 Hello. I'll start letting the other participants in. Yeah. Just clicked on your name and it changed it to a panelist, not co-host. And here you, Alan. Can you hear me now? Actually, I can't promote them to panelists. Yeah. You have to make me co-host. Yeah. You were for a second and bumped you out. You're still muted. You hear me now. Okay. Alan, try us talking again. Yeah, now I can. We have to make the others panelists. I can't do that for some reason. Oh, now I can. Never mind. Oops. I think we actually are recording at the moment. Yeah, record. We're recording just for information. Doesn't want to let me pause recording. We're up to a dozen people. All right. Good evening, everybody. This is Alan snow tree warden with a ton of Amherst. We're going to be holding a public shade tree hearing today. For the proposed removal of public shade trees on the North Common. For a. See, what is it for? The improvements. Sidewalk improvements and excess improvements on the North Common. So. I'm going to run a short PowerPoint presentation. After which time the. Publish a tree committee is going to open a meeting. And they're going to discuss and ask questions. Around the. The proposal to the tree ward. And at that point they will also. When they're finished discussing, open it up to public comment. So I'm going to go ahead and begin the tree warden. Presentation. And bear with me because. I'm going to do this from an iPad. And I need to figure out how to. Show the presentation. I'm going to. You know, No more than three minutes or fairly two minutes to a person. We hope to have this meeting over at six o'clock, which is when it's scheduled to end. So I'm going to, I'm going to go ahead and begin the tree warden. And I'm going to go ahead and begin the presentation while. Talking to you. So please bear with me. Not sure what you're seeing. Let me know if you see a PowerPoint presentation. We see it. Okay. So in accordance with master in law chapter 87. Section three. Shade trees tree warden is holding a public hearing. Shade trees. Shade trees. Shade trees. Shade trees. Shade trees through by PM. Virtual hearing. About the removal of the north trees in the North Common. With accessibility and redesign. By the town of Amherst. Shade trees. Impacted by this project include the following. Shay trees. 50 inch. I can say that, you know, I was asked by the town to assess the health of the trees on the common and then to identify trees that were the least healthy, and that would be, you know, something that you refer to, you know, work, not to save but work to save the healthier trees. So, with that in mind, we began the design process with the healthy trees in mind. The three trees that were identified and just mentioned are the least healthiest trees on the North Common and have the shortest life expectancy to them. So that's why they, they have been identified. One of the trees, 14 inch Norie Maple on the west side of the North Common cross from essentially the bid office on South Pleasant Street. See the tip die back. Half the leader has to use already moved several years ago was pruned out. The other Norie Maple the 15 inch Norie Maple is sort of on the corner Spring Street parking lot and South Pleasant Street. Again, the crown is thinning beginning to thin. It's very lopsided tree because it was growing away from the larger trees in the on the common. So it was chosen as tree that looked like it already was in the process of the very beginning phases of decline. And then the 50 inch Norie Maple which is everyone refers to as the Mary maple. Again, it is next to the 14 inch tree probably the tree and worst health on the common. The iconic tree which has been sort of love to death by all the attention we have given it over the years. We've seen the upper crown is a fair amount of thinning going on. So the Mary maple again this is a 2016 December. A very light sweet storm was not really a heavy weather event by any stretch of imagination. No wind or anything. And that lie branch which had been live in green previous year failed at that point in time. It was the attachment point where the branch failed. So you see there. This is a couple of years later it's about two years later. But there's not a lot of healthy tissue growing around that. There is some, but it's it's struggling to compartmentalize that wound. And then right next to that just to the left in this picture just to the right of this branch cut was where the other branch failed you can see the kind of jagged edge there of the fail branch. So this cut branch was removed. Many years goes before 2011. And very, very little kind of new callous tissue around it. So the decay is pretty extensive inside that branch closer up. Just a quick note on how trees respond to wound so they do not heal like we do they compartmentalize so if there is an injury. The tree alters the cells of the wood, chemically to more decay resistant cells and does its best to wall off decay. The tree is very healthy and growing well. It is as much better chance of, of competing the decay so it puts on more healthy wood than decay consumes. My opinion this tree is not at that stage where it is successfully compartmentalizing the decay that takes place. Here's a picture of the crown up a crown of the central leader. The tree, you know, looks better in July than it does right now in August, but we've lost more green surface up there already. But, you know, I really shouldn't be able to daylight through this particular leader of the tree should be a much thicker healthier crown. Again, this was taken today from