For the first time in at least four years, Saugus is gearing up for a tree hearing — where the fate of a number of trees on town-owned property will be determined.
According to a posting on the town website, the hearing is for trees at 6 Stanley Terrace and was requested by the residents of 17 Wakefield Ave. The residents of the Wakefield Avenue home, which backs up onto the Stanley Terrace property, feel their house “could be in danger,” said Saugus Tree Warden Tim Wendell.
The Stanley Terrace property is town-owned, and as a result, a public hearing must be held before the trees can be removed.
“It’s the process of a publicly-owned tree,” Wendell said.
Peter Capobianco, who lives at 17 Wakefield Ave., declined to explain why the hearing was requested and would not identify the trees in question.
“There is a public hearing,” he said, adding it was “probably best to wait” until that point to discuss the reasoning for requesting the trees come down.
The trees to be discussed at the meeting are each labeled with pink notices denoting their status, allowing residents to examine them before the hearing. The notices list the date of the hearing as well as the types of trees.
Members of the Tree Committee said they were not briefed on the specifics of the impending hearing but said hearings are typically convened when a resident wants to cut down a tree that is not on their property.
“If somebody wants a tree to be cut down, there’s a hearing so people can express their views,” said committee member Laura Eisener.
Eisener said tree hearings are “less frequent than they used to be.” Indeed, the Tree Committee itself does not appear to have met since February 2020, according to publicly posted agendas on the Town of Saugus website.
The last tree hearing held in town appears to have been on Sept. 9, 2019 — meaning next Monday’s hearing is the first in more than four years.
The hearing will be held in the First Floor Conference Room at Town Hall at 6 p.m. on Jan. 29. most likely revealing the root of the problem behind the trees.
Correction: Due to a reporter’s error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the number of trees to be discussed at a tree hearing in Saugus. The Item regrets the error.
