Planning Board submits revised Tree-Preservation Bylaw for Spring Town Meeting Warrant

In its April 7 meeting, the Planning Board voted unanimously to submit its most recent version of the revised Tree-Preservation Bylaw to spring Town Meeting Warrant, subject to Town Counsel review. The revised Bylaw’s scope is greatly reduced, and now applies to substantially fewer properties than the bylaw proposed by the Board in autumn 2020. If adopted by Town Meeting, it will apply only to building activities.

The aim of the bylaw is to encourage protection of trees at least 6” in diameter, during building activity in existing zoning set-backs where building activity is already restricted. This is the “Tree Border” where if such protected trees are removed in the course of building activity, they would need to be replaced with saplings of minimum size or mitigated by payment into the Town’s existing tree fund to support the Town’s overall tree-planting and maintenance efforts.

Specifically, the bylaw would apply ONLY to:  exterior building activity for new home construction or for any existing home expansion of 50% or greater; new subdivisions; projects requiring special permits or variances; and site plan approvals.  Protected trees that are removed would be replaced on a 1” for 1” diameter basis (e.g. if a 6” tree was removed within the tree border, it may be replaced with three 2” trees), or property owners could pay a tree replacement fee into the tree fund which would reflect the DPW’s current tree purchase and planting costs (the 2021 estimate is $400 for a 2” diameter tree).

The full text of the revised Tree-Preservation Bylaw, along with a one page summary flyer can be viewed on the Planning Board webpage at https://www.town.lynnfield.ma.us/planning-board/pages/tree-preservation-...