Landscape designer plants idea for tree program in Penn Hills

A Penn Hills resident has tasked herself with launching a tree-planting program in the community.

Kathy Raborn, owner of Raborn Landscape Design LLC, asked council on Monday to allow her to establish a shade tree commission in Penn Hills — at no cost to the municipality.

“We will not request any money from Penn Hills to buy or plant trees,” Raborn said of her plans to plant hundreds of trees in years to come.

Raborn also has grown 1,500 milkweed plants during the past two years in hopes of increasing the community's monarch butterfly population, and designed the garden under the electronic billboard on Allegheny River Boulevard.

Once a shade tree ordinance is in place, she said, the commission would be eligible for grants at the federal and state levels as well as from private organizations. It could take the lead in tree-planting programs in Penn Hills.

The commission would look for funding from organizations like the TreeVitalize urban forestry program, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Allegheny Watershed Alliance and Nine Mile Run Watershed Association.

Mayor Sara Kuhn said she is “100 percent in favor” of establishing a tree-planting committee.

“A neighborhood that has trees throughout is so much more becoming than one that is barren of landscape,” Kuhn said.

The mayor also lauded Raborn's efforts to establish the committee without seeking financial assistance.

“It says a lot that we have concerned residents in our community ... willing to do the work,” Kuhn said.

Penn Hills Planning Director Chris Blackwell also said he supports the program.

“I think (the shade tree commission) is going to be good. For a resident to step up and put it together, that's great,” Blackwell said.

Beautification projects dealing with gardening or tree planting “look intriguing,” but often get put on the back burner because of other priorities, Blackwell said.

Former Penn Hills Planning Director Howard Davidson has volunteered to help the effort to create a commission and has written a draft ordinance for Blackwell to review.

Blackwell said the ordinance will come up for a vote in June.

Citing studies from the U.S. Forest Service, Raborn said trees increase residential property values and tax revenue, make the community more attractive encourage business and reduce stormwater runoff.

The commission wouldn't seek to regulate tree planting in new developments. The commission would encourage existing businesses to replace trees and shrubs that have died since they originally were planted to comply with the planning commission's tree requirements, Raborn said.

The commission would choose suitable tree species to plant, based on a site's conditions.

“Our careful selection will help prevent problems such as roots lifting sidewalks, roots in sewers and trees growing into power lines,” Raborn said.

One of the first projects could be planting trees along the soon-to-be installed sidewalk on Frankstown Road near Hochberg Road, she said, and assisting the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association as it plants trees across from the former Eastgate shopping center where U-Pull-&-Pay, a self-service auto salvage yard, is under construction.

Raborn's plans call for volunteers to be trained by professional tree tenders, who would teach classes on proper maintenance of trees.

In addition to Davidson, Raborn said she has recruited other Penn Hills residents as commission volunteers, including Sandy Feather, an instructor with the Penn State Extension; Bryan Dolney of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and Katie Schuller from Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

Samson X Horne is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-871-2325, shorne@tribweb.com, or via Twitter @spinal_tapp.