HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-02-09-TREE-min
Town of Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington Tree Committee
Minutes of February 9, 2012
A meeting of the Lexington Tree Committee was held February 9, 2012, 7:30-9:45 a.m. at
the Samuel Hadley Public Services Building, Room 125. A quorum of seven was present.
Members Present: John Frey (chair), Jewel Kuljian, Gerry Paul, Anne Senning, Karen
Longeteig, Nell Walker, James Wood. Also the Public Grounds Supt. Chris Filadoro,
Friends of Trees Jane Beswick. Absent: Deb Mauger, Selectman Liaison
The Committee acted on the following items:
1.Scribe/Minutes:
Karen Longeteig was appointed as scribe. Minutes of the three
immediate past meetings – 1/12/12, 1/24/12 and 1/26/12 – were approved with minor
corrections.
2. Tree Warden items
Chris met with the Building Inspector, Gary Rhodes, and obtained agreement that the
Tree Warden will be included on the sign-off sheet for occupancy permits. This will
happen in about two months, when the present stock of forms is exhausted and re-printed.
The Tree Com members received this news with great enthusiasm, as it will further
facilitate compliance with the bylaw.
2a.Bylaw report
: Chris has negotiated an agreement for re-planting and mitigation for
the tree removals at 15 Slocum Road. The ten Webb Street site is closed; they have
accepted to replant four trees. Hazel Road is still open, but they at the moment are
cutting no more trees.
Bylaw Activity to 2/9/12: Cases closed 687, Trees Removed 852, Trees to be Planted
2551, and Trees Planted, 1810.
2b.Tree bylaw proposed changes:
The subcommittee members, Gerry and Jim, have
not met yet. They will do so and circulate a draft to the rest of the TC by email.
2c. Tree Management Manual updates
: Anne volunteered to be lead person, and John
and Nell will help. There are only 8 copies left of 2 nd edition.
Nursery
2d. : Jewel has reserved/yellow-tagged those trees with setback agreements
completed to date, for spring 2012 planting out. Chris will schedule start of street-side
planting for just after Patriots’ Day. He wants to purchase 25 to 35 Treegator bags to test
their efficacy. April 23 was set as possible date for take-out from nursery, with April 28
as date for in-planting. Chris noted that he may have to contract labor for one of the
street tree plantings this season.
Work date for nursery: February 14 th.
Jim spoke of an alternative planting process for the nursery. He thinks that girdling in the
bags is a problem serious enough to warrant discontinuing bags, and would instead
directly plant bare-root whips into the soil. To avoid taking out a lot of soil with each
tree harvested, he recommended getting a compressed air gun to blow all the soil off the
roots. The roots would then be dipped in hydrogel, then planted out. Chris pointed out
that it is easier to harvest trees in the bags. We reviewed our learning process since the
nursery began in 2007:
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Errors: i. Some trees left in bag too long (4 years)
ii. Did not differentiate between different growth rates of trees (i.e., some will be
harvested sooner than others).
iii. We ordered too many trees to handle (i.e., 125 is too many).
iv. The fabric grow-bags may be too small
Nevertheless, we have harvested many fine trees from the nursery so far. This discussion
will be continued.
2e. Inventory: subject not taken up.
3. Website: Anne had given Karen a written list of some things that needed updating,
and Karen was able to send many of them off on Wednesday night. However, we still
need to link to the Town’s annual report so we can link to the Tree Committee’s report.
The Belfry Hill project will be replaced by the Setback Planting program. Susan
Solomon’s name will be removed from the contacts page, and Anne will re-write the Tree
Planting section. Jane suggested that we have a “links” section to the Conservation
Commission, CLC, Sidewalk Committee, ACROSS, and perhaps others.
There was no remote participation. The meeting was not recorded.
Respectfully submitted, Karen Longeteig, Scribe
a.m.
Next regular meeting: March 8, 2012, 7:30 at Samuel Hadley Public Services
Building, Room 125
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