HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-10-14-TREE-min RECEIVED
2021 23 IIMov, 2A,7 IpuiT°m
TOWN CLERK
Tree Committee Minutes of October 14, 2021 LEXINGTON MA
Tree Committee Members Present: Gerry Paul, Gloria Bloom,James Wood, Mark Connor,
Marty Kvaal, Nancy Sofen, Pat Moyer
Mark Sandeen (Select Board Liaison); DPW: Dave Pinsonneault, Marc Valenti; Charlie Wyman
(Sustainable Lexington/Lexington Living Landscapes), Barbara Tarrh
1. Appoint Jim Wood scribe. Approval of the Sept 9, 2021 minutes were deferred.
2. Fall Planting— bid is in process
3. Tree Inventory Status-Arbor Pro has finished, final report in December
4. Tree Canopy Assessment - Ongoing, looking for 2021 LIDAR data
5. Battle Green Replacement Trees-Planting will take place after Patriots Day, species are
being reviewed. Recommendations will go to the Select Board for approval.
6. Article 33 Viewpoint Implementation — IT person not available
7. 2022 Annual Town Meeting-Additional Staff PIR-Job Description-Dave Pinsonneault said
it would be an Assistant to the Public Grounds Superintendent, including street lights,
Forestry, Parks, Cemetery. Being a certified arborist is not a job requirement, however
certifications in any of the fields covered by Public Grounds would be a plus.
8. Budget Amendment-We discussed whether a budget amendment should be made at
Fall Town Meeting to get things moving with Article 33 implementation. Dave
Pinsonneault said this should be discussed with the Town Manager,Jim Malloy
9. Annual Town Meeting Article -Tree Removal Company License Permit-Article 33 last
spring dropped the recommendation that homeowners notify the Town before cutting.
The proposed article would require tree companies to report after cutting trees.
10. Bylaw Enforcement - Marc Valenti said Chris had not yet investigated bylaw
enforcement on past building permits. DPW is planning a closed meeting at 201
Bedford Street within the next two weeks regarding the new bylaws with builders that
work in Lexington. Valenti said we are enforcing the new bylaws but it takes a lot of
time to educate the builders. Permits are not issued if the bylaw information is not
provided by the builder. Discussion ensued about what information is currently available
and how trees are protected in the setback when the house foundations are close to the
setback area. Gerry and Nancy reported on briefings with Select Board members (see
briefing slide below).
11. Summit Road Historic District Designation -Are we in favor of a Mount Independence
Local Historic District. 12 Summit Road would be included in this district.
Motion: The Tree Committee supports the creation of the Mount Independence Historic
District. PASSED
12. Moving of Hosmer house to 41 Hancock Street-Tree Removals. General discussion
ensued on whether the moving plan should include the protection of existing trees.
Motion: If the Hosmer house is moved to 41 Hancock St. the Tree Committee
recommends keeping significant trees on the property and protecting them during the
move. PASSED
13. We discussed how to streamline the process of the Tree Committee voting to authorize
co-sponsorship activities of Lexington Living Landscapes in a timely manner and moved
the following motion.
Motion: The Tree Committee authorizes the Chair to authorize co-sponsorship by the
Tree Committee of Lexington Living Landscapes activities to promote more sustainable
landscapes including fewer pesticides and more tree plants. PASSED
Respectively submitted,
James C. Wood
Tree Bylaw Enforcement Findings
While studying 2019 and 2020 tree bylaw activity to better craft for optimal implementation the 2021 ATM articles amending Tree
Bylaw,we discovered
• Sites where builders claimed no trees were to be removed were signed off for certificate of occupancy without a site visit to confirm
that claim was true.
• Mitigation provision of bylaw not applied to sites where trees were removed prior to demolition permit application.
• Builders were not required to pay mitigation fees that reflected the doubling of replacement inches instituted in 2017 for trees larger
than or equal to 24" DBH.
• Irregular and infrequent enforcement of protection provisions for trees remaining on site.
• The Town's online tree removal permitting system does not include in its calculations the extra mitigation required for large trees,or
the extra credit given for replanting large shade tree species.
As a result,in 2019 and the first half of 2020 alone
• We identified 481"of removed protected trees that were unmitigated.
• The incentives to save large trees and to replant with large tree species were reduced.
• Some remaining large trees that had not been properly protected from damage during construction later went into decline or died and
were removed.
• The Town did not collect$3,480 in potential permit fees and$46,300 in payments to the Tree Fund from just 3 sites.
Conversations between the Tree Committee and the DPW have led to
• A commitment by DPW to remedy lack of enforcement
• Continued concerns by Tree Committee about pace of implementation of existing bylaw and new bylaw changes