2023-07-13-TREE-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Tree Commi?ee Minutes 7/13/23 1. Mee?ng called to order at 7:35 AM. 2. Discussion of scribing. Pat’s oﬀer to scribe, going forward, was discussed and accepted. 3. Mee?ng minutes of 6/8/23 were approved. 4. Present: Gerry Paul, Pat Moyer (scribe), Mark Connor (presiding), Nancy Sofen, Barbara Tarrh, Charles Hornig, Charlie Wyman, Joe Pato, Gloria Bloom 5. Discussion of u?lity of our in-between mee?ngs with DPW. Felt to be produc?ve and improving of our rela?onship, and also help move our regular mee?ng along. Nancy suggested crea?ng an agenda so that we could work towards resolu?on of some issues. The group mee?ng with Dave Pinsonneault is now composed of Mark C, Barbara T, and Pat M. We did not yet receive Dave’s report (he is on jury duty and the mee?ng didn’t occur this month); nor did we hear about hazard trees removed in last 2 months. 6. Nancy led a discussion of the process and preliminary results of the Tree Bylaw working group. The group is composed of Nancy S, Barbara T, Gerry P, and Dan Miller. The very preliminary proposal is a?ached. Much discussion followed. Discussion topics included: a) how the process for permi?ng and inspec?on, and tree inspec?on, would be ﬁnanced; b)educa?ng the town staﬀ and public about the value of trees; c) inquiring from towns with similar bylaws about how they enforce them; d) what type of staﬀ might this entail-- possibly an “enforcement agent”, not necessarily a TW; e) a need to have an appeals process, and who that might be (?TC); f) that ideally the enforcement agent would be a preserva?onist, but with very clear guidelines to use so that decision is easy to make and refer to during disputes; and g) the need for a homeowner to hire an arborist to make health decisions about the tree. Strategy was discussed for each of these. Permi?ng and only front setbacks ﬁrst? Should the bylaw group priori?ze vs trying to get it all done at one Town Mee?ng? Priori?zing setback trees and large old trees? Town Mee?ng can pass a bylaw, but that does not mean that the Town can do it ﬁscally or organiza?onally. If needs exceed $$, there would need to be an override called by the SB. Is there enough support for this? There is much educa?on and networking to be done. We need to work with other sustainability groups, coordinate with DPW, expand public educa?on. The issue of seeking DPW approval was discussed. At next mee?ng, more details will be presented, looking for a statement of support before beginning to dialogue with other groups and the community. 7. Discussion of Pat and Mark’s le?er to the Town Manager (reques?ng he set up a working group as suggested in item 5 of the Tree Statement of Concern) and his reply. TM wants to meet with SB before establishing the group. He also wants to work on a complaint he has received. The SB mee?ng will happen some?me in August. Joe men?oned that more info about the structure of the group, the skills needed, and goals would be helpful to the SB. He suggested a group of 3-5 might be most eﬀec?ve. 8. Regula?ons about site plan review are being reviewed by Planning Board who meets next Wed.