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Home My WebLink About2024-02-08-TREE-min Lexington Tree Commi?ee Minutes 2.8.24 1. Mee?ng called to order at 7:36 AM by Mark Connor. 2. Present: Mark Connor, co-chair, Pat Moyer, co-chair and minutes, Gerry Paul, Barbara Tarrh, Nancy Sofen, James Wood, Gavin Grant, all members, Jim Pato, ex-oﬃcio member from Select Board, Ingrid Klimoﬀ, Kate McCarey, Charlie Wyman, Mark Lang, Todd Rhodes. 3. Minutes of 1.11.24 were approved with the reminder to the scribe that all votes taken need to be recorded in the minutes. 4. Nancy Sofen presented the current wording of our bylaw revisions proposed for Town Mee?ng--#34, 35, and36. We voted 6-0-1 (absten?on) to keep wording in the bylaw which states that the Tree Warden may issue, to a builder, a stop-work order if tree protec?ons are faulty/lacking. A?er consulta?on with Town Counsel, we understand that the stop-work order may only apply to work aﬀec?ng the tree(s) on the property-not the en?re project. We agree 7-0 to keep #35 as it is, understanding that the Tree Commi?ee needs to revise the Tree Manual to make this maximally eﬀec?ve. We le? the wording of In #36, a?er much discussion, we voted to leave item B, which allows the Tree Warden to declare a tree a hazard, intact, by a vote of 5-1-1. 5. Barbara Tarrh reviewed items discussed at the mid=mee?ng, whose members included Mark Connor, Dave Pinsonneault, Pat Moyer, and Barbara Tarrh. Those minutes are a?ached below. Items of discussion included: a. Fliers on the setback program have been produced by the Field and Garden Club. Jim will ask Julie La Flamme to send some to each commi?ee member for local distribu?on and canvassing. The 70 setback trees will represent the spring plan?ng eﬀort. Some members were disappointed that for this spring plan?ng, there would be no trees planted in the ROW. b. Jim will work with Chris and Ma? Fo? on species for the fall plan?ng (the spring plan?ng order is in.) c. We need to update the large shade tree, and the desirable species lists in the Tree Manual d. It would behoove us to be part of the Arbor Day Tree Giveaway—50-100 trees purchased from Arbor Day sources by the town. e. Dave has begun the process of applying for a grant to produce an Urban Forest Master Plan. He will request $50-60K to meet the fall deadline with Mass Forestry. Barbara to clarify ?ming on budget request. Members expressed the need for the Commi?ee to see a dra? of the applica?on and eventual RFP. f. Dave has told us he cannot create a list of preferred tree care companies to put on line. g. Pat asked Dave for a report on how the Tree Fund has been spent. He agree to provide regularly; someone pointed out this item is available in the quarterly public ﬁnance report. h.. Mark Connor had to leave the mee?ng during discussion on item 5; Pat took over shepherding the mee?ng. 6. Elaine Tung, chair of the Aﬀordable Housing Trust, sent us an email outlining the Trust’s hope to direct the Select Board (at upcoming March Town Mee?ng) to designate a 3 acre parcel of wooded land at the corner of Lowell and North Streets for aﬀordable housing, and recrui?ng our support. We felt that we did not know enough about the plans, and were not inclined to interfere in plans for aﬀordable housing, given the great need. Pat will speak with Elaine Tung to ﬁnd out for all of us more of what is planned. 7. There is development planned at 28 Merriam/32 Edgewood Rd—10 units planned, of which one is a 4 bedroom “aﬀordable” unit. A?er reviewing plans, we agreed unanimously to request that planned Zelkovas be replaced with New England na?ves, and to ask for arborist interven?on to provide protec?on plans for oaks which appear too close to planned structures. Nancy Sofen will write a le?er to involved par?es. 8. We held another discussion on the replacements for the 2 elms which had to be taken down in Depot Sq. The area is public-facing, frequently used, and calls for a N.E. na?ve species, which Ginna Johnson (per Nancy) speciﬁed in her original plans for the area. Jim will discuss our wishes again with Chris and Dave. Jim was not present when the ﬁnal selec?on (Kentucky coﬀee vs. na?ve oak) was made. We have, since that selec?on was made, re-iterated earlier strong feelings of the commi?ee that we want to be part of tree species choices in any public area of the town. 9. Item 8 led to our discussing our fractured rela?onship with leadership of the DPW. Joe Pato agreed, at the rest of the commi?ee’s request, to discuss with the Town Manager. 