The Town of Athabasca faces thousands of dollars in dead and dying trees downtown, according to a local arborist.
The state of the trees along 49th and 50th Streets could be better, said arborist Chandra Clark at last Tuesday’s town council meeting.
Clark has been investigating issues with wilting cheery trees on 49th Street, as well as other trees on 50th Street. She has looked at some of the causes for the trees’ health problems and what can be done to mitigate them.
She said trees provide a natural beauty to the Athabasca landscape and stated crime rates even go down the more trees there are in a town.
Clark indicated, based on estimates of a single tree replacement, the town faces a price tag exceeding $8,400 if the dead and dying trees were to all be replaced; however, Clark suggested either only replacing the trees on 50th Street that will not be hit repeatedly by vehicles or installing an ornamental cage or cement rim around the trees to protect them.
Ten Schubert Chokecherry trees line 49th Street, as well as a couple of apple trees near the post office. According to images Clark showed council in a slide presentation, a couple of trees in front of the post office are actually dead.
“One appears to have been hit by a vehicle. Not sure whether it was somebody who jumped the curb in error, or maybe one of the snow removal bobcats or something that struck it,” reported Clark, who said in 2010, these trees were relatively healthy.
She said the other dead tree on the west side of 49th Street has died due to “chemical drift” from construction work done in 2011.
Clark then displayed images of green ash trees lining 50th Street between Morning Star Ink and CIBC.
Of the 11 trees on the west side of 50th Street, four are dead “due to the development of the new Morning Star Ink building,” according to a document presented to council.
Another two down by CIBC seem to have been abused by vehicles or snow removal equipment. Those trees have ripped branches and smashed trunks, she reported.
“In Lac La Biche, they put those cages around the trees. Would that help here, or be too intrusive on car doors?” inquired Athabasca town councillor Richard Verhaeghe.
“They are really close to the curb,” said Clark. “There are some places where I think maybe it would be a consideration.”
She added that even with protective caging around the trees, snow removal equipment could potentially do damage.
Of the 11 trees on the east side of 50th Street, three are dead and three are dying.
Clark also expressed concern for the high-voltage power lines, as well as power outlets protruding from some of the bases of the trees that were initially intended to power Christmas lights. Vandalism and theft of the lights have impacted the feasibility of that initiative, she suggested.
There are also metal grates around the base of the trees that put a stranglehold on the trees.
Replacement of a single tree would cost in the range of $200–$400, said Clark.
Clark recommended the town prune the trees and fertilize them in July.
She also recommended the town fully decommission the Christmas lights infrastructure and cut tree well grates to accommodate tree girth growth.
Finally, Clark stressed the town should establish a tree protection plan and adopt planting and pruning policies to maximize the town’s return on investment.
Council passed a motion that administration develop a tree protection plan and associated costs be deferred to next year’s budget.
The Athabasca Ratepayers’ Association (ARPA) is still seeking information from the Town of Athabasca on the retirement package of former chief administrative officer (CAO) Doug Topinka.
ARPA filed a Freedom of Information and Privacy request for information on Topinka’s retirement on Sept. 18. ARPA vice-president Nichole Adams requested via letter that the town waive its FOIP fees for Topinka’s information.
Town councillor Lionel Cherniwchan made an initial motion that the town’s FOIP coordinator deny ARPA’s request for the fee waiver.
“While I don’t disagree with the sentiments, I don’t think you can recommend to the commissioner,” rebutted councillor Colleen Powell.
Council accepted ARPA’s letter as information.
ARPA vice-president Nichole Adams attended last Tuesday’s town council meeting and said she is disappointed that the town continually takes the Muskeg Creek issue in-camera for discussion.
ARPA has for months been contesting the town’s transparency on the paving that that was done in the Muskeg Creek area around 2010. ARPA previously alleged thousands of dollars in provincial funding that was supposed to go into the Muskeg Creek project didn’t, which the down denies, and that the paving work had some deficiencies — a fact the town has conceded to.
Adams said ARPA has yet to receive an official response to a report ARPA gave to town council in June outlining the ratepayers’ concerns about the Muskeg Creek paving project.
Town CAO Ryan Maier has said there were no discrepancies with how the project was funded.
However, Maier told the Advocate a motion came out of last Tuesday’s in-camera session “to direct administration to negotiate an agreement on the encroachment in Muskeg Creek.”
He said this “encroachment” pertained to “the property where it was paved a little bit on that person’s property” as part of deviations in work during the Muskeg Creek paving project.
Between the town and the Muskeg Creek resident, Maier said, “There will have to be an encroachment agreement of sorts, but there will financial compensation for it.”
Maier was unavailable for further comment, but assistant CAO Melody Wolansky confirmed the settlement between the town and the local landowner is for $1,258.50 — a figure Adams called a “pathetic amount.”
“That’s what administration … had been negotiating, and that is the offer that they are willing to settle and that council has approved,” said Wolansky.
