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Cheshire committee keeps approved Barnum Elementary planting plan, staff to reply to community letter
Summary
After reviewing a community letter requesting changes to species at Barnum Elementary, committee staff said the town planner advised sticking with the approved planting plan. The committee directed staff to respond to the correspondents and noted any species swaps would require planning review and possible change orders.
The School Building Committee of the Town of Cheshire decided on June 17, 2025, to keep the approved landscaping plan for Barnum Elementary and asked staff to write back to community correspondents who had suggested changing some planted species.
Justin, a project staff member, told the committee he had checked “with the town planner” and relayed that Mike Lee advised the project team that an approved plan was on file and that “we should stick with the approved plan” if modifications were proposed. Anna, the staff liaison to the Town Beautification Committee, said the planting plan had already been reviewed by that committee and noted the plan mixes native and nonnative species by design: “It’s not the absence… it’s the absence of natives is their policy, and there are significant amount of native plantings in the planting plan.”
Committee members discussed timing and logistics. Justin said some plantings could occur this fall but that most trees and similar plantings were more likely to be installed in spring, and that any mid‑construction species swap would be handled through the contractor (O&G) and might require a change order. He cautioned that the landscape architect could not provide exact price differences for hypothetical swaps without a proposal request.
Rich Gussenberg, a committee member, moved to respond to the correspondents and said he would write the letter informing them that the plans as approved remain in effect. The committee did not take a formal vote; members agreed to have staff reply after confirming the planning‑process implications.
The committee’s summary of next steps: staff will notify the letter writers (identified in committee materials as Joanna Getty and Karen Schnitzer) that the current planting plan remains approved; if the district or community wants a different species after construction has begun, that change would need to be pursued through the town’s planning review and could trigger a contractor change order and associated costs.
The matter arose during the public‑correspondence portion of the meeting rather than as a separate agenda item. Committee members said they had already addressed similar planting comments during the plan‑approval process and that, absent a formal modification request, they would maintain the approved landscaping design.
