Shade Tree Removal Occupies Edgartown Selectmen

Tree talk dominated a meeting of the Edgartown board of selectmen Monday, as they reviewed three requests for shade tree removals.

In Edgartown, trees that stand within a public way cannot be removed without a hearing in front of the selectmen.

One hearing concerned a property at 96 South Summer street, where major renovations will bring the facade of the house to face the street.

Landscape architect Kristen Reimann presented her proposal, which would remove seven trees at the downtown property, and replace them with two to three American elms.

Most of them are either in fair or poor condition, Ms. Reimann explained of the trees slated to come down.

The trees form part of a vegetated screen that currently shields the house from the street, and selectmen said they wished to preserve the wooded character of the public way.

It would be nice to see a plan that would put back the canopy that is being removed, said selectman Michael Donaroma, who added that the trees obscure the wiring that hangs over the street.

He said replacing seven trees with three seemed weak to him. The tree group includes a sycamore maple, a Japanese maple, a weeping willow, an apple tree and a pair of American elms.

But Ms. Reimann said the planned renovations would include a street-facing porch, which makes planting shade trees in front undesirable.

It is going to be difficult to recreate whats there because we are changing essentially the facade of the house on the street, and the current house is set much further back, Ms. Reimann said. So it is going to be a change in the character, in the relationship of the house to the street.

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Shade Tree Removal Occupies Edgartown Selectmen