Chair Person Ken Balkey 

kenkrb@aol.com

  Public Right-of-Way Tree Inventory of Churchill Borough Streets

Essential Value of Street Trees

This summary addresses the webinar, “Essential Value of Street Trees in City Making and Sustainable Urban Design” as it may apply to the streets of Churchill Borough. The full recording of this webinar, which was kindly provided by Alex Graziani last month, is available in the following link: http://smartgrowth.org/the-essential-value-of-street-trees-in-city-making-and-sustainable-urban-design/

A link to a New York Times article about the importance of oak trees that Diane Law provided last month is also offered as follows - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/17/opinion/oak-trees-conservation-ecosystems.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The Borough of Churchill Tree Committee recently surveyed all 68 streets of the borough (see Table 1 below) and has started GIS mapping of trees in the Royal Oak Plan to better understand our tree situation (See Figure 1 below).  The Tree Committee also held two tree giveaways in late September 2022 during the Borough Community Day and at a League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh meeting at the Blackridge Civic Association, which also included a presentation delivered by the author titled - "Trees - Can We Live With or Without Them?

The "Implementable Comprehensive Plan" for Churchill, Monroeville, and Wilkins Township that was completed in 2018 and is provided on the Churchill Borough website has also been reviewed once again. This document contains valuable information and trends that need to be considered in any effort to address plans for street trees and other related developments in Churchill Borough.

Some observations from the above information and recent activities are offered at this time with more detailed discussion to follow with the Borough Climate Action Committee in coming weeks:

1. While thousands of trees grow in our community, only 5 of our 68 streets are tree-lined (i.e., large shade trees on both sides of street in the public right-of-way) as highlighted in the subject tree webinar. These streets (except for Huntingdon Drive) comprise the Royal Oak Plan (including parts of Beulah and Churchill Roads) that have nearly 300 large pin oak trees lining them.  After reading the NY Times article, this large group of trees needs to continue to be protected as best as possible.

    

2. Parts of 13 other streets and roads are also lined with large trees, e.g., Beulah Road (along its east side), Churchill Road, and Lewin Lane, that also need to continue to be protected. 

    

3. 40 streets have only one-to-a-few trees in the public right-of-way, and 10 streets have no trees.There are large trees near the homes on several of these streets.However, they are not located in or near the public right-of-way.

    

4. GIS mapping can help in managing the Borough of Churchill tree population in public spaces and along public rights-of-way but only if the information gathered is used appropriately in making tree planting, tree maintenance, and tree removal decisions. Mapping of the Royal Oak Plan has begun with a photo screen of data collected to date being shown in Figure 1 below.Photos of each tree are taken along with its species, estimated date planted, height, trunk diameter, condition, maintenance and inspections, and identification of nearest street address. Only one of the 47 large trees surveyed to date has some decay in the root system that is currently being treated.The other 46 trees are either in good condition or very good condition – i.e., all branches fully leafed, no dead limbs, and no sign of disease or decay.Dead limbs and possible disease are noted in the GIS survey data so that these issues can be addressed as soon as possible by the nearby property owner which will require notification to them by borough officials.

    

5. If a decision is made to plant more trees along the public rights-of-way, such action will run counter to a trend that is cited in the Implemental Comprehensive Plan. On page 11 of the plan in the section “Troubling trends and circumstances” under housing stock mismatch, it is stated that – “Three- and four-bedroom quarter-acre lots are too large for retirees (who have decreasing capacity to maintain property) and for Millennials (who have less interest in doing so).”

    

   While doing the GIS tree mapping, one young homeowner with two large pin oak trees in front of his home stated that he was going to blow his leaves to the street, and he expected the borough to pick them up.  He believes that his property taxes should cover this service. He is unwilling to take the time to place the leaves in disposable paper bags for waste pick-up.  Other property owners, both young and elderly, have also voiced frustration and concern about tree maintenance and leaf removal procedures.  These opinions substantiate the above noted trend.

    

6. Some possible options for consideration going forward are:

1. Maintain existing trees along public rights-of-way and focus new tree planting in public spaces and continue to work with others to plant new trees on large properties such as the Churchill Valley Greenway, Beulah Presbyterian Church, and Woodland Hills School District (minimal public funds)

    

2. Same as Option A but plant new trees in space where prior trees have been lost or removed because of disease or other causes working with nearby property owner (some public fundraising required)

    

3. Same as Option B except have arborist or city-planning specialist help identify what streets could have certain types of trees planted along public rights-of-way (would require acceptance by nearby property owners and public fundraising would be required); Contrary to the examples shown in the tree webinar, most streets in Churchill were not built to accommodate large street trees. For example, only three Churchill streets have sidewalks that are appropriately utilized in just about all the examples in the subject tree webinar. The street trees in the Royal Oak Plan were designed from the beginning by the home builder Ralph Scherger in the late 1950s and early1960s.

    

4. Continue public education efforts about the importance of all trees in the borough via regular articles in Churchill Borough Local Government Newsletter and in planned public workshops or meetings; GIS mapping results should be available on Churchill Borough website along with up-to-date information about Tree Committee efforts.

The Borough of Churchill Tree Committee looks forward to discussing the above information soon with the Borough Council Climate Action Committee.

Prepared by –

Ken Balkey

Chair, Borough of Churchill Tree Committee