good evening and welcome to the April 16th meeting of the long L select board I'm the chair Tom lus and I'll be confirming that all members and persons anticipate on the agenda are present and can hear me Members when I call your name please respond in the affirmative venopathy here Mark gold here Dan zero here and Josh LaVine is absent tonight and staff when I call your name please respond uh Karen M munes here and M barer here and our town manager is not here this week uh this open meeting the long metal select board is convened in person and Via Zoom webinar is posted on the agenda and the town's website identifying how the public may join there there's no chat or QA function all the materials for this meeting are available on the agenda posted on Long motto ma.gov the public is encouraged to follow along using the posted agenda unless I no otherwise this meeting will feature resident comment for residents attending the meeting in person please raise your hand when we get to the comment section you don't have to raise it now oh they're waving okay and uh each person will be allowed uh three minutes to speak um and um if for folks on um you know I'll call you to approach the the microphone for residents participating in the meeting via Zoom webinar format please use the raised hand icon at the bottom of the the screen the meeting moderator will promote you to panelist unmute you and give you permission to speak if you join the webinar by phone dial star9 to raise your hands and star 6 to mute unmute uh residents who wish to speak will identify their names and addresses only each individual is afforded three minutes uh please note that this meeting is being recorded and that some attendees are participating by video conference please remember to mute your phone or computer when you're not speaking if anyone in attendance is recording this meeting please announce yourself now any people recording Michael no okay uh we'll now begin with the Pledge of Allegiance if you all stand ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you uh we start with a few announcements uh the first is the annual town meeting is set for Tuesday May 14th at 7 pm in the Long Meadow high school gymnasium distribution of the warrant and the budget will be delivered to the town of Long Meadow Residence on April 25th via the reminder um including opt outs um the voter registration deadline if you're not ready the voter registration deadline if you're not already registered is May 6th and the final town meeting warrant will be available online April 16th at WW longm ma.gov toown meeting where we can also find additional information and resources the second thing is the annual Town election is set for Tuesday June 11th at the long meow Community House polls will open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. the voter registration deadline is June 3rd sample ballots will be available in the next coming weeks with additional information at www.long ma.gov elections the recycling hour recycling center temporary hours um for the center on pondside road will be Wednesdays from 800 to 2: p.m. and Saturday aturday from 8:00 to 5:00 p.m. uh please check with the town website for updated information when the Spring hours will be further extended and recycling center pass is can be purchased online at DPW and you know we heard from the DPW that the part of the issue is they're having trouble with Staffing so that's why we have small Less hours than they would probably want to have uh the 2024 rain barrel program um is a partnering between the DPW and American rain barrel company or project um and this we have barrels that are available for purchase by residents at a discounted price the deadline to order is May 5th for additional information on the program please visit www. longmedow ma.gov Civic alerts and this would collect water from your downspout that you could use for watering plants and so forth um okay is there anyone in the audience who'd like to make a resonant comment um I guess we have quite a few uh perhaps we can start with Mr Kirby I Mr Kirby that's my father well I think you got gave us the first letter so uh why don't you pull up a chair do I do I stand yeah you usually sit and it's easier the cameras the microphones are for CTV and they lctv and they let people at home listen yeah they don't do anything in here so I'll put them to sleep also um okay my name is Mike Kirby live at 81 Lawnwood Avenue in town here um so I'll just get to my prepared statement here and then uh let other people talk but in any case two weeks ago I sent a letter to the select board chair about the deteriorating pavement conditions of Lawnwood Avenue resulting in much communication with my neighbors and some of the uh select board members thank you for noting our concerns and I want to publicly known though how frustrated we are about the inaction poor follow through confusion and unkempt assurances what moved us to act was the discovery of ever source's decision not to restore longwood's pavement after the gas main project last spring the second issue was the dpw's announcement of the 12 streets they selected for resurfacing this summer last year Director Van doen assured some of our neighbors that Lawnwood would be on the paving list for this year and yet now it's missing for 2024 last year the beta group released its pavement report ranking Lawnwood on the bottom 12% of all the roads they surveyed of the 12 streets chosen by the DPW for resurfacing only two streets have rankings lower than lawnwoods all other streets selected for Paving this summer have ratings higher than our street during the select board meeting of June 26 2023 the DPW director presented his trench repair policy to the select board where a contractor who excavates a street may not be required to restore the pavement if the streets be resurfaced within a year the monies originally intended for the said Street restoration would instead be turned over to the DPW Mr van duen specifically stated ever Source requires the town to repave within one year select board member Mr Gold expressed his concern stating quote so fluid and variable and it becomes problematic when one year becomes two years unquote this one-year policy to resurface was voted on unan unanimously and approved um in my discussions with four of the select board members all agreed lawn mood is in deplorable State and needs addressing now although one board member claimed they shouldn't be involved with which roads get repaved I argue that your unanimously approved policy does direct the roads uh the DPW needs to resurface therefore my neighbors and I are waning the select board and DPW director to stand by their own trench repair policy revisit the 2024 streets to be resurfaced and include Lawnwood on that list this may require postponing another streets Paving to 2025 but it's also necessary for the DPW and select board to live up to their own policy and resurface Lawnwood this summer I viewed Mr van duan's email to me stating quote the DPW had initially hoped to bid the project this spring and later on my hope to bid the work this summer for a fall spring Paving project as unacceptable this hoping to falls into the fluid and variable and problematic concerns Mr Gold spoke of last year therefore we feel it's only right that select board live up to its own policy and direct the DPW to not just hope to but actually commit to resurfacing our street this summer so thank you folks I appreciate the opportunity here um I I don't know if there are any questions or whatever at this point I just I have my speech but thank you for com thank you very much thank you for your letteron and is there anyone else from the street who wanted to say something or just seconding all right okay well to take multiple uh side streets to get to our houses so that our cars don't go into disrepair um that that the town won't cover for damage right so it's a nightmare I think probably for them too the street surrounding and the minute they patch we get rain and it comes right back comes right back up they swipe the streets today and the road