As the Tree Preservation Planning Committee begins to consider recommending options to preserve Needham’s tree canopy, it turned to residents for its first listening session June 4 at Town Hall. There were 55 participants, 30 in person and 25 online, who shared comments and concerns about tree loss in neighborhoods, but also about the possible implementation of policies that might complicate tree removal for homeowners.
“The most important thing we can do is listen to the community,” committee Chair and Select Board Chair Heidi Frail said. “We hope to achieve some regulations that will safeguard Needham trees into the future, but we also hope to safeguard residents’ interests, be they financial, environmental or aesthetic.”
After brief opening remarks, attendees split into small discussion groups where concerns and questions were recorded by members of the Needham High School Political Action Club.
A wide variety of questions were asked in the groups, including: Is there a way to advise your neighbors when big trees are coming down? Do you need a permit to trim limbs? Can people ever be denied the right to cut a tree? Would the town have the bandwidth to process all tree requests? What trees are best to plant? How does the policy in Wellesley work?
The committee did not try to immediately answer those questions, but Frail said the questions and comments would be compiled to help guide the committee’s work.
Late in the meeting, the live participants at Powers Hall reassembled for public comments. Most speakers told stories of losing mature trees in their neighborhoods when developers clear-cut lots for bigger homes. Naomi Ribner described moving to a tree-lined street in 2005 and then watching developers take down the tree canopy one project at a time.
She said another construction project, already approved, is slated to remove the last stand of trees on Riverside Street.
“I wish there was something you could do to prevent us from losing whatever is left,” she said. “It kills me to see my street, which was so green, turn into some inner-city street.”
Artie Crocker, chair of the Planning Board and a member of the Tree Preservation Planning Committee, recalled the situation in Ribner’s neighborhood. “We wanted to do something, but we didn’t have the bylaw,” he said.
Rob Braman spoke to the difficulty of crafting a policy that doesn’t erode property rights. “I am very, very fearful that if I want to expand my 1,200-square-foot house that I’ll have to go to a series of board meetings or pay a boatload of money to get an arborist,” he said. “I challenge the committee to be nuanced in your work.”
Frail said the next committee meeting will assess information from the public listening session. She predicted this will not be the last session when the committee seeks public input.
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