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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-01-12-TREE-min Lexington Tree Committee Town of Lexington, Massachusetts 201 Bedford Street, Samuel Hadley Public Services Building, Room 125 Minutes, Meeting of January 12, 2017 Attendees: Nancy Sofen, Gerry Paul, Anne Senning, James Wood, John Frey (Chairman), Chris Filadoro (Tree Warden). Gerry Paul took his turn as scribe. 1. Approved last month's meeting minutes. 2. Tree removal activity – postponed. 3. Tree Management Manual update: Anne Senning reported that the new material is being integrated with the third edition for both a text and on-line fourth edition. 4. Fall tree planting - Chris will provide Anne with the locations where the 24 trees were planted. 5. Warrant article for Town meeting. Nancy submitted the warrant article. Remaining action items: -draft motion for Town meeting -review with Dave Pinsonneault -arrange for public hearing -get on agenda of Planning Board -develop distribution (histogram) of sizes of trees removed Also Nancy will respond to Keith Ohmart with a suggested question for the CLC candidate questionnaire. 6. Tree inventory - Chris will initiate a purchase order for David Rines next week. We also discussed the opportunity to integrate the proposed "tree risk assessment" program with the inventory. Anne will review the ISA risk assessment form and see if it can be used for David Rines' work. 7. Tree planting on Mass Ave between Percy and Bloomfield Streets - Chris has made numerous visits to the home owner on the corner of Mass Ave and Percy and concluded that he will not accept setback trees. Chris will meet with Dave Pinsonneault to determine how we can proceed to remove pavement squares for tree pits along this barren section of Mass Ave. Jim Wood that the cost noted cost of removing a pavement square is about $500 and can be funded by the Tree Fund. 8. Spring tree planting - Jim will propose tree species at the Feb. meeting. We had a healthy discussion about planting in drought conditions. Jim and Chris will also investigate methods for successful planting in drought conditions. Chris indicated he could plant and water 25-35 trees planted on Town land. We need to estimate the number of setback trees that could be planted for which the property owner would be responsible for watering. (see also next item). 9. Simplifying the setback planting process - Nancy suggested that with the use of a tablet and the Town on-line GIS it may be possible to eliminate the time consuming step of creating paper maps for each site. The url for the relevant site is : https://lexingtonma.mapgeo.io/?latlng=42.448081%2C-71.225088&zoom=13 Nancy will explore whether this approach is feasible and we will discuss at our next meeting. 10. Tree losses and damage from 2016 drought - Chris will obtain this information from Joel. 11. Turning Mill conservation district - postponed. 12. Pleasant street red tape bands on trees - Chris will get an update from John Livsey on the Pleasant Street sidewalk construction plans. 13. Scottish Rite Museum setback plantings - Jim, Nancy and John will walk the site after the meeting to identify planting locations. Next regular meeting: Feb 9, 7:30 a.m. at DPW.