Bloomfield Beautification Committee: MINUTES for May 25, 2021 meeting
Present: Rise Cappadona, Daria Chamerda, Lucy Eyre, Gwen Findlay, Henriette Herzfeld, Sharon Mann, Joanne Mitchell and Dan Carter, advisor
Not Present: Debi Gosselin
Meeting began at 5:36 pm and adjourned at 7:39 pm; Meeting was held via Zoom
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes from the April 27, 2021 zoom meeting were approved. Gwen moved to approve the minutes and seconded by Joanne.
OLD BUSINESS - UPDATES: A. Planting Annuals Town Center o The planting that took place on Friday, May 21 was a success. BBC members arrived at 8am and the volunteers at 9am. With the help of the volunteers planting was completed by 10am. Volunteers included Libby Merrow, Mary Briggs, Angelique Croasdale, and Dani Morander. o Sharon, Daria & Eva stayed later for clean-up and watering. Pool and Police Department o Planting is scheduled for Friday May 28 and/or Saturday May 29. There is rain in the forecast for the weekend so we will need to be flexible on the planting date depending on the weather conditions. Gwen & Henriette have many volunteers available for Saturday. They will check the volunteers’ availability for Friday. Mary Hill Green and McMahon Library o The planting date has not yet been finalized. It is tentatively scheduled for Thursday May 27 in the afternoon. Diana Darlington has expressed an interest in volunteering. Gwen or Sharon will contact her with some dates. Town Hall – Hanging Geranium Baskets o The geraniums are all in flower and are scheduled to be hung up on May 27. Eva will be responsible for maintenance. Henriette will be responsible for the Little Free Library Planter on site at Town Hall. Electronic Sign- planted by Sharon and Eva with Echinacea powwow donated by Jonathan Thiesse left over from the Filley Pond Project. Prosser Library o The planting has been done by Tatiana. Town Center – corner of Park Ave. and Bloomfield Ave. o The ash tree in this location has been taken down. There was discussion of planting zinnias and cannas in that location. However, the area has filled in with grass and that project will not happen.
B. Volunteer Lists & Thank You Notes Gwen & Henriette will send thank-you notes to the volunteers who participated in the Town Center planting.
C. Notable Landscape Awards subcommittee update - Eva The nomination period starts on June 1 and ends August 2. Eva is working with the Town Manager’s office to announce on the Town website the launch of the nomination period. In addition, the nomination form and the eligibility & criteria info that is posted on the BBC’s page needs to be updated for 2021. Sharon will post on Instagram that the nomination period has begun along with the nomination form. Eva will work with Sharon to write an article promoting the awards for the Town Messenger. Copies of the nomination form will be available in the Town Hall lobby. Other suggestions for community outreach include sending emails from Leisure Services and Senior Center, reaching out to Duncaster and Seabury, and posting on the various Bloomfield related Facebook pages. We are targeting having 2 judges this year. Suggestions for judges include Nancy Brennick (CT Horticultural Society), Richard Zito (Green Machine) and a prior year award winner. Sharon and Eva will contact potential judges.
D. Tree Signage update - Eva Eva and Daria continue to work on this. Target date for completion is early August.
E. BBC Instagram update - Sharon The BBC page now has 91 followers. Sharon asked the BBC’s members to encourage their friends to be followers.
F. Farmington River Park update – Sharon A guided hike led by Kevin Gough and Paula Jones is scheduled for CT Trails Day June 5. The walk will take the hikers to the sand dunes created by Glacial Lake Hitchcock. Registration is required and can be done on the Wintonbury Land Trust website. Sharon has ordered a Hackberry tree that will be funded from the Hartford Audubon Society grant. DPW will pick up. G. Arbor Day Tree Planting DPW checks the water bags and waters weekly. All the planted trees are doing well with the exception of one American Hornbeam (named “Hector” by those involved in its planting). It appears that the leader is dead. Sharon will pursue getting a replacement tree from the nursery.
H. Mother’s Day Guided ID Walk The walk, led by Lucy Eyre, Zellene Sandler and Kevin Wilcox, was a success. There were 25 people of various ages in attendance. The walkers were impressed by the park and some of the walkers had not previously known about the park.
I. Tree Care & Pruning Workshop (May 22) There was a change in venue and the workshop took place at the McMahon Library. 8 people registered for the workshop, unfortunately, there were 4 no- shows. John Kehoe licensed arborist explained and showed tools and pruning techniques. Participants did some hands on pruning on site.
NEW BUSINESS: A. Library Building Committee presentation by Greg Davis and Marc Weisman Greg Davis and Marc Weisman presented the details of the preliminary plans for a new Prosser Library in town center and the renovation and expansion of the McMahon Library. They were seeking feedback from the BBC on these current plans. The Library Building Committee will be making another presentation on June 14 at Town Council which will include enhanced plans and renderings. There was mention that one of the oak trees should come down because “the architect felt it would hide the building” but an arborist had been called in to look at the tree and evaluate first. If a referendum is approved for November, there will be hopefully a landscape architect on board. They will be in contact with us at that point for landscape feedback. Feedback from the BBC included: o McMahon Library – suggestion to enhance the outside space to make it more inviting and to soften the landscape. General favorable opinion on the library’s exterior. o Prosser Public Library - . Concern that there is not appropriate outdoor space or a connection to the Library. Landscaping is minimal. . The exterior modern architecture does not fit in with the New England aesthetic of the Town Center. . The main entrance faces onto Mountain Avenue South and not onto Town Green – loses a connection with the Town Center and the town Green. It has no sense of place. . Connection to the Parking Lot where the former Riley Lumber is offers no winter protection or aesthetic, looks like a handicap ramp. . . The building materials of a white building stand out with no connection to the surrounding buildings. Using the Congregation Church as a connection to color doesn’t seem to work. . At this point of design discussion, no attention from the committee was given to the interior of the building being in the beginning stages.
B. Report from DPW – Dan Carter DPW’s focus has been clean-up at the schools and on their grounds. The High School’s graduation is to take place on the courtyard., working on storm drainage on the roads, and the spring street sweeping. Maintenance in being done at the athletic fields. Road paving continues. The elm tree located in town center on Bloomfield Ave. was cut down recently. A white oak is planned as a replacement. It will be planted about 10-15 feet from the current location. Work at Farmington River Park is expected in 2 weeks.
C. Discussion of maintenance of planting areas for 2021 Mary Briggs has volunteered to maintain the plantings at the Police Department. Approximately 40 Echinacea plants have been offered to the BBC from Jonathan Thiesse. They were left over from the Filley Park project. These will be planted at the town center electronic sign, town pool and Mary Hill Green. The BBC plans on some plantings for the Farmington River Park. Probably to take place in the autumn.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: None
CALENDAR: Next Meeting scheduled for Tuesday June 22, 2021 5:30 pm via Zoom
ADJOURNMENT: Eva moved to adjourn and was seconded by Henriette.