ECC approves removal of seven specimen trees, denies four, at Montalcino Phase 4; $80,700 habitat mitigation required

The Environmental Conservation Commission approved the developer’s tree removal requests for multiple specimen trees in the Montalcino Phase 4 subdivision on April 1, while denying removal of several other trees that the commission determined should be preserved.

Town staff and the applicant presented that the 72-acre parcel contains 67 specimen trees; the developer requested removal of seven specimen trees (shown in red on the submitted survey) and identified four additional specimen trees as yellow-category trees that may be removed later by future homeowners if site-specific dwelling plans make preservation infeasible. Staff said many impacted trees lie within areas required for roadway grading, drainage easements or utility corridors and that several trees would be affected by bar-ditch grading.

Tasha Lynn Davis of McAdams, presenting for the landscape architecture team, said the team sought to save the majority of specimen trees and identified a group of definite removals that will be impacted by infrastructure grading. “We are requesting the removal of, 6 to 7 of those, and then 4 of those are in a questionable zone, that we looked at highlighted in yellow for a potential saving,” Davis said. Davis told commissioners that the trees slated for immediate removal are, in her assessment, unlikely to survive the amount of grading required.

Staff also explained upland-habitat mitigation: $80,700 would be applied as mitigation for 5.38 acres of upland habitat at a rate of $15,000 per acre. The staff presentation noted that 138 protected trees outside the upland habitat area would be preserved.

A motion recorded in the transcript enumerated the trees to be removed and those to be denied removal; commissioners voted in favor of the motion. Commission member Sharma, Commission member Workman, Commission member Spurlock, Commissioner Atherton, Vice Chair Bowman and Commission member Takash recorded “aye” on the motion; no no votes or abstentions were recorded.

The commission’s action approves the identified infrastructure-driven removals while denying specific requested removals that the commission determined should remain until, if ever, a single-family-dwelling permit decision makes removal necessary. Staff said yellow-category trees approved for later review would be evaluated again at the time of an SFD permit and that homeowner/homebuilder decisions can affect whether those trees are ultimately removed.

The motion and the staff presentation list the red and yellow tree survey numbers in the record; the transcript includes the set of red-tree and yellow-tree numbers discussed during the hearing, and those numbers are part of the town’s administrative record for this application.