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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-12-TREE-rpt3Summary of the May 17, 2022 Meeting to Discuss the Tree Committee Report on Tree Bylaw Enforcement and the Use of the OpenGov DPW Tree Permit Dave’s responses to this meeting summary are in red (underlines added for black and white renderings) -------------------------------------------Meeting Summary---------------------------------------------- Attendees: Dave Pinsonneault, Nancy Sofen, Mark Connor, Gerry Paul, Mark Sandeen At the meeting, Dave’s responses to the report were as follows: • Did not dispute any facts in the report. Neither agreed nor disagreed with the contents of the report. • Noted that the Program Improvement Request in the 2023 budget planned for 2022 ATM for a Deputy Superintendent of Public Grounds was not brought forward by the Town Manager/Select Board but acknowledged that lack of this resource was not the cause of all the issues in our report. (In any case, even if approved, the resource would not have been available until after July 1, 2022). The lack of resources have not helped in the management of the bylaw and it does have an effect. • DPW is working with IT to develop a process that can track and accommodate tree removal applications at different stages of the project (demo, initiation of new construction, later in construction process, and multiple sequential tree removal permit applications). • The Town is conferring with town counsel about penalties for developers who flout bylaws (tree and others). • The DPW is conferring with town counsel about whether the Town can recover fees and mitigation payments after a permit is closed. • Did not explain why, for certain sites, the Tree Warden didn't require a permit even when the builder had specified that trees were to be removed. (#1) The Director was unaware of this requirement and it will be implemented moving forward. • Did not explain why the Tree Warden gave his approval to many demolition permits before certain steps in the Tree Permit were completed (#2). This was explained in that some builders remove the structures first without affecting the trees. The way the system works now id that the Tree Warden has to enter all zeros in order to generate a demo permit. A demo permit can be issued without trees being finalized. It was agreed that the system needs to have a place to reflect this and then the Tree Warden needs to enter the tree information once those discussions have taken place. As stated this can be after the demo permit is issued and the structure is removed. • Agreed that mistakes were made in assessing fees and mitigation payments (#3 & #4). As those sites are still open, he intends to try and collect the money owed. • Does not know the result of the Tree Warden’s conversations (which Dave committed would occur) with builders of 19 Locke Lane, 198 Bedford Street and 82 Spring Street who owed permit fees and mitigation payments from closed projects as discussed in our previous report. The Director is looking into this. • Stated that he would "agree to disagree" that anything was wrong in the execution of the enforcement of the bylaw -- or that the DPW had not followed through on commitments. • When false information has been provided by an applicant (#5), if the permit is still open the DPW will correct the situation. • Permit fees are sent to the building department for deposit; tree fund checks are deposited by DPW. (#6 & #7) • There was no explanation of why mitigation payments and fees have been waived (#8). The Director will look into this. • Agreed to: o Require developers who haven't submitted and completed Tree Permits to do so and to ensure that removed trees are documented, along with the amount of fees and required mitigation. o Expedite implementation of spreadsheet attachments to the Tree Permit. When Tim Goncalves, IT Director, and the Tree Committee decide that the spreadsheet is ready for release, Tim will train builders on how to use it. o Also agreed that this is still a work in progress and the goal is to put the systems in place to capture the information accurately. We need to move forward and work together.