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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-12-09-TREE-min Lexington Tree Committee Town of Lexington, Massachusetts 201 Bedford Street, Samuel Hadley Public Services Building, Room 125 Minutes, Meeting of December 9, 2010 meeting opened The at 7:40 a.m. Attendees: John Frey (Chairman), Gerry Paul, Karen Longeteig, Anne Senning, Nell Walker, Jim Wood, and Jewel Kuljian. David Pinsonneault (Tree Warden), Deb Mauger (Selectman’s liaison), and Jane Beswick (Friends of Trees) also attended. Karen Longeteig took her turn as scribe. Minutes of the November 4th meeting were approved with a few corrections (“Bob”, not “Marjorie” Esselen) and the notation of two attachments. Also added at the end was the boiler-plate, “No remote participation and no audio recording at the meeting.” Tree Warden's agenda items: David Pinsonneault Dave announced that he has been promoted to DPW’s Manager of Operations th as of January 10. A stunned Tree Committee congratulated him and expressed great appreciation for his work since our formation in October, 2001. Dave will be covering both positions until his successor can be hired. Jim moved that John Frey should email Town Manager Carl Valente and the Board of Selectmen to report our unanimous desire that they fill the position as quickly as reasonably possible. Carried. removal activity a) Tree under the Bylaw since 10-01-01: 737 sites/616 closed; 2236 trees to be planted/1461 planted; 927 trees to be removed/733 removed. Fees levied for removal of trees, and collected under regulation of 8-4-08, are $30,500 (from 3050 DBH inches of trees removed). It continues to be a well-received process. DCR Grant b) application: no word yet whether granted or not. Inventory c) : John, Anne, and Nell finished up the year’s efforts by entering the trees planted in summer 2010. They used paper forms because the hand-held had frozen, but Judy Seppala from MIS later fixed the device. Amendment of Tree Bylaw d) : this warrant article, if passed, would remove Tree Bylaw Section 120-IV, B, including parts 1-4, which is the clause on “non-applicability” of the Tree Bylaw to commercial projects coming under purview of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). Explanation: When a parcel is re-zoned for a commercial project, the developers can ask that all zoning bylaws be ignored. However, a Town’s General Bylaws, such as the Tree Bylaw, must be observed. Our article, by revoking the non-applicability, would thus require Tree Warden/Tree Committee review and approval of tree plans for commercial projects. To get other committee support for our initiative, Gerry and John met with the ZBA and the Planning Board. Part (b) of the draft article addressed the percentage of large sites to be covered by the Bylaw, but so far we lack a reliable and fair formula. Anne moved that we put forward to Town Meeting only Part (a) of the draft Article. Carried. Planting Protocolexperiment e) Tree and Mass Ave tree planting : Gerry and Jim, with Dave’s approval, conducted this experiment in planting methods: will trees survive in a tough 33”-wide berm, if planted with new protocol methods including watering tubes? They planted two ‘Redmond’ American Lindens in November. Dave had one addition to the Tree Planting Draft Protocol: under ‘Planting Methodology Considerations, he would like to add “Locations and species approved in advance”. He would also like to run it by his crew members for their input. The only other substantive change to this attachment would be the revision of the last sentence to read, “Anne Senning and Jim Wood’s partial survey of trees planted in 2010 showed that one-third to one-half are struggling.” Dave said we may want to reduce the number of nursery trees planted out every year from 120 to 60, since planting places may be in short supply, if wider berms are to be required. Gerry urged the committee to expeditiously develop its off-berm tree planting protocol to take care of excess trees. Jim noted that after examining the Linden root balls, it appears that all trees planted in Nursery in 2007 need to be transplanted out next season. f) Dave will work with John on the final version of the Annual Report. He will reapply for Tree City status by end of December. The standard “Tree City USA” signs are really big, so Dave may get his own made to be more manageable. The Battle Green meeting is tonight; the draft Master Plan has been placed on the Town website’s “Tourism” link. Dave said we should incorporate planting plans and standards, and review the draft for objections. The final plan will go to the Board of Selectmen in January. So far it looks like it may meet our approval. Friends of Trees: it was noted that a very large White Pine at Minuteman Tech would be a candidate for Distinctive Tree nomination. The meeting closed at 9:10 a.m. for the annual photo of the Committee, taken by David Tabeling. There was no remote participation and no audio recording at the meeting. Respectfully submitted, Karen Longeteig Next regular meeting: January 6th, 2011, 7:30 a.m. at DPW. [NOTE: First Thursday of the month, not the second Thursday.] The Agenda will include further discussion of the planting protocol.