HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-12-19-TREE-min Minutes
Lexington Tree Committee
12.19.24
1. Meeting called to order at 7:32 AM by Mark Connor, co-chair.
2. Those present: Mark Connor, co-chair, Nancy Sofen, Barbara Tarrh, Pat Moyer, co-chair
and minutes, Rachel Summers, Gerry Paul, Gavin Grant, all members:Joe Pato, ex-officio
(Select Board), Charlie Wyman, Barbara Katzenberg. Absent: Alicia Morris, associate
member.
3. Approval of minutes of 11/21 were tabled, as not all had read.
4. Minutes of May 7, and October 8, 2024, (held by the regulations subcommittee and
submitted by Nancy Sofen) were approved unanimously.
5. Dave Pinsonneault was unable to be with us. His comments to us, in answer to our
questions, came later in the day, and are appended below.
6. Spring, 2025 Planting Plans. Barbara and Gavin reported. Communication between
those two and Chris indicated that our help in at least some aspect of the planting
planning (ordering of trees from Shictel, and possibly also tree-siting), was quite possibly
unwanted. Joe Pato reminded us that we are an advisory committee. He will discuss this
situation with new Town Manager, Steve Bartha, after 1/1/25. Pat will discuss with Dave
P.
7. Barbara Katzenberg (citizen)joined us to suggest a possible 2501" project—finding trees
in town that may have been here since Revolutionary times, labelling them, and
publicizing them to townspeople and visitors next year. She alerted us to the Mass.
Legacy Tree Program. She shared photos of several trees in town that she believes fit
the bill. Committee was enthusiastic. Pat volunteered to work on this with Barbara.
8. We revived the tabled idea of thanking Chris Filadoro and Mike Cronin for their efforts to
guard and save trees during the two -year police station construction. A motion to do so
was passed unanimously, and Pat's draft, with one addition, was also accepted
unanimously. Pat will send the letters.
9. A subgroup of us (Barbara, Rachel, Nancy and Pat) have already agreed to form a
subcommittee to plan the receipt, care, dispersal, and publicity around making 250
saplings available to residents in celebration of the 2501h,. This subgroup will meet on
1/7/25. Pat has been in touch with Ashley Rooney, in charge of publicity for the event.
Ashley would like an article for the February Lexington Times, as a start; Pat will write
and send to Ashley before the end of the year.
10. We discussed the Wood St. (Town) sidewalk project. Nancy and Barbara have been
following this. Town project to add a sidewalk to one side of the street, possibly widen
the street for a safe bike corridor. Many bikers use this street. Probably 100 trees are at
risk of being cut down. Monitoring will continue.
11. Nancy has been attending Planning Board meetings re: new construction in town. These
include 17 Hartwell and 175-185 Bedford. At Hartwell the Tree Bylaw will be waived and
Planning Board will administer its regulations. Mitigation has been met in the plans.
Bedford St. plans include Nancy's suggestions for natives. Militia Way (a potentially 300
unit building) is in the wings.
12. Nancy noted that we need a meeting with Chris and Dave to finalize the large shade tree
list.
13. We discussed the Bylaw Enforcement Working Group. It last met in late spring, and
interest by members of the group has flagged. Mark and Pat will write a report to
submit to the (new) town manager. We were reminded that observant citizens need to
be watchful about tree protections at all construction sites.
14. Rachel has been researching Miyawaki Forests with excitement and love. She shared her
presentation. Unofficially we are all in favor; Rachel will continue to look for site(s) on
public land, meeting with Dave P. and Mike Cronin.
15. Mark shared his frustration and eagerness (shared by all) to promote the planting of
large shade trees in Lexington, particularly along streets large and small.
A small amount of progress was made in this last (Fall 2024) planting (members have
noted some of our street tree sites getting planted in last few weeks.)
How can we move this along? Suggested were: a Tree Summit; a well-crafted pilot run
by us with DPW permission. Pat noted that some sort of tree summit (with relevant
local non-profit, town and community input) will be part of the Urban Forest Master
Plan, activity on which will likely begin late next spring. Pat and Mark will cogitate on a
pilot, and bring it back to us.
16. Motion to adjourn unanimously approved at 9:45 AM.
APPENDIX—NOTES FROM DAVE P.
a. Budget proposals-UFMG grant request—members concerned about making sure UFMG
grant funds are requested– I increased the revolving account request to account for the UFMP
funding. We are committed to developing the UFMP and there will be funds to proceed with or
without the grant.
b. Spring order from Schictel/tree committee input—Barbara and Gavin-- They should set
up a meeting in Late January.
C. 21 Crescent update–This project is still open
d. UVM update, if any. Still no response from UVM. We will give them until the end of
January to respond and then we will look at other options.
e. Follow up on tilia/nyssa mix-up. This should be all set but I will follow-up next week.
f. How will builders/developers learn about new bylaw regs? The Tree Warden is informing
the developers/homeowners on site when a new permit application is received.
g. What do you think the best way is to jointly curate the large shade tree list? We should set
up a time to meet after the holidays with a small work group to discuss.
h. Where were this fall's planting sites? I'll send the list next week.
i. Tree-lined streets and dealing with sub-optimal sites. Would info from other towns be at all
useful to us? We can review as a reference.
j. If you have time, Rachel has a small slideshow about her current passion—Miyawaki
forests. Are there any town owned sites where we could try one? I will reach out to Rachel to
set up a time to meet to view the slideshow and see if there is anything we could do.
Pat Moyer,
Co-clerk