is oh yeah they SW they swept the potholes yeah well um appreciate your comments um now if a person you know if you had newly purchased tires on your vehicle and you did hit a pothole um I suggest you contact the DPW you know and let them know you know um so because we we have some insurance so but um thank you very much for coming in um do we have any other resident comments that um anyone online not that I see no no um I would just like to add one additional comment should IO sure please approach CH hi my name is Tara Northway oski and I live at 96 Lawnwood AV um I also um sent a letter to all select board members and the town manager and um Sean vanen at the DPW um my comment is that you know obviously we have an entire not even entire neighborhood probably a quarter of our neighborhood here um many um members of the neighborhood have lived there in excess of 30 35 40 years and um in my conversations with them the street has never been paved and their entire residency during that time um the street study that um Mr Kirby um mentions does not take into effect the condition of the street after the eversource work so our our condition is as he said in the lower 12% of streets but I would welcome anybody to come by and reassess that um because I can pretty much guarantee you it's probably in the bottom 3% of streets at this point um and then I just want to make a comment um you know it is about not only the road and you know our journey to our houses it's also about safety we've had a resident fall um due to the poor condition of the area and also it has to do with our property values and um the eroding Street and then also a lot of trees have been removed in the tree belt that have not been replaced so the entire between the the street erosion the trees being gone it it adds to an eroding Street Scene that does not help our property values or the neighborhood in general and I think it's been proven over time that neighborhoods that are supported by town and supported by their residents do better and um I think we're just looking for a Little Help from the town to live up to its promises and I know several of us spoke with um people at the dpd and we assur excuse me the DPW and were assured that our streets were going to be our street was going to be paved this spring so it's quite a disappointment I think we would just want answers we want to know where those eversource funds are going if they're not going to our street thank you all right thank you thank you and and uh hopefully you folks have been watching the meetings and you know that we've been discussing streets on a regular basis the last few meetings too um all right so if any other comments yeah I okay you're welcome to step up your name and your address Bob Doo I live next door to Mike Kirby 75 long or AV I've lived in town for 60 years and I've had the Good Fortune of living in a better part of town where they had Street that didn't have poth holes and cut UPS all over uh during this mess when they were uh ever Source was putting this uh gas line in or whatever they tore up my lawn they destroyed one part of uh the side of my house I actually had to recover and do it myself come come in with truckloads of loom or whatever I was assured by ever Source several times that they they were paying for 2/3 of the road on my side where the main part of the gas line come in and they were going to they were going to also do the uh re redo of the opens on the open ends on the other side what happened to this money that eversource had set aside to pay for at least this 2third of the road all of a sudden eversource has turned it over to the town and where I rate uh I I think it's kind of deplorable if if if a contractors coming in and they're you know they're doing this major renovation which I've seen many other streets in town they did the same thing and they paved it uh because this is the other end of town the poor end of town whatever you want to call it they're they're just going to put it aside and what what happened to the money is what I want to know so I mean I you know we don't but yeah we'll investigate you know see if it went to DPW and we'll we'll let you we'll report back you know there'll be a report back there may be during um the select board comments there may be some select board members who' want to talk about talk to that issue also so yeah I mean all all anybody here is asking for is to be treated the same as any other Street in town uh because it's an in a better section they're going to do it right away because it's the old section of town and you know streets are kind of bad now this business with uh they did come down and sweep the streets today they opened up two potholes in front of my house and threw asphal all over the place uh you know I I'm just totally put aside that that you know a town like this would tolerate this stuff and if and if you or we did receive money from ever Source I'd expect it to be put where it was supposed to be put to fixing these streets and not put it off for another two three four years that's a very reasonable request thank you for your comments thank you yeah if you well please still oh I'm with him Maryann kiry 81 Lawnwood I brought him I'm a walker I like to walk yeah our sidewalk are terrible mhm so you can't so I'll walk in the street you can't walk in the street yeah the potholes are horrible there's gravel like Bob was saying when they sweep the streets they kick up the gravel well it's all over the tree belt I have to mow my lawn I don't have a contractor I do it myself I have to wear long pants boots because the gravel keeps coming up at me glasses cuz I get gravel in my face because our road our street is terrible and something has to be done and you know think about we saw a little kid yesterday riding his bike his tricycle and I I fell for him I mean his mother had to drive him around potholes you know it's not a safe Street to walk on it's not a straight safe Street to live on to drive on people talk about driving down the other sides of the road you have to dodge around potholes well you know sometimes you have two-way traffic yeah it's not safe and something cars parked on the street and you got par cars parked on the street is another issue that never gets addressed yeah it's it's not safe and something has to get done thank you you're welcome uh J stoski 96 Lawnwood Avenue yes um I I wasn't prepared to speak tonight but I feel inspired uh today so so um I just want to say that uh obviously we know that the road condition is not uh suitable it needs attention I mean it's it's obvious um I'm hoping that with this we can see the the road improved uh replaced uh but phase two of all of this is actually the restoration of the tree belt tree belt is really in abysmal condition the street has lost numerous trees I don't think the town has replaced a single tree on the Lawnwood Avenue tree belt in I don't know 15 20 years maybe um the the few trees that have been replaced have been done by residents uh knowing that the town hasn't been able to tend to the street um so I just want to add that in addition to the restoration of the street um I think most of us would like to see new trees replaced on Lawnwood Avenue by my unofficial uh estimate it looks like 50 trees um likely need to be replaced from Lawnwood I'm sorry from Long Middle Street to the end of the street uh I'm happy to to help in contributing funds necessary to do the restoration I think the town charges maybe $400 per tree I could be wrong with that um but I I think myself and maybe neighbors could help uh in a financial sense if if that is what's needed uh Maybe not maybe the town has the funds to uh see to it that the trees are replaced by we need to breathe we need shade we need to tend to uh the restoration of Street and tree belt to restore it to its natural uh State as it was maybe 30 years ago at this point thank you oh you're welcome and and just for your inform 96 Lawnwood Avenue okay uh we actually are going to be discussing a tree policy at tonight's meeting later on and uh there are some ways residents can uh you know have