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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-07-11-TREE-minTown of Lexington Lexington Tree Committee Minutes July 11, 2013 A meeting of the Lexington Tree Committee was held on July 11, 2013, beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the Samuel Hadley Public Services Building, Room 125. A quorum of four was present. Members Present: Chris Filadoro, (Superintendent of Public Grounds, Tree Warden), Anne Senning(Designated Chair), Jewel Kuljian, Gerry Paul, Jim Wood. Members Absent: John Frey(Chair), Karen Longeteig, Nell Walker, Deborah Mauger(Selectman Liaison). Also absent Jane Beswick(Friends of Trees) Guests: Lisah Rhodes and Peggy Enders of the League of Women Voters. Jewel Kuljian was appointed as scribe and the minutes of the June 13th meeting were approved as amended. 2. Bylaw Tree removal applications and activity Submitted after the June 13th meeting and attached to minutes of same date. The meeting addressed the following items: 3 a. Status Report of the spring 2013 tree planting program Chris reported that 50 of the trees have been planted(of a total 85 originally planned). The hot weather and the staff shortage has slowed the process. Chris reported he will complete the planting during the summer. The water truck is going out daily to water new street trees. Chris now has clearance to hire two more staff members. The two positions will be advertised internally, in outside periodicals, and professional organizations. Chris also reported that the traffic island maintained by the LFGC at the juncture of Worthen Rd and Waltham St. is to be eliminated. The two trees on the island have been moved, one to Hosmer House and the other to Park Drive at the Center Fields Playground with the assistance of Matt Foti. Also covered under this item, Jim will place the order today from Schichtel's Nursery for the 50 bareroot trees for fall planting as approved by Chris at this meeting. The roots will be 2'x4', 15 "deep. Delivery will be during the last two weeks of October or the first week of November. Cost is $5,700 to $6,000 depending on the number of other deliveries prior to arrival in Lexington. Pre - planning will take place for this new process. Those trees not planted in the fall will be heeled in /planted at the nursery. Jewel will submit an article to the Minuteman for the public to request setback and /or street trees(early Sept.) for the late fall planting(no limit on number of trees per request). Jim has some tree requests to forward to Chris /Jewel. 3b. Evaluation of spring 2013 tree planting program discussion took place regarding this item during the latter part of the meeting including the step by step process. Some of the key points: Town of Lexington Lexington Tree Committee Minutes July 11, 2013 1)Of the 85 trees processed many more were setback trees than street trees, with many street tree requests turning out to be setback trees. 2)Season began with the complication of assessing all the trees in the nursery for girdling roots and composting those not able to be planted. Tree Committee members and Forestry Staff worked together. Strategy of planting as many of the remaining viable trees worked well. Residents declined Oak species except for Red Oaks. 3)Tagging process this season more time consuming. Permanent tags came off the trees and not salvageable. Identifying FID #s time consuming. New type of permanent tags ordered work well but are probably too expensive. Second set of temporary tags (ye IIow/setback and red /street) identifies site address /nursery location for staff doing the planting. Both tags needed. 4)Not enough trees were planted prior to the onset of very hot weather consequently they are planted later than planned. More Forestry staff could have helped this situation. 5)Anne and Jewel feel they cannot process the number of requests they did this spring and have agreed to do 15 requests in the fall(each varies in the number of trees, as appropriate). 6)lt was suggested that dead street trees could be identified needing replacement for fall. The use of the Tree Inventory could be utilized to locate other tree locations with one of the Forestry staff contacting the resident to make sure the homeowner would like to have a tree. In general an increase in DPW staff participation in this process is desired. Gerry has agreed to make the maps and Jim to do the Dig Safe. The Dig Safe process worked very well. Julie LaFlamme was extremely helpful to all. Fall will be a very different planning /planting process with some tasks the same but under different conditions. Attempting to simplify a complicated process is not always easy and requires careful teamwork. 3c. Changes to make for fall 2013 tree planting. A separate meeting will be scheduled. 3d. Tree nursery planning discussion. The Tree Nursery will need to be reconfigured /existing trees to be listed by location and tagged. Currently, Jim plans to repair two of the water lines and ask Barbara Kent to turn on /off the water. A work day also needs to be scheduled in the fall. 4a 8 AM: Lexington Healthy Community Project Guests, Lisah Rhodes and Peggy Enders Gerry Paul invited Lisah and Peggy to discuss their proposal to devote one of the LWV First Friday meetings to the subject of trees. The meeting would be held at Cary Memorial Library(large meeting room) on Friday, October 4, 2013 from 7 -9pm. A motivation for the meeting was the number of trees cut down by citizens in situations in which the tree bylaw does not apply and the tree removal may be not be necessary -- for example, when pruning might be more appropriate. The belief was that this might be mitigated by better community awareness /education. The panel would include: Gerry Paul from the Tree Committee and as a Town Meeting member, Chris Filadoro as the Superintendent of Public Grounds, a Selectmen's representative(Peter Kelly was suggested) and someone from the Conservation Commission (Duke Bitsko was suggested). It was suggested that Matt Foti and /or John Marquis be in the audience if possible. A question and answer period follows the presentation by the panelists. Town of Lexington Lexington Tree Committee Minutes July 11, 2013 Jewel suggested that the LFGC be informed about this event as this organization's Preamble to the Constitution of 1876 includes the importance of the care, protection, and planting of trees. 4b Lexington Healthy Communities Project Gerry updated the committee on the Lexington Healthy Communities Project funded by the Lahey Clinic. They are inviting input on how to use a grant which starts in October. Ideas discussed were: • Encourage neighborhood tree planning /planting groups (builds community as well as yields benefits of trees that are planted as a result). Possible coordination through neighborhood associations, town meeting members in each precinct, other volunteers, contract coordinators. • Participate in an education series (both educates public and town government and gives credibility to the importance of trees to healthy communities) • Discuss importance of trees in Lexington Healthy Communities Project reports /presentations (gives credibility to importance of trees to individuals and town government decision makers). 5. Should there be a police guard for tree planting on or near street? Forestry Department, Tree Warden's discretion on this issue, voted by Tree Committee. Minimum of 4 hours is required at $40. per hour. 6. LFGC Check for $1500 received and deposited in the Tree Fund account by Lynne Pease. Jewel circulated two cards for signatures to thank the incoming President Susan Spicer, and outgoing president Ann Webster for their generous contribution, including names of all Tree Committee members and Chris Filadoro. 7. Questionable condition of one commemorative (Mayo) Tulip Tree in LincolnPark The runoff from the drain on the artificial play field has damaged the tree(lost leaves and leaning). John marked a site for a new tree about 30' away. All in favor of purchasing a new tree from the Tree Fund and suggest that Jane work with Chris and John to implement this next spring. 8. Nancy Corcoran Ronchetti appointed new Planning Board liaison to the Tree Committee. To be added to email notices of meeting dates and agenda items. Meeting adjourned. Next regular meeting is scheduled for August 8, 7:30a.m. at DPW, 201 Bedford Street, Room 125.