2021 Tree Project - Ace

Brad and GVOL Board Members, 3/25/21

Dina, Ravi, Danielle, Ying, Sheela, and Karin are the GVOL Tree Planting Committee members. They have made great progress and will be reaching out to us with a Business Plan and Proposal shortly. As a reminder, the Tree Planting initiative alongside of Ashland on Athena and Odyssey was approved in 2019 for $35,000. Below is an update from the GVOL Tree Planting Committee and $1000.00 request for Arborist fee.

Committee Urgent Ask $1000.00 approval request for arborist consultation fee by the end of today 3/25.

Board members, please reply with acknowledgment.

I approve up to $1000.00 for the arborist consultation fee.
- Brad, please review and sign the attached document for $1000.00

GVOL Tree Planting Committee Update:

Things are going well with the tree planting project for Athena/Odyssey and I wanted to provide you with an update.

Reviewed all past correspondence and reports from 2018-2019 including arborist reports, bids, and concerns from the HOA board, and met with the tree committee to set goals and strategize.

We contacted several nurseries, wholesalers, and landscapers.

Hired Mike Dunn, an independent, consulting arborist (only 387 nationwide) for an objective assessment of tree species and tree placement based on GVOL environment, budget, soil, specs, etc.

March 20 - Dina, Ravi, Danielle, and Ying met with Philip Grey, landscaper, and owner of a tree farm. Bid pending.
March 22 - Dina and Ravi met with Martin from ACE Landscaping. Bid $14,484.40.
March 22 - Danielle met with Disabotino. Bid pending should be ready 3/29.
March 26 @ 8:00 am Dina and Ravi to meet with Mike Dunn, consulting arborist.
March 26 @ 3:30 pm. Dina, Ravi, and Ying to meet with Frank Ruggerio from Ruggerio landscaping.

Anticipated date of all tree bid submissions is Wednesday, March 31. The tree planting goal is the end of April.

Once the planting project is completed, we will conclude Phase 1 of the GVOL Tree Planting Committee and Phase 2 will be communicated at another time.

GVOL Tree Planting Committee

Dina Akbar

Ravi Sadashiv

Danielle Quercetti

Ying Liu

Sheela Srikanth

Karin Thomas

In general supportive, but the one question I have is if we need to spend $1,000 on an arborist if we already have a few different landscaping companies making bids?

And if we do hire the arborist will we need to have the landscaping companies revise their proposals and bids based upon what the arborist comes back with?

Trying to better understand the sequencing here.

Matt 3/25/21

Hi Matt— you brought up a great question. It’s the committees intention to hire the arborist to provide a professional analysis of what species and spacing would be the best investment for accomplishing our goal along the Ashland border. There are different areas that vary in soil and water conditions— lower elevations tend to be wetter, some areas will require trees be planted on the slope of a hill creating a runoff environment, some areas are full of clay rather than topsoil etc.— by understanding what species would thrive better where, it will help us ultimately plant the right trees to help protect the investment as well as maximize efficiency (not having to deal with many trees having to be replaced due to improper planting or death). The arborist will also help educate us on what we need to do moving forward to ensure the trees reach their maximum maturity (feeding, watering, deer protection, etc.).

The goal is to use the arborist’s proposal to identify the tree species, quantities of each and define their location. We will then review the bids submitted by the landscapers and nursery owners which will include a breakdown of the cost per tree species and size (i.e. 4-5’ spruce vs. 6-8’ spruce) to negotiate and ultimately choose one company to purchase the trees from, execute the installation and provide a warranty.

I hope this helps answer your question and better clarifies the process the committee intends to follow regarding this project.

Please feel free to reach out with anything else!

Best,

Danielle Quercetti

484.643.8598

GVOL Trees 2021.pdf

Fellow Board members,

I am sending a presentation that has been stripped of company names in hope that we can begin to review everything by the facts during our meeting 4/8/21 … I am looking forward to reviewing everything collectively.

Danielle Quercetti
(484) 643-8598

GVOL Board Members and Brad, 4/9/2021

Congratulations! Great work Tree Project Committee.

We had $35,000 approved by the GVOL Community and Board for the Trees Project and 24 trees were planted at the cost of $11,800. There is a remaining balance of up to $23,200 to plants in the trees alongside Ashland for Athena Court and Odyssey Drive. The Tree Project Committee was created to find three bids (best companies) to fulfill the remaining gaps between existing trees on HOA property.

Danielle on behalf of the Committee presented three bids and Company C was selected. Approval is contingent upon the following.

Vendor/Contractor needs to be registered/licensed/COI (Certificate of Liability for the HOA)
Provide space among trees as recommended by the Arborist, or the trees will die
Include Water Treatment, Fertilizer, and Deer Protective measure in the contract
Tree Committee to oversee the plantation of the trees and inspect the work to ensure it is completed and done right per contract
Keep the Board and Aspen up to date on the contract plan (where the trees will be planted/location, etc.), final price, timeline and # of trees