a tree planted pay for pay they pay for it uh but we've been discussing this you know the the kind of funds that we need to replace the tree canopy um it several times this year already but thanks to keep it you look at this you might as well look at everything so thank you um any other folks yeah so can I just ask why you pull up because then people at home can hear honestly got a problem you can't you you can't speak from there cuz people it's not feir of the people home we can't hear you he you we'd love to have you speak but it's not fair to the people at home all right I just have a question didn't want to go through all that um I just want to know who you your name and address huh your name and address uh Jan Wells I live at 14 Fairview Street which is technically at the end of Lawnwood um we're on a paper section of Fairview Street so we are really just Lawnwood cuz we paved it yourself um I just want to know who you're going to report back to I mean I I know officer Kirby is the one that's been doing a lot of communication my husband has sent um multiple emails out as well and made some phone calls trying to um have someone look at the road since the work was done he actually I think reached out before ever Source had been there um but I just wondering who you're going to report how we going to know what the end result of this meeting is yeah so generally a communication like this would come from the town manager to to the folks you know like Mr Kirby and folks who and it might be he might be the key person that she should contact um but if we've received other letters the town manager could send letters to those folks also okay as they decide where we're at okay yep and and also just real quick yeah um we also pay the same amount of taxes yeah you know we pay we pay we don't pay lower taxes because of the section of town that we're in we're in this Long Meadow so we pay the same amount of taxes so the money that we pay should contribute to our road I agree thank you thank you [Applause] y okay we have no further comments and um our next did you April 10th mail is there's a comment in there probably to go back you want me to read from the April 10th email just yeah I can I no I um just that there's a tomorrow I pulled that up let me just see where um so let me it's in my emails but from if you want me to tell it's from they I don't think there a big rush but you can off this okay so um and this is an email from uh our town manager Lynn Simmons towood Avenue I've learned that most if not all of you have been included in correspondence from residents on Lawnwood Avenue regarding the condition of the roadway so she's writing this to the select board here are the facts eversource replaced the gas line on Lawnwood and instead of Paving the path match of the full road with width as required by the select board policy Ur has paid the town what Paving cost would have been because Lawnwood is on the street resurfacing list in the next round of TW fiscal year 2025 this payment is in Li of Paving of Paving plan and was discussed at a select board meeting and recommended by the DPW director for roadways that are on the paving plan to be redone within 12 months of the utility work some of this may sound familiar uh this was adopted because it makes no sense to spend time and resources to do a full road with patch on a road that is going to be torn up in such a short amount of time the idea that the town will make take the funds toward the road width patch and apply it to upcoming road work um so that's the idea the town will take those funds and and put them to upcoming road work Lawnwood Avenue is in design right now and is planned to be included in the fiscal year 2025 Road reserving bid as I mentioned in the previous bullet the bid is expected to go out and be awarded in the summer and the work commencing in the fall with the flurry of emails related to Lawnwood Avenue and some misunderstanding expressed the DPW is meeting with residents on Lawnwood Wednesday April 17th at 11:30 a.m. and so wait that have you guys heard that about this meeting Mr Kirby please uh yeah that was the part yeah um yeah Mike Kirby 81 Longwood Avenue uh yes I have a meeting scheduled with Mr van doen uh later later on uh tomorrow after tomorrow morning approximately uh 11 11:30 okay 11:30 good um that was something that you know I had set up he had invited me to uh to talk you know the the um I could call him if I wanted to and I decided to have an opportunity to do a face to face with him and so uh I agreed to that and I believe I may have made a mention to uh some people but you're certainly welcome to uh hold my hand as I as I go there but um I just wanted to get some questions from him and he he did leave it open with other people other emails that I saw that if you have questions or problems to contact him directly um so uh but that that's the thing so it uh Town manager uh Simmons she's correct in that regard but uh I think what really has us really frustrated is the fact that when the list of streets for this summer was published we were not included and you know the the policy of the town that was eventually developed last year to be resurfaced in year um th this is this is the year later and if we're looking for something in uh 2025 that's you know we're looking at another year and well I okay well a couple of things CR I'll be with you a minute one is that um you know I encourage the meeting you know it's a process I think it's important to to have your you know your needs and your requirements known to the town and you know Mr van doen will hear those and then move forward in the process and um so and then K this 202 July year that's what I'm going to say I think there's some confusion over fiscal year fiscal year 2025 starts June 30th this year so when Town manager Simmons says summer and fall she means this year not 2025 okay thank you so for forgive my ignorance this fiscal year yeah it's all right forgive my ignorance but so the list that was just recently uh posted on the town website for the various streets to be resurfaced that's money is coming from this current fiscal year it's coming from the next fiscal year Mr Kirby there there is the money that there there are two sources of revenue for for repaving streets so-called chapter 90 which is State money about $495,000 and we've been getting that for years and years and years then there's the contribution we make through our Capital plan those are both approved at this may town meeting that's coming up when they're approved they become available and you'll note that the warn article for the state money chapter 90 money authorizes the town to borrow in anticipation of that so we can get going right away because sometimes the state doesn't give us the money till October November December kind of things so fiscal 2025 is literally what we're looking to fund now yes that list was a 2025 Paving list but there is no money for the year we're in that ends June 30 it's all been spent okay so just to be clear we're looking for money for fiscal 2025 and the list is for 2025 but again July June 1st uh excuse me July 1st 2024 starts that fiscal year but it is a frustration for us that the name Lawnwood Avenue was not on that on that list arguing that point I'm just C clarifying the the timing and the and the quantity of funding thank you so okay so that I think that sounds like the next step you'll have your meeting tomorrow and we'll continue this process and until we find a place where you feel the town's being responsible but we're still not on the list for 2025 so Bally your 2025 long at the top of the list and when does that so that starts understand from fiscal year 2025 Lawnwood is on the top of the list is that what you just said yes okay so that means in the fall of this year that road will be P it's not on a list it's it's not well you'll hear more from the DPW director tomorrow but from what I from what I understand it's at the top of the list for next fiscal year funding thank you but that okay that that's confusing because that's the okay so we we have to close the res