On Nov. 19 from 7-9 p.m., the Tree Preservation and Planning Committee will hold its second public forum. It will take place in Powers Hall and can also be accessed online. The committee, which began its work eight months ago and held its first meeting last June, plans to update the public on its progress toward a tree preservation bylaw and to solicit feedback.
At its Nov. 4 meeting, the committee discussed the broad outlines of a bylaw proposal. Wellesley, Newton and Brookline all have adopted bylaws that have discouraged the removal of mature, healthy and noninvasive trees on private property. The committee has studied Wellesley’s tree ordinance in detail. It focuses on protecting the trees on a property’s perimeter, the protected area widening in areas zoned for larger lots.
Ed Olsen, member of the committee and also Needham’s superintendent of parks and forestry and tree warden, wanted to consider a bylaw that could potentially protect trees in a property’s interior. “I thought the idea was to save every tree we could,” he said.
Heidi Frail, chair of the Tree Preservation Planning Committee and of the Select Board, said that she favored a more limited scope for an initial bylaw proposal. She said that she wanted something that would be palatable to the public.
Referring to past efforts, she said, “Two tree committees have come up with bylaws that have gone down in flames.”
Frail also pointed out that any proposed bylaw would not ban any trees from being cut on private land. Cutting protected trees would result in required payments and/or homeowner mitigation efforts, similar to current restrictions on properties that abut wetlands.
| Needham Receives Tree Grant On Oct. 31, Needham won a $92,000 grant for 46 new trees from the state’s Cooling Corridors program, an effort to plant trees in identified hot spots. According to Gabby Queenan, Needham’s sustainability manager, the application process was competitive. Needham was one of only four municipalities chosen to receive state funding. “We tailored our application to focus on safe walking routes to schools,” Queenan said. She said that these sun-drenched sidewalks are well-used by schoolchildren. They are the same routes prioritized for plowing in the winter. “We looked at an overlay of those sidewalks with a GIS map of relative heat severity,” she said. The final locations of the new trees need to undergo site verification, but Lincoln and Grant streets, and nearby sections of Great Plain, Webster and Warren are under consideration. |
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