Taunton Lane—

Tree Warden Reduces Planned Tree Removal

By Andrew Gorosko

Following a walking tour of Taunton Lane with area residents concerned about the visual prospect of the town removing 91 trees from alongside that road, the town tree warden has agreed to reduce the number of trees to be removed to 84.

Controversy over the tree removal project has focused on the competing interests of scenic value versus public safety.

Tree Warden Mike McCarthy said this week that after meeting with about a dozen residents on the morning on Sunday, June 6, and inspecting the 91 trees proposed for cutting, he agreed that seven of those trees will remain standing, resulting in a modified plan to remove 84 trees from alongside the street. The trees stand within the town’s right-of-way along both sides of the street.

The seven trees that will not be removed are large-, medium- and small-diameter trees. Two of those trees are about 24 inches in diameter, two are about 18 inches in diameter, and the others are smaller, Mr McCarthy said.

Mr McCarthy termed the inspection tour “a very positive tree walk and compromise.”

“Calm heads and politeness ruled Sunday, and much was accomplished,” Mr McCarthy said.

The seven attractive trees that will not be removed contribute to the area’s general tree canopy, he said. “We picked trees [to save] that had nice canopies,” he said. “It was a give-and-take on everybody’s part,” he said. The tree warden pointed out that he did not agree with all the requests to save individual trees.

The tree warden and 14 area residents met at a May 28 public hearing, at which the residents expressed their misgivings about the town’s plans to remove 91 trees from alongside Taunton Lane. The residents sought to persuade the tree warden not to remove that many trees in order to preserve the area’s scenic value.

Town officials maintain that the planned tree removal is a necessary public safety project, which would create six-foot-wide cleared areas along both sides of the relatively narrow Taunton Lane.

Taunton Lane is a residential road about 3,000 feet long, linking Taunton Hill Road to Mt Pleasant Road. The street has about 20 addresses.

Mr McCarthy maintains that the 84 trees must come down because some of them are dead and others are dying. Some of trees are leaning into the roadway, and vehicles have struck others that are close to the road. Trees to be removed range from two to 30 inches in diameter. There is a mix of deciduous species marked for cutting, including ash, maple, and birch.

In a June 7 memorandum, Mr McCarthy wrote, “It must be understood that in the future if these [seven] trees, which have been removed from the job, become hazardous due to injury, disease, or pose a major public safety issue, they will have to be considered for removal.”

Because the number of trees to be removed has been reduced from 91 to 84, tree-cutting firms have been asked to submit revised competitive bids for the tree-cutting work to the town. That bid opening is scheduled for June 14. It is unclear how much money it will cost the town to have the 84 trees removed, Mr McCarthy said. Several firms are expected to submit bids.

The tree warden said he expects it would take one to two weeks of work to remove the trees. The work likely would be done this summer, he said. A separate, ensuing project would grind up and pulverize the remaining tree stumps, he said.

After the 84 trees are removed, the town would contact several Taunton Lane homeowners to learn whether they want the town to plant young trees nearby on their private property at town expense, according to Mr McCarthy.

Opposing View

Donald Collier of 93 Birch Hill Road, who raised concerns recently about the planned removal of 91 trees, said this week of the plan to remove 84 trees, “I still feel that’s more than necessary….That’s extreme and unnecessary.” Mr Collier has said that only 18 to 27 trees should be removed from alongside Taunton Lane.

Mr Collier said he was not able to attend the June 6 tree inspection tour with Mr McCarthy and the others.

Mr Collier, a conservationist, is a member of the town’s Conservation Commission. He has stressed that his opposition to the tree removal project is as an individual, not as a Conservation Commission member.

The Dodgingtown resident said the town’s stated goal of preserving local character seems to be contradicted by a large-scale tree-removal project. He has raised aesthetic concerns about the tree removal project, saying it would damage Taunton Lane’s scenic value.

Mr Collier also questioned the town’s authority to create six-foot-wide cleared areas along streets such as Taunton Lane.

Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley has said the presence of trees alongside town roads poses legal liability issues for the town.

Town Engineer Ronald Bolmer has said the town’s goal is to remove trees on Taunton Lane that stand between the edge of the pavement and the adjacent parallel stone walls that lie along both sides of the street.