Belleville planners review amended ordinance on trees

At the May 8 meeting of the Belleville Planning Commission, commissioners reviewed a seven-page amended ordinance dealing with tree planting.
At the April 10 meeting, Giffels and Webster, which is working on rewriting the city master plan, reported that Belleville had about 28% tree covering in 2022 when the coverage should be more like 40%.
Commission vice-chairman Julie Kissel, who also is a city council member, said she talked to commissioner Alvis Brigis and mayor Ken Voigt about trees and, “We want more trees. We want a tree initiative.”
She said with Blooming America having been hired to come into the city to consult on how to increase its landscaping, this is important.
Commissioner Brigis said in the city master plan surveys, “People said they wanted more parks and trees.” He said they were pushing a more voluntary aspect of it. “It should be done well and fast,” he said.
Commissioner/councilwoman Kissel said she attended an American Bloom meeting and wrote up a draft of the city for them.
She said Mayor Voigt wants Belleville to be a Tree City USA through the Arbor Day Foundation. “We are not in compliance with Tree City USA regulations. You can’t apply again until fall and we need to have an ordinance.”
She said they had a draft ordinance that evening which will go before the city council for approval, but she wanted the commission to look it over. She said there has to be money allocated for trees and management of them.
Commissioner James Courage, who was attending his first meeting since being elected chairman during his absence in January, asked if each of these groups had regulations in its area for certification and assistant city manager Steve Jones said that was true.
He said Tree City USA has stringent regulations and the city’s ordinance is deficient. He said its always good to review ordinances every few years because things change over time.
Kissel said the tree program needs money from the city. She said there are a number of stumps around the city that need to be removed.
Jones said they need to replace trees when they are taken out. He said last year they cut trees in Victoria Commons and replaced them.
Raytheon Martin, who attended his first meeting since being appointed, asked if he wanted to plant a tree, for instance, in honor of his deceased grandmother, could that be a part of the program.
Kissel said that would work in well with the program. She said Brigis wanted 100 more trees for the city and then they bumped it up to 120 trees to mark the 120th anniversary of the city next year.
She said there is a plan to reward people for planting trees by way of a raffle in October. People could sponsor a tree in the cemetery or a park and there could be a raffle for them, too.
“The ordinance is the first step,” chairman Courage said.
“The stumps must go,” Kissel insisted.
Jones said the trees will be put in the new master plan, with rules for replacement or something.
Kissel said another Blooming America meeting is April 20.
Commissioner John Juriga, who served for many years on the Van Buren Township planning commission before moving to Belleville, said he just received this ordinance and hasn’t had time to study it. He said in VBT if you cut a tree down, you have to replace it. If it’s a large tree, you replace it with two trees. He said the 14 trees that were cut down on the corner of Third and Main streets in the city to make the property saleable, bother him and there should be a rule about replacement.
Jones said he got the last edit of the ordinance just before the meeting and the commissioners should look it over and give feedback to him or city manager Jason Smith, who put it together.
Commissioner Juriga said he lives on E. Huron River Drive and he wanted to plant a tree in the right of way and that required approval by the county because the street is a county road. It took many steps, but they finally got permission. He said the people across the street just planted a tree without approval and there is no enforcement of the rules.
Jones said they have to figure out where they want sponsored trees, such as Victoria Commons or Horizon Park.
Juriga said there should be some trees at Horizon Park. He said the city cut down trees on the the bank and now it has an erosion problem.
Brigis said if you use Google Earth it can tell you what varieties of trees are in the city.
Juriga said he wanted to mention how healthy it is for people just to see trees.
Brigis said this will appeal to the business people the city wants to attract.
Jones again asked the commissioners to look over the amended ordinance and offer comments. The ordinance will go to the city council for approval after the city holds a public hearing and two readings.
Commissioner Martin said this is some homework for them all. He plans to see what other communities are doing.
Juriga said someone needs to be in charge of enforcement, adding one part-time police officer once a week isn’t enough. Many commissioners and Jones praised the work the officer could do.
Jones said the city is working to get approval for Municode which would digitize and organize all the ordinances. Brigis said he wants to know more about Municode to make sure it plays well with AI.
Jones said this is the system used by many municipalities.
Brigis said the product landscape with AI is changing so quickly. It’s not something everyone is aware of, he said.
In other business at the 52-minute meeting, the board:
• Canceled the regular June 12 planning commission meeting and set the meeting instead for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 25. This is a better time for the Giffels Webster team to discuss the master plan;
• Heard Jones report that the former lake that used to form on the sidewalk in front of the Veterans Monument has been eliminated as the roadwork begins on High Street and the parking lot there. That area needs to be open for Memorial Day, he said. Jones reported that bids for proposed changes to the new city hall will be before the city council at its next meeting. He said Mayor Voigt wants to be in the building by October. Kissel said, “He’s a dreamer”;
• Heard Brigis say the tree initiative is a great project. He said the master plan should have digitized backup. And, he said, he’ll continue to hammer on AI;
• Heard Juriga say the DPW yard is unsafe with a lot of aggregate, stones, and cement blocks on the ground. He said he took yard waste to the dumpster in the DPW yard and he tripped on a piece of asphalt and fell. He said it really needs to be cleaned up. He said as a shop teacher he taught the students not to leave anything on the floor as a safety measure. Jones said the DPW cleanup is “a work in progress”;
• Heard commissioner Becky Hasen say she is excited about the trees; and
• Heard commissioner Martin say on May 2 he got word that he passed the fire academy. Now he has passed fire fighter 1 and 2. He said he had meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays for that and was unable to attend the planning commission meetings until now. He said he still has EMT classes to take, but he is able to take them every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. until complete, so it will not interfere with any meetings during the week.