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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-06-28-DAC-subcomm-min.pdf MINUTES OF DAC "ADOPT A SPACE" SUBCOMMITTEE ON JUNE 28, 1989 By John Frey Present Dale Gaasland, Town Park & Tree Supt Jacqueline Olson, Landscape Architect Lihan Cohen, Garden Club Tuulikki Loring Kerry Brandin, Arts Council John Frey, Design Advisory Committee Bob Ossman PURPOSE OF SUBCOMMITTEE To enlist Landscape Architects and others to make design recommendations for certain spaces in Town that Dale Gaasland can implement when his work schedule allows INTRODUCTION John Frey volunteered to serve as chairman and secretary for this meeting, made a few opening remarks and asked Dale to define the sort of input he would like to see from the group DALE GAASLAND'S HOPES Dale talked about getting designs for the many traffic islands in Town as well as for areas such as the "park" at Countryside and the rest rooms at the Center Playground. He said he hoped to collect the plant bed designs in a 3-ring binder Therefore, it would be convenient if all could have an 8x10 format (page size 81/2x11) (If necessary, a foldout page of 11 x 17 could be possible ) There should be a plant list for each design as well as a list of materials with quantities, sizes, etc. Materials would possibly include such things as edging, paving, loam, mulch, seed, fertilizer, etc. He would prefer that the plants not be too specific in species, but rather be defined; for example, "low juniper" rather than "Juniperus horizontalis donglasii" TRAFFIC ISLAND Dale expressed his need for low maintenance design for traffic islands; i e , shrubs with landscape fabric under mulch rather than grass which he says requires many more hours of mowing time Jacqueline Olson reminded him that shrubs require many more hours of weeding and pruning with more specialized labor She said that many of the islands now are too fussy with their clipped shrubs and rhododendrons and made a case for simple trees and grass Dale explained that carting mowers and men around to every island once a week took many man-hours John recommended that islands near other large lawn areas such as near the Battle Green could be simply grass and trees; and other isolated islands such as at Pleasant & Watertown Streets could be 100% shrubs Page 1 TULIPS IN CONCRETE TuulikkiLoring expressed disfavor with the spring tulips in the Worthen Rd. and Waltham Street islands because they looked so forlorn surrounded by hard concrete and lasted only a week or so, after which they looked weedy and bad She recommended paving with brick instead John recommended Rosa rugosa for those islands,which would be green and have flowers continuously late spring, all summer and fall Mention was made that the juniper in the island near Russel Square were more successful than the ones at Watertown/Pleasant St (The latter has improved greatly since then because they were weeded However, they still need dead branches pruned out another maintenance chore required for shrubs by more highly trained personnel ) PRUNING OF SHRUBS All agreed that shrubs should not be "butter-balled" or pruned into geometric shapes, except possibly when a formal hedge is desired In traffic islands, if shrubs are there, they should be allowed to grow naturally horizontally and to fill in for a more casual appearance Height of shrubs in traffic islands should be kept low to allow for clear sight lines for motorists, cyclists & pedestrians TREE PRUNING IN THE CENTER John recommended and Dale wholeheartedly agreed that the Lindens on the north side of Mass Ave. should not be topped to keep their height down. Rather, their bottom branches are to be pruned off to encourage more growth on top and to allow more visability into the shops on ground level STATISTICS Dale said he has a staff of 22, 324 acres to mow a week, over 1000 acres of conservation land to maintain and 30 acres of athletic fields to keep groomed, as well as playground maintenance. Dale said some traffic islands and parks have endownment funds available for maintenance He named some that are listed in the Town Report In the 1990 Town Budget, there is a line item of about $4000 for chainlink fence repair and replacement He says he is trying to require a 10% annual maintenance fund on all new park projects MULCH RINGS AROUND TREES 1 Jackie and Don Olson had taken color photos of some of the traffic islands and public spaces which was very helpful for the meeting One example was a detail of the base of a tree on the Brattle Green which had a ring of bark mulch around it In contrast, another photo showed a similar tree with clipped grass right up to the tree trunk. Dale had his crew install the mulch to eliminate the need to use string trimmers around the trees which damage the bark and can girdle the tree if workers are not careful Jackie warned of bark rotting if the mulch is piled against it and disapproved of the appearance of the mulch rings Page 2 " 2 John recommended eliminating the new mulch rings for trees on and around the Battle Green in order to be more in keeping with the historic character which was simply clipped grass right up to the tree trunks; albeit clipped by local livestock in those days (He also would discourage substituting mulch for lawn or ground covers in general throughout the town for aesthetic reasons Bark mulch should be thought of as a temporary measure for conserving moisture until the ground cover or shrubs have filled in.) WHAT NEXT? It was agreed that we would try to meet again on July 26th. Dale agreed to send a list of islands and projects that were of concern to him before our next meeting John proposed that the Committee as a whole could come up with a consenses as to what would be appropriate for such areas- and then the Committee would assign specific areas to individuals or groups to draw up By previous agreement between Dale and the Garden Club, the traffic circles at Mass Ave /Maple Street and at Mass Ave./Pleasant St have been assigned to the Garden Club John proposed that when the preliminary plans get drawn up, they should be reviewed by the Committee for final recommendations before final drawing for Dale's book. Dale is hoping to get at least some of the plans by October 1989 There was a recommendation made that before drawing up plans, we should do a survey of the areas and record what works and what doesn't In addition, more people should be involved Nel Walker and others were mentioned as people who would be interested Copies to All Present, plus Jack Eddison All Members of DAC Marge Battin, LCC Page 3