On Nov. 19, the Tree Protection and Preservation Committee held its second public forum. Twelve people attended the session at Powers Hall and 17 joined by Zoom to offer input into whether the town should take steps to preserve the tree canopy, steps that would limit property owners’ ability to cut down certain trees without incurring fees.
“We are hoping to turn a formulated bylaw over to the Select Board by May,” said committee chair Heidi Frail, who is also the current Select Board chair.
While public comments ran the gamut from residents who are concerned that the committee’s recommendations will not protect trees enough to those opposing any type of restrictions, most comments supported the concept of trying to protect the tree canopy.
Frail indicated that the committee may loosely model its recommendation on Wellesley’s bylaw.
“We’ve reviewed tree preservation strategies in 17 similar communities and we’re really focusing on Wellesley’s,” Frail said.
Targeted at Construction
Frail said that although many details still need to be worked out, the intent of any proposed bylaw would be to limit “the most egregious situations, the ones taking most of the tree canopy. The point is to address the specific situation of clear cutting during construction.”
Committee co-chair Erica Bond, a landscape architect and master gardener, said the trees potentially targeted for protection are those in the “tree yard” — the already-established setbacks along a property’s perimeter. Setbacks are, by definition, an unbuildable area. Setbacks in Needham vary by zoning, but front setbacks are 25 feet on most quarter-acre lots and 50 feet on most acre lots.
“A tree protection plan would be part of the permitting process,” Bond said.
Homeowners who pull a street, building or construction permit would need to include a report from a certified arborist. The bylaw would exempt diseased or dangerous trees. At a follow up meeting Dec. 1, the committee discussed limiting the applicability of street permits in triggering an arborist’s review.
Trees not Fees
“Most communities with tree bylaws have the same options: save, protect, replant or pay into a fund,” said Needham’s Parks and Forestry Superintendent and Tree Warden Ed Olsen, a non-voting committee member. “In Wellesley, those funds go to public works projects where they plant trees.”
Olsen said that the goal is to protect the trees, not to collect mitigation fees.
Frail said that mitigation fee proposals for Needham have not yet been determined.
In Wellesley, mitigation fees are $150 per inch of diameter for each tree taken down in the protected zone. To estimate this cost (mitigation costs do not include the price of taking the tree down), measure the circumference of the tree at breast height and then divide by π (Diameter = Circumference / π). A tree with a 33-inch circumference, for example, would incur about a $1,500 mitigation fee.
Jim Glickman of Coulton Park told the committee that developers would pay the fines. “It will become the cost of doing business,” he said.
Les Kalish of Lake Drive and Dave Roberts of Bradford Street both warned that homeowners would evade the law by clear cutting before they sold the property to developers.
Jane Volden of Brookside Road wanted to know if the town would mandate which trees a homeowner would be obligated to replant. Olsen said that the only trees that would not be allowed were the ones on the state’s invasive tree list.
Bill Zoppo of Nehoiden Street said that the bylaw, which he opposed completely, should not add fees to building an ADU (Additional Dwelling Unit) near the property line. Frail said that details around ADUs still needed to be worked out.
Rob Braman of Lawton Road said that he feared the law’s impact could be much more pervasive than what was being portrayed. “The devil is in the details,” he told the Observer.
Braman said that if the committee proposed to protect not only the trees in the setback, but also the “critical root zone,” the protected area could extend by as much as 45 additional feet. Frail told the Observer that the details of protections for critical root zones have not yet been formulated.
“I wish you had started this committee 20 years ago,” said Elizabeth Kaponya of Highland Terrace. “One thing that really upsets me is the number of trees I’ve seen cut down in my neighborhood. Whole swaths of trees.”
Kaponya showed the committee a photo of a hawk nestled in a tall tree. The tree was felled by developers, she said. “I heard the hawk now lives in Newton.”
Frail told the Observer that an effective and fair bylaw can be crafted. “We still have rights and can function individually on private property, but we also have a responsibility to make sure that we’re not deforesting our neighborhoods, or allowing storm water to damage other people’s property,” she said.
“We are hoping to turn a formulated bylaw over to the Select Board by May.”
She added that, if the process remains on schedule, the proposal will be at the fall 2026 Special Town Meeting.
Save as PDF