a distance. And the crown is very thin. The crown of the main stem. And also to the left. There's another smaller leader that goes up that has lost significant surface to photo from 2018 that shows some, you know, liquid oozing out of the trunk and freezing. There's a, you know, a decent size cavity there that was pushing out water, and then freezing. Then back just back to the other shot kind of grainy up close picture of the decline in the up crown and their mushrooms growing on the up crown on the stem, the trunk would. There is the K in that main leader that's high up in the trunk. About two years ago and had all the deadwood removed from it. Large deadwood. So, everything you see there now is dead with this happening the last two years. Another condition that impacts the tree is the soil compaction and the associated erosion that takes place on the slope where they're making maple is located. There's a lot of roots that have been eroded away and now on the surface. There's not a lot of organic matter in the soil. It's very mineral. The soil is not very healthy. So the tree is struggling. And there's the Mary maple in 2014, which was you think the last, I'm not sure about this 14 or 15 round there somewhere. But when the bid started lighting the tree again, the large Mary make up for a number of years. The little Mary maple, which is what this is was lit as the Mary maple. That is my presentation. So we should be back to screen. Okay. So we'll open it up to the committee for any questions and then we'll open it up to everyone for public comment Bennett. Hey, Alan, thanks for that. That was super helpful. Maybe you could put it back up. I had a question about the company. There was a couple of slides, but I think the one about compartmentalization that had pictures of rot. I guess you would call rot or those just to understand that was that's kind of the main part of the tree that where the main leader comes down and all the main branches meet and that's a like an aerial kind of top down view of that meeting place is that what we're looking at. Correct. So that is the location where the main trunk comes up as a single trunk trunk and then it splits off into multiple leaders and branches at that one point. So it's a crucial component, structural component of the tree. I hadn't seen that before that was alarming. Thank you. That's it. Julian, do you want to just give a little report of what we're going to do now. Sure. Thank you. So, basically, we just want everyone in the public who's watching this to know and understand the fact that we are an advisory body to the tree warden Alan. We advise him of the decisions we would like made on whatever tree is in question in this situation, multiple residents have requested that it go beyond our control or Alan's control and go to the desk of Paul Backelman who is the town manager. And basically, that means that we in this situation will be issuing a recommendation on these three trees including the merry napal, and Alan will issue a separate recommendation I believe to the town manager, and then the town manager presented with those two pieces of recommendation will make his decision based on whatever he would like to make his decision based on he will take into account our committees vote, but it will not be solely our committees vote to be very clear. And he will also take into account some of your public comments and additional outside factors including the plan the town council monetary issues, etc. So this is our position today, we're here to hear your concerns, and then after that we are here to consider what everyone has said and make a final determination. If this tree was healthy, alive standing, and there was no proposal to do the work that is planned on the North Common, even if there was a proposal to do the work that is planned on the North Common. And if this tree could survive that work and survive for years to come, I would undoubtedly and I believe everybody on this call would undoubtedly say to save this tree and preserve this tree for upcoming generations, but unfortunately we're in a situation where that's not the case in the in the slideshow Alan mentioned the tree is not in a healthy state at this point, neither any of the three trees proposed for removal, and we are going to make our decision, considering the fact that this is a very valuable community space and a community tree, and also considering the science information that's been presented by Alan, who's the tree warden, and the condition help of this tree, we would undoubtedly want to save this tree if it was entirely healthy, and I'm sure many of us have differing viewpoints on this committee, and we will be discussing and debating that, as well as hearing all of your perspectives. I appreciate everyone who's come out tonight I appreciate everyone who's about to offer a public comment, and I just like for everybody to keep that in mind, before jumping to any assumptions about our committee our work for Alan's work. We want to inform you how the process goes, whether you like how the process goes or not. We want to inform you of it. Thank you. Alan. Want to speak. I had a question that I just wanted to ask and I'm not sure if this, if Alan can answer it. I'm not clear on what impact, if the tree is, if it's decided the tree is to stay for the next couple years, dying a natural death, if you will. What impact that would have on the plans for the North. And would, would plans just be changed and redesigned or scrapped or, you know, is it an either or situation. I don't know if I can really answer