2012-11-08-TREE-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Town of Lexington Lexington Tree Committee Minutes of November 8, 2012 A meeting of the Lexington Tree Committee was held on November 8, 2012 at 7:30 AM at the Samuel Hadley Public Services Building, room 125. Members Present: Chris Filadoro (Superintendent of Public Grounds), John Frey (Chair) Jewel ku1iian, Karen Longeteig, Gerry Paul, Anne Senning, Jim Wood, Nell Walker. Friends of Trees: Jane Beswick Members absent: Deb Manger (Selectmen Liaison) 1. Jim Wood was appointed as Scribe. Minutes of October 11, 2012 were approved as corrected. 2. 300 Anniversary Tree Medallion Sales: Karen Longeteig is working with the Visitors Center to set up sales there.A description of what the medallion represents has been prepared by Karen and will be provided with the medallions for sale. Karen is looking into selling them at the Crafty Yankee and at the Special Town Meeting on November 19, 2012 We also discussed honoring staff members who work closely with us, with Medallions. This discussion will be continued at the next meeting. 3. Tree Management Manual Progress: Anne Senning presented the current (our second revision) edition of the Tree Management manual ready for printing. Jane Beswick offered a change to move the Undesirable Tree list to the end of the tree list in Section V B. Printing of the manual was approved by the Committee unanimously, as modified. 4. Tree Warden Agenda Items: a) Bylaw Tree Removal applications and activity monthly report will be emailed to John Frey for inclusion in these minutes. Chris noted that people are getting more cooperative in our process of tree removal applications. b) Budget/Forestry Division update- DPW has put in the FY 2014 budget for one additional full time employee and 2 part time summer employees. Gerry Paul suggested making tree planting a line item, similar to Snow Removal, to insure we meet the Tree Planting /Maintenance objectives. c) Tree Bylaw amendment proposal for spring warrant article placeholder. We have 3 candidates. 1) Increased fines for the cutting of Public Trees as written by Jim Wood. Jim will send the current version to committee members so we can vote it up or down at our next meeting. 2) G. Paul suggested we change the mitigation/ replanting requirements from 1 inch for each 2 inches cut to a 1 inch for 1 inch ratio to further discourage the cutting down of trees. 3) G. Paul suggested we revisit the fixed setback approach to what defines a tree in the setback area for a possible change. 4) G. Paul suggested, after contacting Bill Lahey about the possibility of writing a Bylaw to achieve the following and receiving an affirmative reply: The Tree Warden may deny the cutting down of Trees if there is a reasonable way to accomplish the building or driveway or for any other purpose without cutting down the requested trees. d) Recently planted London Plane Tree cut down at the High School Fitzgerald Field. Chris F. said he was not familiar with who may have done this. Karen L. will check with the High School to determine why the tree was cut down. This tree was planted