10. We adjourned at 9:45 AM. A?achment Tree Commi?ee Mid mee?ng notes 1/30/24 BT, PM, MC, DP 1-Date and ?me for IT mee?ng th IT Mee?ng has been scheduled for Feb 15 at 11am, with Tim G and Jessica ____ on Zoom. Dave will send Zoom link. 2-Spring plan?ng and other Updates •UVM detailed analysis Delay caused by the unexpected death of the person who led the ini?al eﬀort. Mark Valen? has th been in contact with staﬀ there and expects a mee?ng the week of Feb 12 to discuss. •Tree inventory Forestry staﬀ will update during remaining winter months, recording removals and plan?ngs. Update to be completed by April 1. •Replacement trees Depot Sq Kentucky coﬀee trees. Jim W, Chris F and Ma? Fo? coordinated on this. TC requests broader communica?on on tree plan?ng in signiﬁcant public sites. •Hartwell Ave businesses/tree plan?ng sites Economic Development is pu?ng together a contact list for individual businesses to approach for poten?al tree plan?ng. Focus is on area between Bedford St and Maguire Rd. •Flyer to solicit resident par?cipa?on in set-back program? Jim W, Chris F and Julie ___ working with Info oﬃcer to create copy for Link to Lexington and other publicity outlets. DPW will print addi?onal copies for TC use. •Tree Commi?ee as a partner in Arbor Day tree giveaway? Fairly detailed brainstorming regarding this eﬀort. Barbara to reach out to LFGC to add to their request from Arbor Day Founda?on this year. DPW coordinates purchase, in groups of 100. Discussion of plan?ng instruc?ons including sugges?on to place in front area of property. th •Lexington 250 Ba?legreen celebra?on – 250 trees planted? Discussion of coordina?ng 2024 and 2025 Arbor Day eﬀorts to supplement seasonal plan?ngs and more aggressive setback plan?ng outreach. 3-Water bag tes?ng program Ma? F will order a number of watering bags and work with Forestry to id a por?on of this spring’s plan?ngs to test their use. Combina?on of town and Fo? follow-through on watering. 4-Urban Forest Master (Management?) Plan status Dave has downloaded applica?ons and requested examples of successful requests from MA Forestry. Expects a $50-60K 2026 budget request to meet fall deadline. Dave expects to use grant funding to hire consultant to construct the plan. 5-London Plane Trees installed at Diamond – planted too closely Chris F will work with Sean Newall, Asst director of Facili?es to discuss transplan?ng a subset of 7 trees planted too closely, and to ﬁnd other (school-based?) loca?ons. 6-DPW list of tree care companies, similar to approved paving companies Dave oﬀered to speak with Town Counsel to determine how such a list might work. Current approved paving companies list was developed as a result of working w those companies who met qualiﬁca?ons for jobs involving u?lity companies. (The Town cannot make recommenda?ons for work on private property.) 7-New sidewalk planning, TC involvement Dave expects Engineering/John Livesey to con?nue to include the Tree Commi?ee on tree- related issues, a?er the design process has begun. Lincoln St on-site mee?ng is an example of how this has worked in the past. 8-Bylaw Enforcement Working Group would like info on how Tree Fund is spent Fund is used for tree plan?ng only. (An excep?on was the Canopy Study which used Tree Fund money a?er consulta?on with Town Counsel.) Over the past 4 years, the annual amount has increased to $100k in 2024. Dave es?mates $200-300K remains. TC would like monthly expenditures; Dave said money is spent seasonally and will pull some numbers together. 9-Discussion of Tree Warden/Forestry and how con?nuing educa?on happens