comments but um okay yeah but hopefully we you know this is the best we can do at this point so all right so the next is um select board comments if anyone would like to make a comment yeah I just wanted to say uh thank you to uh everyone at the Earth Day cleanup there's over I attended there's over uh about a 100 people actually um I wanted to thank the can't hear um I wanted to thank uh Liz bone Andrea Jason Henry Robinson Arlene Miller um for organizing as well as all the volunteers and then also I I wanted to give a shout out to the longm Historical Society so long Historical Society had their spring open house um and book signing event that stor house Museum um I thought it was a great event uh a lot of kids had attended but also um Melissa sauli she was the author of apple seeds a boy named Johnny Chapman she was also present um all around great event and I think my biggest takeaway was really the the CPC funding um and the result of the climate control systems as well as the uh exterior painting that we saw um that was done over the past couple years so I just wanted to mention that okay great all right um there's no other select board comments um we can move on to the uh Town manager's report um so I do not have a town manager's report today um I think uh at coming the next coming select board meeting Lyn will have um prepared something for you all but I did have two um pieces of information that i' would like to share um the first is that uh the town is hosting a 3-day Workshop series uh regarding the um restoration of Ki Brook the conceptual design so that information is um being put out onto our social media and our web page um this week uh but for now I'll let you know that um on uh Sunday May 5th is our first event and that'll be a walk and talk meeting at Laurel Park in the grassy um dirt parking lot area residents can show up anytime between 1:30 and 3:30 and meet the project design team sort of walk around the park look at the stream and give them ideas about what they would like to see what they think is working what what's not working um the following day uh Monday the May 6 um from let me pull up that time um close this email sorry I had the email open and then I opened the wanwood email um okay so uh on Monday May 6th from 5: to 7:00 p.m. at The Community House residents can again drop in at any time in those two hours meet the design team and the design team will have spent that day drawing conceptual designs based off of what they learned the previous day about what people want to see with coie Brook um and residents can give feedback and more ideas during that time and then finally it'll culminate on May 7th um also at Community House from 6:00 to 7:30 where there will be a presentation and discussion and Q&A where where um the design team will be presenting the uh semi-final concept design that they developed over the course of those three days and with all of the input from the past few years that we've been working on this project and um residents can ask questions and again give feedback so um that's May 5th through May 7th and then the second um piece of information is that uh planning board chair Cheryl um Theo would like to invite the select board to a joint public meeting of the planning board in the select board on Wednesday I believe that is June 5th 5th thank you um at 6: p.m. um so from 600 p.m. to 7: p.m. um to receive a in uh presentation from Barrett Planning Group on what will be very close to the final draft of the long range plan um Barrett Planning Group is giving a presentation to the planning board is there the um sole Authority per Mass General law to adopt the long range plan and um we wanted to make sure that the select board also had a chance to hear um this information and ask any questions that you might have about the process at that time um and the contents of the plan so again that's Wednesday June 5th um from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. and that will be held in this room in this room yeah okay and that's all I have all right um there in you talked about coie Brook restoration and you mentioned Bliss Park but that also includes Laurel Park right yes and uh if I don't know if I misspoke the first meeting the walkin talk at the park is actually at Laurel Park not Bliss Park oh okay yeah and just focusing on one park so it's manageable for people to walk around in one place but the restoration design covers Bliss and Laurel yeah yeah good go ahead any questions for in on that okay uh there was a couple of things from the monthly reports we get from the different departments and um so one thing I I want to remind people at the adult center um they have an AARP uh tax program and so folks who and I know tax day was yesterday but actually today tomorrow it's tomorrow oh tomorrow's the last day tomorrow in Massachusetts is the last tomorrow in Massachusetts so maybe there'll be someone there tomorrow last minute um to help residents with their taxes and um I think because it's an AARP situation even out of town residents have been able to go there and get help um um so uh you know don't hesitate if you have any tax questions and you know the thing with taxes is you know you run into people who say well I I didn't have time I didn't do it last year or so forth uh but you you usually have a couple years three years or so you can do back taxes and catch up so for those of you who think well you know my total tax situation a mess I would still suggest going um the other thing is there was a foot care uh Clinic that was it was reinstituted it started in February and it's the last Thursday of every of each month and we have you know there's some residents who may not have anyone who can help them uh trim their toenails and so forth and so it's people are glad to have that back at the adult center and the other thing is the medical equipment Loan program which you know we had and then it wasn't working out and then uh the Jewish Geriatric Services took it over and then it wasn't working out for them and so now there's a collaboration between the town Jewish Geriatric and americ Legion Post of 0175 to uh have you know medical equipment so people who may need a walker or a um a commode you know just for a short period of time there is a place that you can just borrow from uh you don't have to purchase those um and then the last thing from the from the reports was they talked about age-friendly subsidized housing Julie Pierce gave a presentation to the adult center and she said it's a challenge for our community you know that we only have two sections two places in town where um people who need any kind of income assistance can live and um you know I do know we have a several you know have a couple of lots that are at least four acres or more that will be developed and and perhaps the housing board Housing Commission can begin to look at finding a way to get more U friendly age friendly subsidized housing in town U I know people have been talking about it for a long time um but that's all I would add to the to the report I don't know if you folks had any comments from the no all right so then we go into uh old business which is the uh a motion to approve the March 4th select board minutes yes I I'll make a motion to approve the March 4th minutes subject to a couple of I think they're typos or spelling errors or grammar or something that I sent my second okay all right all those in favor okay and now we go to news new business and a discussion uh on the proposed long meow uh public Trad shade tree regulations um we have our tree Warden here Leah we also have also have members of the tree committee here also okay and um they can run through I mean we've we've heard some of these things and then Karen I know that you've been involved with this I think you so um well hi Leah oh you're muted by the way M that helps that better good evening good evening sorry I plan to be in person but car trouble always tends to strike at the worst times right yeah so uh I don't know if you were listening earlier but folks were talking about uh the tree belts uh on their