Weekly Status Report - 12/29/2011

MEMORANDUM

TO:               City Council

FROM:         David J. Deutsch, City Manager

SUBJECT:  Status Report    

DATE:  December 29, 2011

Status Report

1.  Completion of City Street Tree Inventory

Staff recently completed the comprehensive inventory of the City's street trees, which includes a total of 17,388 trees within City maintained street rights-of-way.  The data was analyzed and compiled into a formal report, using the US Department of Agriculture's iTree Streets software.  The results have been posted on the City website.  The vast amount of the field work and analysis was performed during 2011 by the City's current urban forestry intern, Jeffery D. Williams.  With the precise coordinates of all inventory trees now in the City’s GIS system, a neighborhood analysis can be conducted to target the areas most in need of additional street trees.  The street tree inventory has an estimated replacement value of almost $88 million.  Red maples were the most numerous of the City's street trees, comprising about 17% of the inventory.  Total management costs (for Bowie, this included tree purchasing, planting, pruning, pest management, irrigation, removal, administration, and inspection/service) for Fiscal Year 2011 amounted to $319,000, at an average cost of $18.35 per tree. Per capita management costs were $5.53 per Bowie resident annually.  The total net benefits (total benefits [energy, CO2, air quality, stormwater, and aesthetic/other] minus total costs [planting, pruning, pest management, irrigation, tree removal, administration, inspection, infrastructure repairs, litter clean-up, liability/claims, and other costs]) amounted to $1,941,348 for the City ($111.65 per tree).  The total net benefits per Bowie resident worked out to $33.66 annually. For further details, please see the report posted on the website.

2.  Sears Store Closings

Sears Holdings announced Tuesday morning that they will close more than 100 Sears and Kmart stores.  They have not yet identified the stores to be closed.  Staff continues to follow this matter and will report any additional news when the closing stores are identified.