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Residents press Selectboard on beach tree removals; calls for public process and posting of forester reports
Summary
Public commenters urged the Mount Vernon selectboard to post any forester reports and to adopt standards before replanting trees at the town beach; a resident said she spoke to forester Julie Davenport, who denied advising the town about tree removal.
A group of residents urged the selectboard to provide more transparency and a formal community process after trees were cut at the town beach. Dan offered to lead outreach and suggested a website or newsletter poll, while several residents asked the board to post any forester correspondence or hazard findings.
One resident delivering extended public comment challenged the board’s prior decision to remove trees and said she contacted a forester named Julie Davenport who told her she had "never, never talked to Grenier or anybody else in town" about the beach trees. "If she had been a forester advising, she would have been pruned, not destroyed," the resident said, and pressed the board on whether they would have made the same decision with current information.
Board members responded that they relied on available information at the time and some members said they regretted not reviewing the report more closely. The board agreed to collect broader community input on whether and where to replant, to run an informal online poll, and to post relevant documents online for public review.
