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Town of Lexington, Massachusetts
<br />Lexington Tree Committee
<br />Minutes of September 8, 2011
<br />A meeting of the Lexington Tree Committee was held on September 8, 2011, 7:30 -9:10 a.m. at the Samuel
<br />Hadley Public Services Building, Room 125. A quorum of five was present.
<br />Members Present: John Frey (chair), Jewel Kulj ian, Deborah Mauger (Selectman Liaison), Gerry Paul, Anne
<br />Senning, Karen Longeteig. Friends of Trees: Jane Beswick. Members Absent: Nell Walker, James Wood.
<br />Tree Warden Chris Filadora was on vacation, and Operations Supervisor Dave Pinsonneault was caught in
<br />the press of DPW business, filling in for other absent employees, and was unable to attend.
<br />The meeting acted on the following items:
<br />1. Scribe /Minutes: Karen Longeteig was appointed as scribe, and the minutes of August 11, 2011, were
<br />approved with two minor corrections.
<br />2. Tree Warden items
<br />2a. Bylaw report: postponed.
<br />2b. Nursery: Brush cutter status: postponed.
<br />Work days: Anne Senning reported that we need to finish tagging and assigning addresses to trees, ASAP,
<br />as the DPW crew wants to plant next week. She has made a notebook of the trees to be outplanted including
<br />trees delayed from the spring. [She will review with Dave /Chris the omission of tree #27 on that list, to be
<br />planted at Waltham/Bushnell, as the committee has been anticipating seeing a tree there for about four
<br />years.] The potential planting areas are mostly east of Lowell Street.
<br />Two major tasks were scheduled:
<br />• Hang tags on 70 to 80 nursery trees (tags are ready; waiting for the wire).
<br />• Assign these trees to specific street addresses.
<br />• Saturday, 9/10/11, 2:00 pm at Nursery, John, Jewel, Karen & Anne, tag trees
<br />• Monday, 9/12/11, 9:00 a.m. at DPW, Karen, John, Anne, assign addresses
<br />• Tuesday, 9/13/11, 9:45 a.m. at Nursery, Gerry, John, ??
<br />• Thursday, 9/15/11, 9:00 a.m., clean up whatever Outplanting tasks are left.
<br />It was noted that the nursery has been nicely mowed. Only one tree was destroyed in the hurricane. The
<br />work on the water mains and the row valves might be able to be folded into the above dates.
<br />Weed - barrier work was scheduled for Friday, 9/16/11, by Jane, John, Anne, Gerry and maybe
<br />Jewel and Karen.
<br />2c. Inventory: work dates for inventorying more tree planting locations were not set.
<br />2d. Builder adherence to Tree Bylaw: Gerry Paul reported on the review of two sites in his neighborhood
<br />undertaken by himself and Karen Longeteig. There were big discrepancies between the applications for
<br />removal and the works actually done. We need to consult Dave /Chris about this, and resolve two important
<br />questions:
<br />• Who closes a site — the building inspector, or the tree warden? How can occupancy
<br />permit be obtained if owner has not fulfilled requirements for planting?
<br />• Why was there such a disparity between the grossly underestimated application and
<br />the execution at 50 Slocum Road, which was clear -cut?
<br />On a related note, Gerry would like to see if the Building Department keeps a chronological file of tree
<br />removal applications that we can review periodically, and drive by the sites to see if conditions were "as
<br />approved ". As the Tree Committee members act as guardians of Lexington trees, we would also benefit
<br />from routine emails telling us addresses of hazard trees to be removed. At the least, it would save us phone
<br />calls to DPW when we see a tree coming down. Could a DPW employee be tasked with this? Deb Mauger
<br />will help us try to work this out.
<br />2e. Tree watering list: Anne will ask Dave /Chris who will water the newly planted trees.
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