LYNN — The Planning Board voted to pass the removal of public shade trees on the sidewalks of Washington Street and Broad Street to the Lynnway.
The removal is part of the Washington Street Gateway District Plan, which began in 2008 and aims to improve safety, enhance the roadway and make the street more pedestrian friendly, eventually better connecting it to the ocean.
The President of World Tech Engineering Rich Benevento, who is working with the city on the project, said that when they do projects, they try to accommodate all users, not just vehicles, but pedestrians and cyclists too.
“We’re not removing trees, we’re replacing them,” he said.
Benevento reassured skeptics that there is science behind the plan, highlighting that all of the trees will be replaced by sunset maple trees. He said that sunset maple trees are conducive to urban environments, because they are tolerant to drought, sun, road salt, and won’t destroy the sidewalks and lift up the sidewalk panels.
The Lynnfield-based Procopio Companies will spearhead the removal of eight mature trees to create roughly 40 angled parking spaces for its planned high-rise development.
Department of Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall said that the project’s goal is to slow traffic and supply compliant sidewalks and crosswalks to the area for a safer way to get from Nahant Street to Washington Street and over to the new boardwalk on the coast.
“The big picture is to make life easier with this,” he said.
Charles Gaeta, the executive director of Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development, expressed his support for this project, saying that the neighborhood will receive infrastructure investment that it so badly needs along with the benefit of new urban trees.
The previous removal of trees in the city in December triggered an investigation, because the city did not follow proper protocol prior to the removal. The Department of Public Works (DPW) stated that before trees are removed, a public hearing must occur and it must be advertised in the local newspaper. Some of the statutory prerequisites were not followed by city officials and the Planning Board in December’s tree removal.
The city’s lawyer, James Lamanna, said that city officials were unfamiliar with the provisions requiring the size and type of tree to be included in the newspaper advertisement and were unaware of the requirement that the trees also be posted for seven days prior to the Planning Board meeting.
Those errors were acknowledged and will be corrected in future situations. No fines were enforced because the errors were made by the city so the owner/contractor did not intentionally take any actions in violation of the law or in contravention of what they were told by the city.
Everyone involved was made aware, and proper protocol was practiced for the tree removal on Washington Street.
“While I cringe at the idea of eliminating mature trees for cars, and I believe that we should be planning for less cars and more trees, I do feel better that the city followed proper procedure this time,” said Soraya E. Cacici, a broker and the owner of Nest Forward, a modern day real estate boutique.
