The City of Florence is a step closer to mitigating both hazardous and semi-hazardous trees with the recent adoption of a resolution to utilize available ARPA funds.
During the April 15 city council meeting, council members voted unanimously to establish a formal ARPA Tree Maintenance Program.
The program has its roots in a Hazard Tree Assessment Survey conducted by Green Empire Tree Service LLC in late 2022, which identified problematic trees.
A total of 1,466 trees were surveyed within city limits and each was judged on its size and condition. Of the 1,466 trees surveyed, 32 were assessed to be high risk, and another 38 were assessed to be in poor condition with a moderate risk level.
The council conducted a tree workshop on March 18, where they actively discussed how to tackle the burgeoning issue of both hazardous trees and damage to sidewalks.
According to the ARPA Tree Program proposal, the program will occur in four to five phases during which full tree removals are to be followed by trimming and also that identified trees along main thoroughfares are to be mitigated as early as possible.
"This program is intended to ensure that the worst trees are mitigated first and do them in chunks so we don't have one large RFP -- we can do smaller pieces," City Manager Amy Nasta said during the meeting. "The city would cover 100% of all five of those different pieces of the program."
Nasta went on to cite that once the ARPA funds of $113,500 have been exhausted, an alternate source for funding will need to be explored. Conversely, the ARPA funds are slated to sunset by the end of 2026 so should there still be funds available at that time, the city will still need to find an alternative funding source.
Florence residents can expect to be notified by the city should trees on the property be identified as hazardous.
"We can remove the trees at the property owner's full expense, according to our code. What we wanted to do was use part of the ARPA funds to take that burden off the homeowner so this will pay for 100% of the tree removal, trimming, the stump grinding and removal, and tree replacement," Nasta said.
The following categories will be included in the program:
- tree removal
- tree trimming
- stump grinding/removal
- sidewalk repair/replacement
- tree replacement
Moving forward, the city will send out an RFP for the first round of trees to be removed and Nasta expects the work to begin later this year.
The program was approved with the added item that the council be provided with quarterly reports to account for funds utilized and the number of trees removed.
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