street and restoration of that um so it's a good time to have this discussion absolutely and I feel like even just in recent months we've been kind of trees have kind of been the Forefront of a lot of conversations um aside from outside of my direct job responsibility so um I think this is kind of a good segue into introducing these to you all um would it be most helpful if I kind of went through an outline of the draft and the thought process behind them and then kind of take some questions would that be um um you may want to start you have the purpose section right at the beginning if if you could share some stuff from the purpose and then go into as you were saying go into an outline yeah so um so to start these regulations were kind of um morphed based off of the existing tree committees uh Tree Management manual so um you know I took a lot of the formatting and the language from there and I feel like these more formally capture kind of what they were going for uh and putting that into one regulatory piece of um legislation and so uh basically what I was proposing in the purpose is that what I you know as I just mentioned we need to formalize some processes chapter 87 which is Mass general laws tree protection public shade tree Protection Law uh you know protects trees within the public right of we or tree belt um to any extent so if those trees that enter even an inch within Town property where the trunk goes into the ground they're still therefore protected as a public shade tree uh so the goal of these regulations are to kind of go through and protect our Tre through um you know formalizing a process for hearings formalizing uh F A Fine structure in the event of any unauthorized removal um you know kind of keep and maintain to the maximum extent what exists in town and then um you know Define ways to expand upon uh you know our Urban Forest as well as keeping intact um proper bmps during construction and things of that sort um so that's kind of the overarching reasoning behind the regulations so um you know I can go through Section by section that was purpose one um definition that is section two I took most of these from other towns and I have to give a lot of credit to Northampton and Brooklyn because they are uh were a lot of motiv U not motivating but you know they I borrowed a lot from them and um you know took and manipulated some of what they had so um most of these regulations if they weren't defined by either of those two t came from dcr's uh direct suggested list of uh definitions for tree regulations uh section three is the authority that states that uh you know these are being adopted under the home rule uh amendments of the mass Constitution uh section 4 applicability so um you know these regulations are to apply when there's any kind of removal and the way removal is defined of a public shade tree is um any sort of take whether that be direct or indirect U alterations to root Zone pruning full-fledged removal uh stump stump grinding um all of those things are any kind of tape from the town trees or the public shade trees um so it kind of outlines that you know anytime a trench permit goes in for any kind of work on you know potential Municipal infrastructure such as water lines or energy lines for eversource under gas lines for eversource they've got a you know I get triggered on that as well because most as you can see kind of over in the the Bliss and Emerson area there's some excavation that I'm sure is impacting tree roots there and so um you know going forward something like that I would get tagged on to and sure there was some level of um oversight for bmps there um requires Dig Safe as should any time a shovel goes in the ground planning a municipal projects as well so um and I've kind of done this with Karin already a little bit with the planning board I've done it a little bit with the Conservation Commission uh when tree planting requ West boen or um for a private permit conservation Wetland permit or um site plan review kind of looked those over and kind and gone through and talked about proper species proper place um I know that there's going to be the dpw's putting forward a project for um the L project and that will involve some coordinating appointing so that ropes in the tree Ward and along with the tree committee on right species right right place uh section five Administration so that goes into more of the U nitty-gritty about formalizing the tree regulations sorry the um formalizing um my role as the tree Warden enforcing regulations and um we just called out public shade trees because the chapter 87 allows for the development of public shade trees regulations but not beyond that so um you know we originally had discussed public trees regardless if they were a public shade tree or just a tree on Town property um this is calling out that this is specifically public shade trees as defined in section one of chapter7 section six removal of public shade Tre so that goes more into the the process of the the hearings it outlines formal hearings so that way regardless of who is tree Warden uh there is some level of consistency through the process um you know I've certainly had a a few times so far where I've been in place and I know that you know some residents may not have gone through this process and now they're being asked to go through the process so I can certainly appreciate having a formalized level of you know steps here so that way going forward it's kind of like blanket um in it does call out that the legal advertisements get uh posted by the tree Warden paid for at the expense of the applicant whether that be someone from the town a resident Etc so um you know that way if uh somebody for example is requesting the tree to come down through a hearing and maybe I've let them know that as a tree Warden I don't recommend removal but they're adamant about a hearing that's you know go for it you can run the hearing but you're going to pay for the legal ad um and then that below that bullet it outlines the process of the appeal process which you've just been through and a couple months ago right um it does outline also some waivers so situations where um you know if a tree removal is deemed necessary um you know somebody if there's an existing failing sewer line and and you know Mrs Mabel up the street has to replace it or not have sewage I'm not you know there's no level of repr reprimanding here for that replacement if a tree were to have to come down in that scenario so we wanted to make sure we weren't being too restrictive or too unnecessarily grippy on the scenario and you know allow for some potential flexibility if somebody had a situation where they needed to take a tree down um and then it also outlines the fine structure um so in addition to mgl 87's fine of $500 the tree Warden and the tree committee will work together to decide on if a removal was unauthorized um the proposed is to either the have the fine implemented either twice the appraised value of the tree so the town would hire a tree appraisal expert and uh have the tree appraised after the fact by using um photos what the data we have from the d uh those types of things and they can appraise the tree and they'll pay two times the amount or they will uh replace the tree at 2 and 1 half times in inches so for example if we had a 10in tree they be replacing 25 in of tree and that would be collected as a form the check as was done with the Shaker Road um tree process Le I had a question if if you got so you know it says a maximum not more than $500 but when we had the tree hearing it sounded like it cost could be several ,000 if we replaced it you know per inch um so should we increase that rate I mean I don't know what the value of a tree is but um $500 for a mature tree doesn't seem to be very very much that's in the statute that's the statute right isn't that Mass General law or is it yes so mgl says $500 for anything so we're saying in addition to what mgl is saying we're also going to be um implementing these additional fines oh okay so it says in add with gu she'll impose I wonder if we should say additional