1.3.24 Planning Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPROVED WITH AMENDMENT 2.7.24 450 south, we're just going by nonresidential properties. This is all commercial properties or Town properties. In 451 the broader perspective, if this doesn't happen, it doesn't mean there's a lack of tree service needs in the area. 452 It just means that to fulfill those tree service needs, you're gonna be having to travel from a lot further away. 453 Maybe same trips per day, but those trips will take three times as long and that means three times as much 454 road use. More traffic intersecting back and forth through the Rural Buffer. Already a problem. This just adds 455 more to that. 456 457 Adam Beeman: If you, if you want to give your summary, you've got two minutes left. If you want to give a 458 wrap-up and a summary, we've got questions for you, so you're gonna have plenty of time to answer them. It's 459 just your chance to say your last bit before we dive in here. 460 461 Craig Nishimoto provided a summary of his personal history and background. 462 463 Adam Beeman: So, I'm going to start the questions and work our way around. 464 465 Whitney Watson: I have three questions for you. One is about working with North Carolina Forestry. I know 466 they offer some of the same tree literacy programs that you are, and so I'd been interested in how you work 467 with them or how you might increase the way in which you work with those groups. 468 469 Craig Nishimoto: Whenever I present to a crowd like a public library or some, a gardening club, I point to 470 North Carolina Forest Service as an offering. If you call the County Ranger, they will send someone out to 471 look at your trees, and it's a pretty good deal because it's free and sometimes, during COVID, they were even 472 sending two guys out, but it takes a long time. You might have to wait a month or two to get out there. This is 473 what I hear from clients. Sometimes their write-ups are excellent. In fact, one time a client showed it to me 474 and it looked like he copied the things that I was saying, telling the client. Other times they're not as good 475 because they have a different skill set. If you became a registered forester or licensed forester, you would 476 have to learn a lot of things that are totally irrelevant to the urban forest interface, you know, trees growing 477 near houses. And what we get to see is trees on houses all the time. We're looking for particular trees and 478 particular elements of this tree, not the health of this big Loblolly Pine tract. I think if everyone started calling 479 them, they just wouldn't have the capacity to do 75 visits a week, for example. 480 481 Whitney Watson: Okay. So that sort of backs into the notion that you're going to have some kind of training 482 program at your site? So, if you're not working with the local forest ranger, then it seems like there's a 483 disconnect between what you do and what they do and the customer, the potential client is losing out, so you 484 might consider about that educational aspect. 485 486 Craig Nishimoto: So, where I think the forest service is strong is on big, managing 20 acre properties or 10 487 acre properties, land management. That's where I think they have a lot to offer. When it's what particular tree 488 and how to deal with its hazard, that's where they fall short, so even though there's something called urban 489 forestry, they mainly just do standard forestry. 490 491 Whitney Watson: Next question, so there's a residential property or residential unit going to be on the 492 property for a full-time caretaker or will they also be working during the day? 493 494 Craig Nishimoto: Yeah, so it's basically our security system needs to have someone there. I could imagine 495 somebody, some eco-terrorist just doesn't like the fact that we cut down a tree coming to destroy all our 496 machines. It's kind of way tucked away, so people could do that. But I got this guy that has worked with me 497 for years and he's a young guy. He would love nothing more than to do the Henry David Thoreau thing. A 498 little cabin out there with his dog and living the life, and that's what we'd like to build for him. 499