2007-08-09-TREE-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minutes Lexington Tree Committee Meeting August 9, 2007 1. Gerry Paul was appointed scribe. 2. Attending were John Frey, David Pinsonneault, Jeanne Krieger, Karen Longeteig, Gerry Paul, Anne Senning and Susan Solomon. 3. Richard Canale from the Planning Board reviewed the plan for the Journey's End development on Shade Street. He pointed out that Shade Street has lost a number of street trees over the years. He requested our input in terms of possible mitigations the developer could provide not only for the property itself but for the street in general. We suggested that a fund be established from a mitigation payment from the developer; the fund would be used to plant street trees on other sections of the street but in a way which would not present "line-of-sight" problems on the narrow street. 4. Dave Pinsonneault said that the DPW could pick up trees for planting which the High School Landscaping committee has purchased and could excavate the planting holes for these trees. The plan is to plant them the week of August 20. 5. Gerry Paul reported that there is a need for additional members for the Friends of Trees Board. Any suggestions should be sent to Gerry. 6. Matt Foti will spray and fertilize the Dolberg Scarlet Oak on the Battle Green. 7. Matt Foti will be contracted by DPW to provide care as needed (spraying, fertilizing, etc) at the Tree Farm. Costs incurred will be tracked so we can understand the total cost of maintaining the tree farm. Matt Foti will not store any of his trees at the Tree Farm. 8. Concerning construction impact to the tree in the Lowell Street traffic island near Arlington, a hose bib will not be used by the tree but the tree will be watered. Anne Senning offered to provide a replacement tree from her tree farm if requested. 9. Dave Pinsonneault requested suggestions for the types of trees to be planted in the section of sidewalk being reconstructed between Waltham Street and the alley next to Michelson's Shoes. The Committee voted that 3 trees of one species and 2 trees of another be planted in alternating fashion; all of the trees should be shade trees. Dave agreed to look for Green Ash and Silver Linden. 10. Inventory has collected data on 2600 ++ trees, about 20% of the Town. Anne Senning submitted a progress report, highlights of which are: -- we used UEI Dell handheld computers -- software was modified to include groves, the distance from the street, the width of planting strips, and potential planting sites. At the request of Peter K, of the engineering department, we also flagged for him the houses that had footprints varying from what was shown on the screen. Max Horn has written a document on how to use the handhelds, and another on how to select data and make a map. It will be useful in training Tree Committee members. David Hattis wrote a piece on how to synchronize data from the handheld into the laptop, with 56 steps. He trained two TC members. He also wrote on how to extract data and make tables. At the request of the Tree Warden, the interns highlighted 599 trees that are in "fair" or "poor" condition (22.5% of total so far).