Tree ordinance approved; City, Chamber to create Website

RED OAK — A new tree policy and supporting ordinance takes affect Tuesday after passage last week by the Red Oak City Council.

According to a press release issued by the City following the May 17 meeting, the ordinance is designed to “to enhance the beauty, quality and quantity of trees in our community – certain trees have been approved and others have been prohibited for ‘street’ and park plantings.”

The street area is defined as the right of way, parking, or easement area of a landowner’s property, and is measured from the center of the road to the property line.

The following trees are permitted as street and park trees: Flowering Peach, Redbud, Bradford Pear, Flowering Crabapple, American Hornbean, Pagoda Dogwood, Japanese Lilace Tree, Shingle Oak, American Yellowwood, Linden, Basswood, Flowering Pears, Chinkapin Oak, Red Oak, Bur Oak, Ohio Buckeye, Sycamore, Black Maple, Kentucky Coffeetree, Thornless Honey Locust, White Oak, Swamp White Oak, London Planetree.

Flowering Crabapple trees must be scab, fire blight, fruitless and cedar apple rust resistant.

Prohibited street and park trees include: All Ash Trees, Black Locust, Boxelder, White Poplar, Lombardy Poplar, Cotton Bearing Cottonwood, Norway Maple, Russian Olive, Silver Maple, Willows, American Elm, Bolleana Poplar, Tree of Heaven, Scotch Pine, all fruit bearing trees, Mulberry, Siberian (Chinese) Elm, Weeping Birch, and Austrian Pines.

All other evergreen (conifers) are also banned from street plantings.

Planting specifications, size and maintenance requirements, are detailed in the ordinance, copies of which are available at City Hall at 601 N. 6th street and the Red Oak Public Library at 400 N. 2nd Street.

“The Red Oak Park and Tree Board appreciates your cooperation in making new plantings in our community safe and healthy, along with a lasting impression of our town,” the release states.

Also at the May 17 meeting, the Council:

Approved a $6,665 bid from Tech Support Services to create a new City website. The website will be a partnership with the Red Oak Chamber and Industry Association, with both entities sharing the total $13,000 cost. The city’s portion of the site will include Council minutes, and an option to pay water bills by credit card.

 Conducted a public hearing regarding the environmental impact of the construction of a new wastewater facility. Steve VanDyke of Fox Engineering said after contacting the appropriate state and federal agencies, no significant impact was discovered. He said the $8 million project would be bid out June 22, with a contract awarded in July. Construction is expected to start in August or September, with a completion date projected for sometime in March, 2012.