar Boyd        


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


  • Presentation: None


  • Public comments (7:10-7:20)

    1. Has anyone attended the council meetings recently and have anything to share?

      1. Parks plan revealed

      2. May add a sidewalk / sit wall to pickering field

      3. Dogs in parks discussed as well as a dog park

      4. More picnic tables

      5. Wahl playground was brought up as a place to add more and allow the park to shine. 

      6. Borough Council Agenda has all proposals on it - if you would like to learn more. 


  • Ways to Get Involved (7:20-7:25) 

    1. EAC Pick, Prune and Provide Event Saturday September 24 

      1. Certified tree tenders can prune trees. Everyone else can pick up litter and we can also accept donations. 

    2. Attend Drive the Future EV event Saturday September 24 at Weavers Way from 5pm-9pm 

      1. We are looking for help at our EAC table

      2. This is in the parking lot 

    3. Help plant trees for the EAC Fall Tree planting - Saturday November 19

      1. Volunteers needed to plant trees 


  • Formal approval of minutes from August 17th, 2022 (7:25-7:30)

    1. No quorum 

    2. Waiting on three months of meeting minutes

    3. (Anticipate formal approvals in Winter once vacations are over).


  • EAC Updates (7:30-8:00)



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


  • Education and Outreach Committee (Shelly)

    1. Absent


  • Treasurer (Wes)

    1. Please be sure to add any and all EAC expenses to the reimbursement sheet.

    2. Need to start speaking about next year’s budget. 

    3. Wes will start putting this together soon with line items and also a big picture idea. 

    4. Aim to have this in the next few weeks. 

    5. All members: think about what we should ask for budgetarily. 

    6. Increase Earth Fest budget. 

    7. Keep the tree budget the same. 

    8. Jill is researching Arborists courses with Penn State Extension that could be helpful for tree advising for the Make Ambler a Shade Better program. 

    9. Where does the waysign cost fit (park info sign)?

      1. Suggest the signs should go in parks, as it is going into parks. 

      2. Nancy has a cost estimate for this sign. (below).

      3. Park plan also mentions the wanting of this. 


  • Keep Ambler Beautiful Committee (Nancy - absent) 

    1. Pick, Prune, Provide

      1. Saturday September 9am - meet at Borough Hall

      2. Collecting back-to-school food items for Mattie Dixon during this event

        1. Items needed:Juice boxes, snacks, fruit cups, water bottles

    2. Cell phone Recycling Program

      1. Boxes at Wiss Valley Libraries

      2. In collaboration with Whitpain EAC

    3. Signage for Ambler Borough Park

Nancy called Pannier Graphics for a quote:

Double Inline Wayside

Two 36”x48” panels $495 each

Aluminum base $1300-$1400

Shipping $200 


  • Shade Trees Committee (Jill) 

    1. Ambler will see 38 new trees planted this November 

      1. 14 Homeowners will be planting 24 trees 

      2. 2 downtown business/org will be planting 11 trees 

        1. Weavers Way will plant 4 trees

        2. Hope Gardens will plant 7 trees. 

      3. 3 trees will be planted in public spaces 

      4. 2 people generously donated trees.

        1. Thank you Allison Wolf and Sara Herz

      5. Jill worked closely with Ambler Borough to reach out to local businesses to offer free trees and planting for our downtown area. No businesses agreed. Businesses contacted were:

        1. St. Joseph’s Church, Along Poplar Street

        2. First Presbyterian Church, Ridge Ave

          1. To help shade the playground

          2. To help shade Ridge Ave

        3. El Limon, brick patch where a tree once stood

        4. Napa Auto - Lindenwold Ave

          1. Trees were removed to repair parking lot wall

      6. A serviceberry tree will be planted near the community garden - since they are edible and decorative. 

    2. Invited local Tree Tenders to help prune trees during the Pick, Prune and Provide event on Saturday September 24 

      1. Only Tree Tenders will be allowed to prune 

      2. Trees to be pruned include: 

        1. Jean Thompson Park - 2 trees

        2. Locust Street Park - 4-5 trees

        3. State Farm, Main & Butler - 1 tree

        4. Gypsy Blue - Butler Ave - 1 Tree

        5. Geronimos/Tannery Run - Butler Ave 1 Tree

        6. Borough Hall Trees - approx 8 trees

      3. Would like to start prioritizing pruning lower branches on trees.

        1. Safer for foot traffic. 

        2. Also discourages kids from hanging on and ripping branches off, which is harmful to trees and opens up wounds for infection. 

      4. Encourage tree tenders to expose root flares. 


  • Climate Action Committee

    1. Single use plastic ban passed. 

      1. Ambler has been getting shout outs on Public Radio!

      2. There have been highlights on how Ambler went above and beyond with styrofoam being included. 


  • New business (8:30-8:35) 


  • Updates from Borough Council: 

  • Closing Thoughts (8:35-8:50) 

    1. Send Will Mary Aversa's email to Will for EAC application. 

    2. Try to make sure to submit articles to the Ambler Hometown news. 

    3. At next month’s meeting let’s discuss doing another hike and brew as well as begin to discuss Earth Fest.  

  • Next meeting: Wednesday October 19th, 2022 at 7:00pm (8:50-8:55)

Adjournment (8:55-9:00)

Ambler EAC
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