Austin City Council receives Emerald Ash Borer presentation at Monday meeting

The Austin City Council received a presentation concerning the Emerald Ash Borer infestation in the city at their regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening.  

Parks and Recreation Director Jason Sehon, Jay C. Hormel Nature Center Director Luke Reese and Kris Hahn and Jenna Kaiser of the Climate Impact Corps were on hand to give the presentation which outlined how to identify an ash tree that has been damaged by the larvae of the pest, how healthy ash trees are being treated, what measures are being taken to remove diseased trees, and future planting of different tree species.  Hahn and Kaiser stated to the council that they have held three community outreach meetings concerning the situation thus far, and they added that they have conducted two rounds of treatments in Austin so far totaling 500 trees.  The two added, though, that there are just over 2,000 ash trees on city streets and boulevards, plus approximately 2,888 more ash trees on residential and private property around the city, but they stated to the council that the treatments will continue to save as many trees as possible.  More information concerning Emerald Ash Borer in the city of Austin is available through handouts at the Parks, Recreation and Forestry office.

In other business at their Monday meeting, the Austin City Council approved a donation of $10,000 to the Mower County Veterans Memorial Rehabilitation Project, and they also approved a pair of tax abatement requests, one from New Horizon Homes, LLC for a property at 1306 18th St. NE, with an estimated project valuation of $425,900, and the other from the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of Austin for a property at 905 24th Avenue NW, with an estimated project valuation of $350,000.  

The next regularly scheduled meeting for the Austin City Council is scheduled for Monday, June 3rd at 5:30 p.m. at the city council chambers.