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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-07-TREE-min Tree Committee Meeting 1.7.21 Held via Zoom Minutes of the Lexington Tree Committee January 7, 2021 Held virtually via ZOOM Present: Gerry Paul (chair), Jim Wood, Gloria Bloom, Mark Conner, Nancy Sofen, Pat Moyer, Mark Sandeen (Select Board liaison), Chris Filadoro (Tree Warden), Marc Valenti (DPW Manager of Operations). Absent: Marty Kvaal Guests: Rick Reibstein, Charlie Wyman (both from Sustainable Lexington Committee), David Ernst The meeting was called to order at 7:33 am. The minutes of meetings held on March 12, 2020 and December 10, 2020 were approved. Tree Warden and DPW Operations Updates Fall 2020 planting of 104 or 105 trees is complete. Joel Custance is finalizing the spreadsheet, which will be sent to us. Last month when only one company had bid on the Tree Inventory RFQ, Chris reached out to Davey Resource Group who had done the first parts of the inventory. They will submit a bid. Marc and Chris have a call scheduled next week with the town's GIS provider, town staff GIS coordinator and Jarleth ONeil Dunne of UVM to compare what data we already have and what else might be needed for the Tree Canopy Survey. Chris walked the town center with Joel Custance and John Livsey to see which existing trees might be transplanted to elsewhere in town before work on the Center Streetscape begins. Bids for the project go out soon with work starting just after Patriot's Day. Matt Foti may be able to help with air spading and moving the 18 trees that they hope to transplant. There will be tree hearings; notices with QR codes for more information will be posted on the trees. Chris and Marc met with Julie Krakauer from IT. Tree Bylaw permits are now active in the town's Viewpoint Cloud system. The Tree Committee will propose 3 warrant articles, including amendments to the existing tree bylaw to upcoming Town Meeting. The committee voted to approve these 3 warrant articles. The articles will be sent to the Select Board for their consideration. 1. Amending tree bylaw to receive appraised value for removed Town trees. Chris objected to a phrase requiring an appraisal by an ASCA arborist by the town before removal of a town tree in a town project. He felt this would require the expenditure of much money which might be better spent on other aspects of town projects. Current practice is to use town resources to conduct such an appraisal. There was much discussion. Tree bylaw only applicable to residential/commercial, not town projects. For the latter, Chris uses bylaw guidelines. But this leaves us without language to enforce appraisal value for town projects. Ultimately, we agreed on language which foregoes the need for an upfront appraisal, but if there is an objection to the removal, the Select Board would be allowed to require up to the appraised value (as determined by ASCA arborist? ) to be paid into tree fund. Chris initially said that he and Dave Pinsonneault object to this motion. Their concerns include that(a)that hazard trees may not be excluded from needing a hearing (they are), (b) trees may have to be removed because of extenuating circumstances like sewer line placement, (c)this eliminates the informal agreements, such as mitigation plantings, that Chris feels work well, and (d) Chris thinks that a certified arborist rather than a consulting arborist should be able to make the appraisal. The wording was changed so that an appraisal will be triggered only if removal of the tree is challenged. Article 1: Amend Section § 120-7-B. of the Lexington Tree Bylaw as follows: Procedures. Any person seeking to prune or remove a public shade tree or Town tree shall submit an application to the Tree Warden in accordance with any application requirements issued by the Tree Warden. The Tree Warden shall hold a public hearing on applications for removal, at the expense of the applicant, in accordance with the provisions outlined within General Law Chapter 87. In addition to the public notices required by Chapter 87, the Town shall provide notice of the public hearing using current Town communications methods. If the tree is removed, the Select Board may require the applicant to pay up to the appraised value of the tree as determined by a mutually a reed upon member of the American Society of Consulting Arborists using the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers trunk formula method, to the Lexington Tree Fund. The permit issued by the Tree Warden may specify schedules, terms, and conditions....,, Chris and Marc also asked whether this provision would apply to Town projects. The committee had not envisioned that. Chris uses the structure of the Tree Bylaw when he reviews town projects in part because contractors object if the town is held to different standards than private developers. Also, town follows Conservation Commission guidelines, so why not these? Is it worth spending $ on an appraisal if the town would just be paying itself? Does the public trust an appraisal by town staff in this case? Committee would like Chris to suggest some workable solutions. 2. Proposal amending Sections 120-8 B-2, and C-2.The fees and mitigation payments are proposed to be doubled from current charges for removal of trees on construction project land, and quadrupled for trees 24 inches DBH and higher. We again debated valuing trees via diameter vs. area. Marc Valenti and Chris Filadoro reminded us forcefully that these increased fees are passed through to the homeowner. Chris feels there are other ways to incentivize builders to save large trees. The proposed fees were agreed on; and a proposal to re-evaluate annually was approved. In addition, after long discussion, we also agreed to quadruple the credit to the builder for NOT removing 24 inch or higher DBH, up to the mitigation amount. • Article 3(a): Amend Section § 120-8-B-1. of the Lexington Tree Bylaw as follows: Such fee shall be at least$&-20 per DBH inch of protected tree to be removed. The fee shall be evaluated annually and adjusted as needed. • Article 3(b) Amend Section § 120-8-C-2. of the Lexington Tree Bylaw as follows: Contribution into the Lexington Tree Fund, provided such fund is reauthorized to the extent required by law, or otherwise to the surplus revenue of the Town: such contribution shall be $104-200 per replacement inch of protected tree or Town tree removed not already mitigated as per Subsection C(1). The fee shall be evaluated annually and adjusted as needed. • Article 3 also changes the Replacement Inch Calculation Table so that trees 24" DBH or larger would be mitigated at 4 times their size instead of 2 times. After some discussion it was agreed that we would like to use both a"stick" and a "carrot"to preserve large trees. One option is to also increase the credit given for replanting from the Large Shade Tree list. Another is to offer mitigation "credits" for large trees preserved on the lot. A working group of Pat, Mark Connor and Nancy will meet to draft some proposals, to be presented to Chris and Marc for their responses on January 21. 3. New proposal regarding the removal of trees with 6 inches or more DBH on private property (not town trees, or trees in the setback). This proposal would require residents to use a new, feeless permit system for such trees. We heard that current Town staff is insufficient to manage both questions and permits under such a system. The Tree Committee agreed that questions regarding the process, or the trees involved, from the public, would be routed to TC volunteers, not to the Tree Warden. This alternative procedure would be trialed for a period of one year. Chris Filadoro commented that what the Tree Committee has done to date has resulted in fewer trees being removed in a number of cases in the last few years. We will set a meeting in two weeks with DPW personnel regarding positive incentives to contractors to save large (and other)trees. There will be an informal meeting before then of Mark C, Nancy and Pat to plan for that meeting. Nancy and Gerry updated us on Hartwell Ave plans. Gerry reminded us to think about our yearlong priorities. Gerry suggested we will need to have a public meeting on our proposals, after the warrant goes out. Town Meeting begins in late March. We will also need to brief the Select Board. We can do this two SB members at a time. We will need two TC members to meet with each Select Board group. The meeting ended at 9:45 AM. Next meeting: Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 7:30 AM. Respectfully and jointly submitted by Pat Moyer and Nancy Sofen.