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Owner seeks removal of two town trees at 159 Orange St.; committee objects, schedules site visit
Summary
The property owner at 159 Orange Street requested removal of two honey locust street trees for a planned building and porch; the committee voiced strong opposition to wholesale removal, preferred pruning and agreed to a site visit and representation at upcoming Planning Board and HDC hearings.
The committee discussed a request from the owner/applicant for 159 Orange Street to remove two honey locust street trees to accommodate planned building work.
David Fredericks, identified on the call as the applicant, described the proposed building and said the project team has a planning-board hearing scheduled in early March and will submit HDC materials afterward. Fredericks told the committee he and his team had assessed utility locations and proposed options including shifting plantings, granting easements or pruning to accommodate the building: "We're very happy to make a long term investment. We're happy to give easements to give them permanent rights," he said, and added that they were not "arbitrarily drilling in and saying we're gonna clear cut the trees".
Committee members pushed back strongly against removal. One committee member said, "I I'm totally against remove removing the trees," and multiple members said pruning might be acceptable but wholesale removal was a "nonstarter." Members noted the trees have been in place since the 1950s, are part of a longer streetscape of honey locusts and appeared to have historical value. The chair and others asked whether the town trees were shown on the building plan and asked the applicant to stake the porch and building edges on site so committee members could inspect potential impacts.
Next steps set at the meeting: the applicant agreed to a site visit with committee members (Dave and Dale referenced as meeting on site), the committee will attend or monitor the Planning Board hearing (scheduled March 9 was confirmed during the meeting), and members discussed whether to appear before HDC when the application is filed. If pruning can accommodate the building, committee members said they would seek that path rather than a formal hearing; if not, the committee would hold a formal tree removal hearing on request.
The committee urged the applicant to mark the building/porch stakes for a field review and to confirm the town-tree locations on submitted plans. The item will be continued after the site visit and as Planning Board/HDC processes proceed.
