HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-04-08-TREE-min
Lexington Town Tree Committee
Lexington, Massachusetts, April 8, 2004
Minutes of the Meeting
Meeting opened at 7:30 a.m. Attendance: John Frey, Dave Pinsonneault, Jim Jones, Anne Senning, Nell Walker,
Jim Wood, and Karen Longeteig. In the absence, due to illness, of Secretary Susan Solomon, Karen Longeteig
volunteered to take the minutes. The Committee sends best wishes for improved health to Susan.
1. Minutes of the previous meeting of March 11, 2004, were approved.
2. Applications for tree removals: Dave reported that under the By-law, to date there have been 172 cases, of
which 82 are closed.
3. Tree removal application at 511 Lowell St: Dave posted notice of hearing in the Minuteman, as required.
He said it is a case of two oaks close to the street that the property owner wants to remove to improve sight-
line in exiting the driveway. The trees are healthy; he is not inclined to approve; the hearing will take place
on site on 4/12.
4. Tree City USA: Dave and Anne are still planning to go on 4/16 to Plymouth.
Fines under Article 34: The Town Meeting has approved the final version of the Tree By-law unanimously.
Dave was asked and agreed to keep track of fines.
5. Tree Removal application fee: A TM member has suggested that the Town charge a fee for applications to
remove trees. Discussion ensued on how much of the Tree Warden’s time an application and site visit
takes, and any such fee relative to a building permit fee already levied. Dave noted that most builders are
cooperative with him, and he would not like to spoil this relationship by harassing them with a fee. Any
money collected would probably go into general Town funds, not Tree funds. The committee suggested
that Dave estimate the time/cost relationship and report back at the next meeting. John will tell the
Selectmen that we are working on a recommendation.
6. Memorial Tree Fund draft brochure review: Anne had researched the Mass State program of enabling
funeral home directors to suggest and collect donations for trees in lieu of flowers. The money goes to the
State and comes back to the specified Town in Re-Leaf Grants. It is a separate program which could be
done alongside our own memorial tree program. Anne agreed to give this information to Douglas Funeral
Home. Several changes to the text of the draft brochure were agreed. Karen will put final version on disc.
Anne and Karen will comparison-shop printing prices at Sir Speedy, Wales, and Arlington Swifty Printing.
We will ask for prices for 1000 copies, full color, brochure paper. When we get estimates, we will try to
figure out how to pay for it.
7. Brookhaven, Met State and Raytheon projects -- Protecting trees: Jim Wood suggested a strategic emphasis
for the letters spoken of in last month’s minutes – that they be directed to the Board of Appeals, asking
Appeals to require of the developers the production of Specimen Tree Protection and Re-planting Plans, to
be delivered to the Tree Committee. (Copies of this letter would be sent to the developers.) This would
require a separate letter for each project. John agreed to work on it.
8. Inventory strategies: The DEM, Urban & Community Forestry, has grants available for up to $10,000 for
educational purposes. Tree inventories might fall into that category. Dave left an application form with Jim
Wood, our grants wizard.
Anne has been to a GIS workshop on watersheds and community forestry at UMass. She described their
standard software, “ArcView”, in which layers of data can be added to a map. This brought up two questions:
(1) what data we really require, and (2) who would keep the data, and where? (Town computer facilities may
not be adequate.) We discussed and listed the data we want:
Inventory limited to only street trees and protected trees
o
Location (“address”) and layout (in relation to curb and other utilities)
o
Gaps (planting opportunities)
o
Species
o
Size, both DBH and height
o
Condition (excellent, good, poor)
o
Last pruning date, by whom
o
Utility locations (overhead or underneath)
o
The latter two are DPW considerations which could help our “usefulness” argument for requesting the
inventory.
Anne will talk to Connie Rawson of the Town MIS (Management Information System) about possible ‘homes’
for the data. Karen will talk to Stephen Ervin, a computer specialist and landscape architect at GSD, as to
whether and when he could come to a committee meeting to talk to us about data collection and storage.
10. Citizen Forester items. Postponed to next meeting.
11. Other business: Money has been released by the State for Rindge Park, and the trees have been ordered.
Jim Wood reported that the grant was a little short, as it was limited to $200 per tree. The Town needs to come
up with $790 to finish buying the trees; Jim has apprised the Town Manager of this need. Worthen Road has
experienced loss of several street trees, and fortunately the Lincoln Park SubCommittee has some money to
replace trees in the gaps and even further back into the woods. Nell distributed a handsome planting plan.
12. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 am.
Respectfully submitted, Karen Longeteig, Secretary pro-tem
Next regular meeting on May 13th, 2004, at 7:30 a.m. in Room 111, Town Office Building.