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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-06-11-TREE-min Lexington Tree Committee Town of Lexington, Massachusetts Minutes, Meeting of June 11, 2009 meeting opened 1. The at 7:40 a.m. Attendees: John Frey, Chairman, Gerry Paul, Karen Longeteig, Anne Senning, Nell Walker, Jim Wood, David Pinsonneault, Jeanne Krieger, and Jewel Kuljian. Karen Longeteig volunteered to be scribe in Jewel’s absence (she arrived later). Guests: Interns Fred MacDonald and Yianni Laskaris attended part of the meeting. Dawn McKenna attended later. Items taken up, in agenda order: 1. Minutes of the May 2009 meeting were approved with one correction. 2. Tree Warden's agenda items: David Pinsonneault removal activity a). Tree under the Bylaw since 10-01-01: 643 sites/516 closed; 1937 trees to be planted/1226 planted; 799 trees to be removed/593 removed. Fees levied for removal of trees, and collected under regulation of 8-4-08, are $11,660 (from 1,166 inches of trees removed). b) Tree Nursery. Jim reported that mowing of the grass lanes between the trees has started and st is 85% done. From the 1 year’s planting, 12 of 20 Scarlet Oaks have survived. The Sourwoods look bad, but the Chestnut Oaks have a few leaf buds. Plastic trunk protectors are on all stock now. Some staking is needed, as is further nursery maintenance of lanes. c) Tree inventory 2009 update. Interns Fred MacDonald and Yianni Laskaris were recognized th and thanked by the Committee. They will work until June 30, and will also do some documentation. They made operable a couple of our aging hand-held computers (loaners from Urban Ecology Institute). Dave is looking at trying to purchase 1 new one. A few more volunteers would be helpful for tree inventory and for locating future planting areas for maturing trees in the Nursery. Anne gave a presentation on the Inventory to the League of Women Voters 6/5/09. Total trees inventoried so far is close to 5,800, of which 1100 have been done this year so far, or about 60% of the Town. We don’t have loadable maps for some parts of the Town, such as northwest of 128. This year we expect to finish all the maps we have. Anne has mentioned this to Peter Karalexis in the engineering department. d) Belfry Hill status. On Saturday May 16 five volunteers (John, Karen, Anne, Gerry, and Jane Beswick) helped clean up trash and remove invasive plants. The Swamp White Oaks died already – they were possibly too large, as watering is not in the contract. Buckthorn on top of hill was lopped and treated with re-growth inhibitor. We need at least one more cleanup day, as only about 1/3 of the Norway Maple seedlings have been pulled. Date will be set at next TC meeting. e) Spring planting of the second tranche of 35 street trees will take place before the end of the month (Dave) and Matt Foti’s 4 donated trees will be planted next week. The 35 will be planted with in-house labor in order to maximize the number of trees. The Lexington Field & Garden Club would like to finalize the donation of the sourwood for Depot Square, and Jewel Kuljian offered to do the research on availability in the nurseries. f) Woburn St. tree hearing (2 trees). Removal of the Norway maple and elm were approved by the Selectmen and they will be replaced with 5 new trees. Other plantings were not part of the sidewalk contract, which was negotiated a few years ago. g) Tree Manual status. It is on disk and ready to go; we plan to get 400 printed (versus 1000 last time, of which 600 are left). Sir Speedy is revising the estimate. h) Battle Green master plan: Dawn McKenna, the head of the Tourism Committee, visited the TC meeting to explain the Master Plan project. She distributed an informational sheet and a questionnaire. She had large photomaps showing the boundaries of the Green as a National Historic Landmark (1961) and as a National Registered Historic District (1976). Neither include the Belfry. Dave, John, and Gerry have been attending the Battle Green meetings. Dawn emphasized the purpose of this exercise is to (a) define what is included in the Master Plan, and (b) develop a long-term vision of what we want 50 years from now. Gerry, speaking for the committee which has discussed this previously, said that the TC unanimously supports the concept of a perimeter of trees around the green. We volunteered to come up with any long-term plan necessary for trees. After the area is defined, we can offer more specific planting standards, including a list of desirable species. He also noted that many think the definition of the Green as “a cemetery” is misleading; only one small part of the Green (under the Obelisk) contains graves. We also noted the unsuitability of the Colorado Blue Spruce and of the large utility box it partially hides. Dawn said one of her goals is to avoid haphazard planting, especially of commemorative trees. The process will be to ask Selectmen approval to engage a Master Planner, whose work will then go through Town informational meetings and eventually land on the Selectmen’s desk, after which the Town Meeting would have to approve it. The next meeting of the BGMP is at 4:30 PM, Tuesday 6/16/09). i) Health of trees planted last fall: it was noted that some were planted rather late, and a few are suffering because of it. DPW will water all new trees from last fall and this spring; the watering truck is operable. j) One Elm near the Depot (on Historical Society property) is leaning; perhaps it was pushed. Dave will ask Matt Foti to have a look at it. k) Off-berm planting status: Dave said that Town Counsel still has this under consideration. Other: two nice-sized trees were planted in front of the new condominiums (former Battle Green Inn), in structural soil. Dave said that the builders were given the soil detail spec and followed it. 3 Friends of Trees. Nothing to report. 4. Web site update. It has been recently updated with Winter Moth information. Meeting closed at 9:35 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Longeteig Next regular meeting: July 9, 2009, 7:30 a.m. in Room 111.