Does Warsaw need more trees? If so, where? How many? What kind?
Friday, City Assistant Planner Jackson Longenbaugh requested approval from the Board of Public Works and Safety to apply for a 2024 Resilience Cohort: Urban Green Infrastructure program grant from Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute. The program offers a professional tree canopy assessment, 400 hours with an IU fellow (intern), a communitywide tree-planting plan, up to 100 trees and professional planting and maintenance for up to two years, according to information provided to the board. The program is valued at about $142,000.
“We were sent this from MACOG (Michiana Area Council of Governments) right before Thanksgiving and it’s really been a fast timeline. It was actually due yesterday, this grant, so we had to jump on this application, but we’re requesting approval now. We can withdraw the application if need be,” Longenbaugh said.
He said if the city is awarded the grant, the only cost the city would have is about $3,200 to help pay for IU’s program costs.
Board member Councilwoman Diane Quance asked if the grant actually paid for the trees.
“Yes,” Longenbaugh replied. “They pay for up to 100 trees. There are some stipulations on those as well.”
He said there is a designated area for the trees, which is determined by the White House. The trees the grant would pay for would have to be planted within that area, but “all the studies and the assessments are for our entire jurisdiction.”
According to a provided map, the approximate area is bordered by Pike and Center lakes to the north, North West and South Union streets to the west, East Smith Street and Eagle Creek to the south and Cook and Scott streets to the west.
Mayor Joe Thallemer asked what size of trees would they plant.
“I have no idea at all. I think that’s kind of for them, it’s for the student to all figure out. It’s all through professional planners. I’m sure they’d all be native species and all that stuff would be ...,” Longenbaugh said.
“It takes a while to create a canopy,” Thallemer said.
Longenbaugh agreed, saying he didn’t know the size of the trees that would be planted.
“We’ve had very little time to dig super deep into this. I’ve had one Zoom meeting just to see if we’d even be a good fit, and it seemed like we were, so we jumped on the application,” he said.
Thallemer asked about the cost-share of the program and about the $3,200. Longenbaugh said the $3,200 was just a one-time fee and the money would come out of the planning department’s downtown beautification budget.
Quance asked if the intern would be housed with the planning department, and Longenbaugh said that was correct.
Thallemer asked for more explanation of the mapped area for the project, known as the federally designated disadvantaged area.
“This is from the White House’s tool. It’s called the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. This is something the White House has created. It designates disadvantaged communities or Census tracks based on tree canopy assessment,” Longenbaugh said, adding that there is a nationwide map of the designated areas, one of which happens to be in Warsaw. “You’re basically encouraged to apply if your jurisdiction has one of these Census tracks within them.”
He said MACOG sent it to them, thinking it would be a great opportunity, and Longenbaugh said he thought it was, too.
Quance said she assumed he would work closely with Warsaw Parks and Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer. Longenbaugh said the intern would work with every city department as necessary.
Asked by Thallemer when a decision on the grant would be made, Longenbaugh said the application was submitted earlier this week, it was due Thursday and he thought they could hear back on it within a week or two. He said the program continues until 2027 so if Warsaw doesn’t get the grant, there’s a chance to reapply for it next year.
“I believe multiple municipalities can receive it in the same year,” Longenbaugh stated.
City Planner Justin Taylor commented the designated area does extend beyond the Historic Downtown so they wouldn’t be confined to just downtown. “So there’s plenty of opportunities there to increase our tree canopy. We saw with a lot of recent activity around the Sycamore (tree on East Sheridan Street) there’s a lot of interest in forestation in the city and it seemed like a good opportunity to take a good look at what we’re doing with our tree canopy and maybe expanding some of that,” Taylor said.
Longenbaugh said the town of Syracuse was awarded the grant a few years ago. Phase I of the program is the overall assessment, with Phase II being more of the implementation. Thallemer asked if the federal grant would cover both phases, and Longenbaugh said that was correct.
Board member George Clemens made a motion to approve the grant application, Quance seconded it and the motion passed unanimously.
Taylor said if the grant is awarded, it would come back before the Board of Public Works and Safety.