2023-06-08-TREE-rpt2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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May 15, 2023 2 2. Specification of required payments The tree warden determines a final value for the permit fee and required mitigation payment based on a visit to the site shortly before a certificate of occupancy is to be issued. There are several places where payments that are required are specified or can be inferred. • Tree warden bylaw activity spreadsheet - this spreadsheet has been used by the tree warden since the inception of the bylaw2. It lists the number of trees removed and the number of DBH (diameter at breast height) inches removed. The actual number of inches for which a fee or mitigation payment must be made may differ from the inches removed because: o Trees may have been planted to reduce the required mitigation payment o A removed tree may have had a diameter equal or greater than 24 DBH inches in which case the diameter is multiplied by 2 or 4 (after July 2017 or July 2021 respectively) to obtain the inches to be mitigated o Removal of fewer or additional trees may have made after an entry in the spreadsheet is created but the entry has not been updated. • The Tree Removal Permit created in the online system. However, in many cases this is not filled in by the applicant or tree warden (or is filled in incorrectly). • Comments in records in the Viewpoint Cloud system – this is not done consistently There is now no place where fee and mitigation payments that are required are consistently and reliably recorded and no place where mitigation plantings are consistently recorded. However, we employ whatever data is available to document our findings with awareness of the caveats above. This report does not address the issue of whether required payments have been determined properly. That issue is addressed in two earlier reports1,3. Here we take the assessments at face value to determine if the required payments have been collected. The issue of whether fee payments have been properly collected has been raised before.3 The DPW director has stated that fee payments may have been combined with other types of permits and thus were not documented. This may have been the case before the use of Viewpoint Cloud to record fee payments individually in late 2019, but should not be the case after that. 3. Who confirms that payments have been made so that demolition permits and certificates of occupancy may be issued? • Issuance of demolition permit - The tree warden when they declare complete the “Tree Warden Review” item in the demolition permit checklist in Viewpoint Cloud. • Issuance of certificate of occupancy - The tree warden when they declare complete the “Tree Warden Notification” item in the new construction permit checklist in Viewpoint Clout. 2 Entries in this spreadsheet were no longer made after October 14, 2021. 3 Report to the Tree Committee on Bylaw Enforcement Concerns https://records.lexingtonma.gov/WebLink/0,0,0,0/doc/2487316/Page1.aspx