fines or that you know it just it's not clear that it looks like 500 is the max and um and I think the resident who came to us seem to also get that impression that they could just cut it for 500 um but if they had to if they paid so much two and a half times you know per inch that it would cost them a lot more so I it's just a wording on that because this was the only thing that uh we spent a lot of time talking about during that hearing can can I ask a clarifi question so um you know the previous um situation that you referred to the town and the town still doesn't but the town did not have um any regulations that required anything in addition to the $500 so so there was nothing else for anybody to think about there kind of you know we were kind of making it up as we went along based off of internal discussions we had had about what we thought would be fair but obviously the town still has hasn't adopted anything so there was nothing to lean on at that time um so when so that that was just a point about that but um with the language comment that you're making you're suggesting removing in addition from the beginning part of that sentence and instead saying the tree Warden with the guidance of the tree committee under these regulations um May impose uh the following additional fin so just moving where addition is in the sentence yeah just to make it clear that that because that that would I don't know what other people think but I think you know we just want to make it clear people are reading this so because that's this is a good addition thank you Marco yeah Leah thank you I have I have a few questions here the first one gets around the definition of a public shade tree and and I I I I see what's there it's on I think on page four yeah you know but I'm probably and the people on the select board and you are more knowledgeable than the General Public and I think people need to understand the concept of tree belt and frankly reading this Woody vegetation on land line between property lines on either side of all streets Avenues or ways within the town within or on the boundaries of a public way other than a state highway such as further defining Mass General Law chapter 87 section one we got to tell people it includes includes tree belt trees and we Al probably ought to use those words this is our document we can use it the way we want to excuse me I think that would be helpful the the other thing is that it doesn't even this definition doesn't include trees in in parks on schools on Municipal properties and my understanding is those are also public shade trees and so those are missing from this and those ought to be included in addition to the what I call tree belt trees but also Al the the idea of Municipal grounds trees so I I would ask that those be considered the other thing that concerned me is there there's on page eight section8 I believe it is hold on let me move to that yeah the the approved trimming of trees I think there are a couple of things that may be unclear I won't say they're they're conflicting but they're unclear paragraph 2 says you need to clear your public shade trees for Clear passage but paragraph one says you need to get permission for any time you do any clearing and if if that's going to be the case actually it's a A1 says obtain a a pruning permit yet B2 says you need to clear for public passage frankly if you need need everybody to get permission to clear for public passage you and the tree committee and everybody else are going to get overwhelmed and I don't know what the right balance is there but I know we all walk and kids ride their bicycles on sidewalks and can't get by and I think we need to have some accommodation for accounting for those uh the uh I think that that's the major one I think the the other issue I concern I have is section n paragraph a which is the prohibited items and that's down on U on page nine you know yes there may be some contractors but it's almost going to be 99% DPW and I think we need to make sure the DPW is included in that so that it's specifically says that this includes if we if we intend to include them it Auto include them if we intend to exempt them it ought to exempt them but I don't think we intend to exempt them so I think it would be helpful if it's stated in in that section 10 paragraph a that we anticipate that this is uh also applies to the DPW those are my comments thank you good comments may I add some responses to this sure so um I'll go with the most recent one first because I remember what you were saying so the um the I I think that you make a good point and I I sometimes I really hate redundancy and I'm making it my mission to delete redundancy out of long meow bylaws um but other times I think redundancy is really helpful specifically for that for this purpose when we have uh a lot of lay people reading bylaws who are not used to reading bylaws and interpreting them um and then also we may have over time developed some Town practices um that it's going to be a culture change to have to amend um so I think this might be one of those cases I will say that the DPW is specifically called out as being subject to these regulations under the first section of these draft regulations so everything Following also applies to DPW in addition to private contractors or homeowners um but we can still add in a clause here uh speaking for you Leah you know we can still draft um edit the draft and add a clause in here that to say that includes DPW um I also wanted to um say that uh Mark we Leah and I both totally agree with you and I have not talked to the tree committee although I know Leah has I I assume you agree that these um regulations are very important uh and we would hope to apply them to all other types of town trees in addition to the public shade trees which Mass General law justifies as those tree belt trees um we can add tree belt to the definition of public shade trees um well we can call that out um however an original our our draft regulations did include all Town trees um when we sent them these have already been reviewed by Jay talerman and so when we sent them to Jay talerman he told us that he did not feel comfortable with us including all those other types of trees in these regulations because we're leaning on chapter 87 to allow the select board to adopt these regulations which would then take effect as a bylaw as opposed to actually adopting a bylaw the typical way going through town meeting so he he said we should stick to the strict definition of public shade trees for this however it's our intent to bring to the select board for fall town meeting um a bylaw that would then cover all other Town trees and it would sort of be what I'm calling a shell bylaw where it sets itself up names its Authority Etc but points everyone to these regulations so that way if these regulations are ever updated for public shade trees it would automatically be updated for uh all other Town trees would follow the same regulations so we don't have again redundancy or duplicity and then make room for conflict so does that mean that none of this applies to to trees on in the Parks or it these do not and because they cannot the way that we are um moving forward with this at this point the the benefit of moving forward with this at this point by going to the select board for adoption as regulations as opposed to going as a bylaw to town meeting is that um they were not ready for annual town meeting uh by the time we needed to get the warrants to you but you also have the ability to adopt them and amend them much more easily and because this is a new policy for the town be more responsive to adapting the new policy then um it would if we were to set this up as a bylaw and it would have to go to a town meeting every single time we wanted to change anything about the regulations so that's sort of the strategy element here um and again that next step bylaw would rely on these regulations which would keep it very Nimble for the select board to change anytime they see something is or is not working okay and so in terms of trees in park land do we have