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Select Board approves Veterans Memorial Park redesign after public hearing; four trees to be removed, 22 new trees proposed
Summary
Stantec presented a final design for Veterans Memorial Park that relocates the veterans memorial, installs honor‑roll walls to hold ~13,000 names, and proposes removing four centrally located trees to unify the park; the board unanimously approved the plan with commitments to use structural soils, larger planting stock and irrigation.
Stantec senior principal Bob Corning presented the Veterans Memorial Park final design to the Select Board and answered resident questions during a tree hearing. The plan relocates the veterans memorial within the site, adds symmetrical honor‑roll walls with surface area for roughly 13,000 names, and includes planting 22 new shade trees with structural soil cells, permeable paving and irrigation. Stantec and town staff said the new design intends to create a more unified, accessible and contemplative park space while incorporating low‑impact stormwater measures.
The team proposed removing four centrally located trees — two red pines and two dogwoods — because they said those trees bifurcate the site and limit the ability to create a cohesive memorial plaza. "We don't take tree removal lightly as landscape architects," Bob Corning said, noting that the new trees would be planted with structural soil and irrigation to ensure longer‑term survival. Public commenters thanked the design team and asked for contractual guarantees for watering and consideration of evergreen plantings and possible temporary shade structures while the new trees establish. The board and town manager said they would aim to include watering and establishment language in project contracts and to plant substantial, larger‑caliper stock where feasible.
The Select Board voted unanimously to approve the design and the recommended additional tree removals, with members emphasizing mitigation through replanting, soil cells, irrigation and large initial tree stock.
