Tag: Corvallis
Corvallis to assess street tree funding issue
Corvallis will soon consider five new initiatives that fall within their Sustainability Coalition, including one specifically geared for street tree and sidewalk maintenance, reports the Corvallis Gazette-Times.
The move would slide sidewalk and tree maintenance away from the homeowner and become city responsibility. If approved, the monthly utility bill increase for tree maintenance would be $.50, and $.80 for sidewalk maintenance.
The total for all five proposals would be $1.4 million.
An excerpt from Friday’s story:
Sidewalk and tree maintenance are separate programs, but inherently linked. Current city rules require property owners to maintain sidewalks along their property that are often broken by expanding roots of the street trees that are also required by city code. Public Works staff estimate they would need about $150,000 per year to identify and repair problems in sidewalks and another $90,000 for tree maintenance.
–Toshio Suzuki
Corvallis groups plant 61 trees
Corvallis residents and partner groups worked together to plant 61 trees last weekend. The native trees were 1.5-2” caliper, generally 7-9 feet tall, and donated by the local Sierra Club.
“We are focusing more effort next year on Native Trees to School Yards,” said David Eckert of Willamette Watershed.
“We are working with the local public school system, selecting one school each year to plant a school yard arboretum of local native trees. They will be labeled for identification and the program will be embedded into the curriculum so the children learn the natural and human histories of the trees, plus their botanical characteristics.”
Also involved: city of Corvallis; Oddfellows of Corvallis; Downtown Business Association; and two neighborhood associations.
–Toshio Suzuki