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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-10-09-TREE-min Lexington Tree Committee Minutes 10.9.25 1. Meeting called to order at 7:31 AM on Zoom. Present were Gavin Grant, Rachel Summers, Barbara Tarrh, Nancy Sofen, Pat Moyer, chair and minutes (members), and associate members Ben Fein-Cole and Alicia Morris. SB member Joe Pato also present. Meeting held by Zoom. 2. Minutes of 9.4.25 approved unanimously. 3. 3 who attended the Committee Day hosted by the SB reviewed [earnings. Open Meeting Law details remain a bit unclear to us. The gist of the law is that we should not form/state/argue opinions outside of a regularly scheduled meeting. Whether a small subcommittee (2?) can do so is unclear and Joe will research and let us know. A quorum of our meeting is 3 people at present. A member and an associate member(non-voting) can meet and discuss together. The need and value of all to be heard was emphasized at the Committee Day. Only items on the written and posted agenda can be discussed during our monthly meetings. New business brought up at a current meeting, and not on the agenda, must be taken up at a subsequent meeting. 4. Gavin polled us on precedents and planning for the fifth grade graduation tree giveaway. About 180 kids from Harrington and Bowman got trees this year. They were one gallon trees ordered, paid for, stored and delivered by DPW staff. Barbara did the labor of sorting by species.We ordered from American Native Plants with a cost of about$10/tree, per Gavin. If DPW ok with continuing to purchase, we felt generally we could underwrite an expansion to another school. 5. We reviewed our presence at the 10/4 E. Village Fair. Though attendance at our table was down some, there were some valuable interactions—we'll keep going. 6. Nancy reviewed her work with Joel and Chris on the Large Shade Tree List, available in the Tree Management manual. This is the list from which developers can pick trees to plant during their landscaping. Chris agreed to leave Arborvitae off the list. Joel suggested the Freeman Maple and we agreed unanimously . We debated Nancy's suggestion of the London Plane Tree at some length and there was a 3-2 vote against current inclusion. No columnar varieties get on this list. All the Tree Management Manual tree lists need editing. A subcommittee of Nancy, Pat, Gavin, Barbara, Rachel and Barbara will review; Nancy to chair. Tues.AM after 9 was best time for all. Nancy reviewed updates in the regs decided upon with Chris and Joel. Improvements on Figure 13 (demo of tree fencing, and sign with stronger wording), a clearer form for the arborist attestations—what trees are hazard trees, and an affirmation that tree protections have been seen and are correctly in place, and a current list of our members were agreed upon 5-0 and will now go before the Select Board. 7. Barbara reviewed the fall planting, which is almost done. Forestry had difficulty finding sites and requests our help. They ran out of residential sites.We discussed how we could help. Two concretes: Barbara, Gavin, Nancy and Rachel will form a subcommittee to design door hangers which we can all use in various neighborhoods which look like they need trees. Rachel will use her social media skills with LexCAN and the Garden club. Barbara will engage IT. (?Julia)to prepare a demo of the use of Jotform specifically for Forestry. Someone suggested using the Tree Inventory, and plant where stumps are noted. (Not clear if anyone took this on). 8. Nancy reported Planning Board continues to work on updating their regulations regarding tree planting on some of the MBTA and Town sites. 9. Ben, Barbara and Joel Custance will have input into what trees to offer in our 250th second giveaway. 10.We are down 2 full members.Alicia has applied for one of those spots. We'll hear from the SB by the end of the month. Ben indicated he feels remaining an associate member is right for him at this time. If Alicia approved, we will need one full and one associate member. All agreed to recruit from their contacts. We concluded at 9:27 AM. Respectfully submitted, Patricia Moyer, chair and scribe.