a park commission I mean we have a Recreation Commission or or someone else who would oversee those you don't have a park Department it's the tree Warden huh it is under the yeah it's under the authority of the tree Warden it's just a different uh Mass General Law chapter 87 whatever section this is is does notw it yeah it doesn't it does not cover them the same way it does PS all right that makes sense any other questions about that um all right um Leah I you know I don't know if you oh the pruning I'm sorry do you mind there was one other piece um thank you I actually did have something to say about that so my interpretation and Leah please jump in here um if I'm misremembering but um the what page was that again page eight I think nine 10 uh eight the the tree pring permits so um Section 1 a is stating as you know that anybody who who wants to prun Tre has to get a permit otherwise it's a taking like Leah was saying B is not saying you have to do all of these things what B is doing is essentially defining approved types of pruning so these are the reasons that somebody could apply for a permit it's not necessarily saying homeowners you're responsible for load reduction pruning it's saying that this is a reason that the tree Warden could decide to approve your application for um pruning um the problem Karin is is that we've got a bylaw that we're asking our building department to enforce that says you have to keep your sidewalks clear I mean and and so what we're telling people is we're going to cite them for not having their sidewalks clear but we're not really going to allow them to do it until it goes through a whole bunch of towns red tape I mean there's just an inconsistency there and put yourself in the shoes of of a resident in town you know they're being told they've got to kids can't ride their bicycles down the sidewalks cuz cuz they're trees or bushes and everything's hanging over it but we can't really site them for it because we aren't giving them permission to clear the sidewalks I mean it it you you can't you can't have it both ways and we and and and frankly this the the clearing and keeping it clear for people passing that is a bylaw yeah and so this needs if this is a policy and not a bylaw this needs to be consistent with those by all and and I'm not saying don't do this I you know this is all the right thing to do and I think it's appropriate you know we just need to make it a consistent and B easy for our residents to to to abide by it I I'm kind of curious now um who would Trump in that event because I don't even think that I think that supersedes the prun the pruning of any Town tree goes beyond these regulations and are something that the Mass General law that is is included and says that nobody other than the tree Warden or its Deputy should be pruning any Town tree at all so I I'm so does that mean Leah that that residents can tell us that bylaw is not legal and I don't have to clear my sidewalk I I kind of C you know that's kind of where my confusion is obiously to mine too I'm just saying that the state law says nobody other than the tree Warden is able or their Deputy can prun tree and that's why I included that I don't I was not aware of the building Department's bylaw requiring that they clear the sidewalk in such a manner until this point to clarify it's it's not the building Department's bylaw this is for everybody's information it's a general bylaw that actually the Building Commissioner has no authority to enforce but is asked to enforce so that is something else we will be bringing to fall town meeting um because the I was just going to say a concern I have allowing residents to prove isn't you know I've certainly gone out there and have people say they get fed up and they've gone out there at 7:00 p.m. on a Sunday when no one's around and you know saw off some branches and I know that's a different situation but there are the different trees react differently to being pruned and there are certain dbh of branches and limbs that just once they reach a certain height they're very detrimental or certain size they're detrimental to remove um and then there are other scenarios where if you prune and you don't make the cut at the proper part of the branch it's going to sprout out so it's going to basically you're going to cut the branch and then eight Sprouts are going to shoot out of that Branch collar and you know the my concern as a tree person is that I would rather be overseeing the pruning or making sure somebody's using the an300 standards because they're aware of the tree species and how that tree is going to react and then we go out there and prune it once and it's good for years rather than out there now sucker Sprout pruning every 9 months I I agree that there is some conflict here which I did not originally see and I think it that this section Le and I will work towards um finding a resolution because I I Leah Leah is there's there's two issues here that I see one is that we're talking about practices on paper on paper in our general bylaws we require uh sidewalks kept free of Limbs of any kind of bushes or trees up to seven feet high also on paper we do not allow planting of Woody species so close to the sidewalk where something you know like a tree a tree branch when it's just planted that would like a a little Branch might be lower than 7 ft but a full grown tree they're not going to have branches that are growing into the sidewalk there that will have been pruned and maintained by the town but residents are planting shrubs not knowing that there's laws against that and creating fence lines or planting right up against the sidewalk and then that becomes Town property without anyone ever realizing it and shrubs are included under the definitions of trees here so so we do have to so we have to rectify what's required on paper versus what's happening on the ground and figure out what the best way of approaching this so that it's fair to everybody I do agree Tom I think that there's some yeah there I mean sorry Mark I think I'd like to support Mark in this sense also that that it needs to be clear I mean um it's a safe issue I mean if I'm riding my bike and there's a branch and it's going to hit me in the forehead I mean I better be pretty alert so um you know for safety issues I think we have to say you know those things have to be taken care of and the other side is that some residents uh you know are just not going to take care of their property they may have a tree you know that that comes in the sidewalk and uh and other resident may say well I will trim it but they may want to get a permit you know and and and so they're doing the the street a favor by clearing the sidewalk so kids could ride their bike or people could walk without causing problems so um you know we have to come up with some sort of a you know maybe when it comes to sidewalks and right away that there's some some some leeway here you know and then if there's questions um you know we'd have to have it refer to the tree Warden but um you know I I the bigger problem is when people don't trim and there it is a safety issue that's the bigger problem and and it's probably people who aren't going to get a permit and do it and um you know so we have to you know good luck with that cor Leah Leah Paul hey and I will meet and we'll we'll figure out the best way together to make this work and come back to you with uh with some edits to that section I don't know if you folks have any other question I just want to say thank you to the tree committee uh for you know coming tonight and and all the work you've been doing on this because I you know I pop into a lot of the meetings and um very active group and also just want to say thank you to Leah as well and Karen u a lot of work involved and this is something that came up you know a couple months ago we just didn't have a lot of the the information then you know this is much needed in our town so um just appreciate everyone's effort I I had another question you talk about row clearance but it isn't really defined what R clearan is it was uh in the the pruning