HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-05-11-TREE-min
Minutes of Lexington Tree Committee
Thursday, May 11, 2017 7:30 – 9:00am
Samuel Hadley Public Service Building, Room 125
Members Present: John Frey (Chair), Anne Senning, Jim Wood, Karen Longetieg, Chris Filadoro
(Superintendent of Public Grounds) Invited guest, Elaine Quinlan
The meeting acted on the following items:
1.Jim Wood was appointed scribe. The minutes of May 11, 2017 were approved.
2.No update was available for Bylaw Tree Removal applications and activity.
3.The Tree Warden, Chris Filadoro said we should start planting around May 15, 2017. Since we
have gone to B&B trees instead of Bareroot there was a small increase in price. DPW will handle
Dig Safe calls from this point. Approximately 35K has been spent from the Tree Fund, leaving
about 5K. Chris raised the question of whether or not we should go with B&B or Bareroot in the
future.
4.Arbor Day had two celebrations, Chris Filadoro, recommended that we have only one celebration
and expressed frustration that both were not held on Arbor Day. Our Lexington Garden Club
joined the one held at Cotton Farm. DPW celebrated Arbor Day by planting two trees. Chris
would like the Garden Club and DPW to take ownership of future celebrations, and he will initiate
this conversation with the Garden Club.
5.The official hearing on the Watertown Street Tree concluded there was no reason to remove the
tree. Greg Shenstone asked the Tree Committee to save tree roots when sidewalks are done. Chris
Filadoro was comfortable with planting squares, but the number and places for them have not been
decided. Silva cells were broached as another solution. \[The use of Silva cells or tree vaults was
discussed in the context of new plantings in sidewalks, not related to sidewalk installation around
the existing Watertown Street tree.\]
6.Tree Manual: Anne Senning suggested we change the name of our manual to “Tree Manual”
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which was agreed to by the Tree Committee. The 4 manual will be a hybrid of paper and online
references allowing more information with less paper. Re Page 3, page numbers in the manual
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may change and the wording for Publisher of the 4 edition, should be shown as the “Town of
Lexington”. Anne Senning also moved that pages 1-4 be approved as amended. Motion was
passed unanimously.
7.Commemorative Tree Program: The Tree Committee web page already lists Chris Filadoro as the
contact person, so no changes are necessary.
Tree Committee meeting was concluded at approximately 9:00am.
Jim Wood