22 people attended the meeting held at SIMS.

Alan Bowser (President) welcomed people to the meeting.

The association is currently solvent.

The Secretary (Paul Guinnessy) presented the minutes of the last meeting, which were approved. He pointed out that if anyone was interested in running for office, they should contact him.

County Tree Program (County representatives)

Stan Edwards talked about the tree program by the county.

The county planted 500 trees last year under their tree planting program called Tree Montgomery (https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DEP/Tree/Tree-request.html ).

For many years the county had a tree protection law that protected large forests, but it didn’t cover the individual tree loss in already developed urban areas. The Tree canopy law passed in 2013 said that if trees are removed by construction then the developer had to pay to replenish trees (about $750 for each tree removed). So far the program has raised $1 million in fees for the scheme. The county provides two staff members to work on analyzing the best place to plant the trees. The program provides canopy trees in places where they can survive. i.e. 400 sq ft for the tree to give there roots a chance to grow. It includes two years of aftercare on the tree (protection against deer, watering, pruning etc..).

Stump removal is handled by a different dept and this canopy law can only be funded to put trees on private property, not public property. Pepco is another issue, regulated by the public service commission. If you see a mark on a tree that is a blue dot, then pepco is trimming it, orange is county color. Pepco encourages the planting of specific type of tree underneath power lines that won’t grow above the power cables.

In the county, if you disturb more than 5000 sq ft of soil you have to get a control permit. It doesn’t stop you from taking trees down, it just means you might have to pay to plant replacement trees elsewhere.

The county has decided not to plant ash trees because of the bore beetle which is wiping them all out.

Bowser asked for volunteers to act as a Parkhills contact person for Tree Montgomery, and also another volunteer to manage the trees on public property.

Edwards pointed out that January 1, 2018 the new pesticide law goes into effect.

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Speeding on Dale (General discussion led by Alan Bowser)

Neighbor Renia said that she loved the construction time on Dale as no one could speed along the street, and the new crosswalk protection for the pedestrians at Dale and Mansfield, hasn’t seem to have any effect in slowing down traffic. Bowser said that PHCA raised the issue with Tom Hucker’s office. David X from his office said that they raised it with DOT and there will be new speed warnings 25 mph in the next 30 days. Commander Jones of the police said they will sending cops out to check over the last few days.

A discussion resulted on why people speed on that stretch of road.

David said he would check if you could put warning hazard signs.

Renia (215 Dale Drive) pointed out there is a bus stop at fleetwood ave and having a pedestrian refuge in the middle would help.

Purple Line Update (Chris Richardson)

A consortium has been picked by the state. Chris Richardson pointed out that the Wayne Advisory Group managed to get Montgomery County Department of Transportation to assess the speed along Wayne Ave. The speed limit will change from 30 mph to 25 mph effective a few weeks from now. Bowser suggested that maybe ParkHills and Seven Oaks should have a joint meeting to discuss the Purple Line. The Power Substation is to go onto the school property but no one knows where.

The meeting ended at 9pm.