section number four R clearance so Tom I had that too but there was a definition of right away so if you look at uh it's public right way on page four oh okay so it it's it's in my opinion it's it's a lousy definition I'm look page a definition right away it might be every couple Pages you might need to um well especially if it's around pruning because a person might just go to this section and right away just be clear here maybe that should be the title of a RightWay clearance and then you could use R clearance you know in the paragraph yeah but um for those of you who us who aren't that knowledgeable um I can do that great and then any other things that jump out it folks so we're we won't approve this tonight we're just this is our first look at it and we could we'll talk about it in a PRI in a future meeting so uh members can take a look at through this longer a little longer and if you make a few revisions um we can look at a updated draft and and and after the tree committee after hearing our discussion you may come up with some other things you want to put in there um all right any any other things on this issue all right so uh again thank you for everybody for your your hard work on this and uh you know it again you know people love the way this town looks and it's the trees are a big part of that look so thank you I did hear earlier in the discussion regarding the residents on Lawnwood um you know I'm always accepting tree planting requests I have a form on the website and you know feel free to send anybody who reaches out to you guys towards that way um I'm like I said I'm always taking them and um trying to get as many in the ground as I can so great well if you have any if you have any to go in this year that'd be a good Street to choose make it easier thank you all right good evening all right we go to we have an application for a motion to approve the closure of a street uh for Meadowbrook on May 4th for block party can I get a motion I Mo we approve the block party road closure for meal Brook Road on May 4th second okay all those in favor okay and then we have a one-day liquor license uh for St Mary's Guild uh applications there's two events uh April 25th and April 23rd um we have any motion April 25th and May 23rd oh I'm sorry April and May 23rd yeah all right I guess I will make a a motion to approve these events um over April 25th May 23rd they want a one-day liquor license because they're having meetings that um yeah I don't have the application in front of me but um how how will we approve the same are's Guild when day liquor license applications for both days okay I'll second that uh any further discussion all those in favor all right and then the last thing we have is a um a Long Meadow and Adult Center Community Fund has two applications um for events held on May 2nd and May 30th from 5: to 7:00 p.m. uh any can we get a motion for those um so I move to approve the one-day liquor license application submitted by The Long Meadow Adult Center Community Fund um for May 2nd and May 30th from 5: to 7:00 p.m. second okay all those in favor oppos all right and then we have cor correspondents that were posted and I don't know if there's any comments or questions about the the what we received um yeah the the comment I just wanted to make was about a a request that we got from uh a member of the zoning board of appeals Mr Benn and I you know we we received Karen's response to it and I thought that was all well thought out my only concern is that we have a number of Volunteers in town and we ask them to do an awful lot yeah and and we ought to make their lives as easy as possible and I I understand we don't want to spend a lot of money and make a lot of copies but when it comes to the zoning board of appeals I I think the because the documentation and I've seen some of the stuff their plot plans their pictures their there there's stuff that generally I couldn't make a copy of or print out if I wanted to you know I think the right way to do it is to tell excuse me to tell the the person submitting it submit one extra copy in writing and then have and I know we don't have a a staff member anymore because it was listed here is Zach but Zach is left you know but have them call up Mr Bennett and say please come pick pick up the packet you know and and let him come pick up the packet that's what we do well that thank you but that's not the way it came through it came through is there were none there was nothing there and and yeah it um but we have the the boards are entirely uh able to change their application Pro process to require that the applicant submit as many hard copies as members of the boards wants to receive them plus one for the office to keep okay um we that was made clear in my initial email to the board that I emailed saying we were no longer going to be mailing anything out um and has since been communicated to anybody including Mr Bennett who has had questions so there there are hard copies for him to pick up um I I think he's preferring us to mail which is just what we we said we wouldn't do so um I'm not I'm not suggesting we mail it out but you know just so you know current beside this letter I'd gotten a couple phone calls from Mr Bennett and discussions about it and you know if you haven't heard me say this I'll say this publicly there are three sides to every story your side their side and the truth that lies somewhere in the middle and and I recognize that that's probably the case in this situation as well I just want to make sure that a the people who are applying to the zoning board for Action don't get postponed because somehow the paperwork wasn't there or some ridiculous you know administrative kind of over site and the other thing is that we can do this with no cost of the town but we ought to take into account the fact that we have volunteers and we ought to do our best to make those volunteers as as effective as as we can and getting the job done even if that means having somebody like Mr Bennett review the applications once again and tell them that a component was emitted or whatever he's talking about here so that people don't come in and say sorry we don't meet for another month you're out of luck which my understanding is what one of the things that happened last year which we want to make sure doesn't happen again that was my only point so I'm not I'm not asking us to do anything more just to make sure that we make this happen yeah I I just i' say the same thing because I know when we look at zoning change and Zoning appeals a lot of times there's there's very strict guidelines about how long things could be delayed and it's really the town's responsibility to make sure we we meet those guidelines and so even if we had to mail things out to people it would be a good plan for the for the town to get people those things because yeah it's it's a um you know those are some some of those decisions really will affect neighborhoods and so we you know they there's kind of stock between what neighbors want and what developers want sometimes and it's not an easy place to be so we appreciate the people who are on those the zoning committe ities um and we'll do what we can so thanks for bringing that up Mark yeah I just want one other thing what what most people don't realize is that and I'm not going to give a number because I don't know the number but a lot if probably a majority of the houses in Long meow are non-conforming properties because our zoning bylaws have changed so frequently and so you know most people in town who need to do something whether it's put on a move change a deck or put on an addition end up going before the zoning board of appeals because they are technically a non-conforming property which is the the reason we have a zoning board of appeals and the reason I brought this up okay great so as there's no further stuff I I've tried to keep this meeting going as long as possible but it's it's only 8:20 and we have to look for a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn thank you second okay all those in favor all right good night thank you for watching