the question, you know, but I would say that the town has received the funding based on the proposal that was sent, and they need to build, build that plan. I'm sure they can do some small changes but nothing drastic. You know, trees not going to die natural death. So it's a public shade tree in a very public area, people, you know, underneath it every day throughout the day, sometimes throughout the night. Sometimes there are hundreds of people gather underneath that tree. So, you know, it has some serious decay issues that are going to shorten its, its life expectancy. You know, this, sure there's, you know, extreme measures we can take to keep it from becoming a risk tree or very strong, you know, pruning to remove a lot of the weight on the branches and reduce its crown, fence it off, keep away from walking underneath of it. But it really is, as far as the health of all the trees go, it is just towards the end of its life in that highly public location. Let's open it up to the public. That's all right. Raise your hand please anybody who wants to speak. And then I will call on you. When you get on, when you start speaking please give your name and address, and then two minutes. Julian is going to time us. I'll cut you off on that moment but try to finish up as soon as your time wears up if you haven't already. Okay, Sarah, I'll provide you a warning. Sarah, it's not allowing me to allow you to talk. Sarah are you there. No. I'm clicking the allow to talk but nothing's happening. Oh, there she goes okay. Hi. Hi, Sarah. Amherst is my hometown I live in Long Meadow Mass. I have a question for Alan on the Mary Maple. Sarah, what's your whole name please. It's Sarah Articolo. Amherst is my hometown. I grew up loving the Mary Maple and it's always been an important part of my childhood and when I came back to you Mass to go to school. My question is for Alan. When would you be taking down the Mary Maple and I understand why? When would you be doing so? When would the tree probably be coming down? That's a great question. The, I would imagine that we probably do it this fall for early winter. I didn't have another celebration on the North Common again. Even with the mini maple with the lighting. There wouldn't this would last year would have been the last year of any lighting or celebration for the town. That's my understanding as far as like timeline goes on the tree in the project. I'm not the one who's going to make that decision ultimately. I appreciate you giving me more information on it. I was heartbroken to hear that it was coming down. I know that the celebration and the Mary Maple started in 66 for the town. And I spent my childhood going through them and in college. So, thank you for your time today. I appreciate it. Thank you for coming to me here. Anybody else. I don't see any other hand raised hands raised at the moment to participant though sorry it's not showing up on my screen. Let me see if I can see that somewhere. Anyone else see who's raised their hand. Yes. Britt, Chrome Miller and Adrian have both raised their hand. Britt, I'm going to allow you to speak for it. Are you there. I keep seeing your screen pop up and then she disappears. I'm just clicking allow to talk but nothing happens. I think there's a lag time when someone is allowed to talk, at least when I was promoted as a panelist at like logged me out and logged me back in so that might be what's happening. There might be a zoom lag between. So click once and letters. Stay there from it. I'll try Adrian meanwhile see if one of those works. Okay. Yes. Okay. I am one of the people who would very much like our very maple to remain in our midst because to me, it is an icon at the center of our community. Excuse me, Adrian. Can you say your whole name and address. Oh, sorry, Adrian stare. I live in lessy street in Amherst. 22 lessy street. I think it's an icon. I think it has been with us and they up again down again history. I think it has been breathing with us and through our celebrations and crises. And we have named it and needed it and loved it. I know it is nearing the end of its life but there are ways to prolong the life of a truly great tree that has a lot of meaning in our community. And a lot of people will be expressing that too. I think that it could be a rallying point and a focal point for our common and for our town. So we can regroup after the pandemic and reclaim and redevelop our unique identity here in the valley. And we need such an icon. Trees people trees work with people on a totally unconscious way. Unless you happen to really want to sit under it because it's too hot to sit out in in the sun. But I think we have named it and we've loved it. I'm hoping that we realize that it is the perfect candidate for focusing Amherst on what we have been and what we can become. I know that the measures to keep it alive will be extreme but I know that they are also possible. So thank you for hearing me out. Thank you. Let's try Brit again Brit Crow Miller. Can anyone here. Okay, can you hear me now. Yes. Okay, name and address first. My name is Brit Crow Miller. I live at 57 Woodside Ave in Amherst. I am on the faculty of the Department of Environmental Conservation at UMass. Well, you know, thank you for the presentation Alan. I have a couple of comments that I've been thinking about. You know I'm speaking primarily to the the 50 inch Norway not the 14 or 15 inch. You know I realize it's it's reaching the end of its lifespan it's declining. And it does feel a little bit like telling a parent or a grandparent, you know hey look you're in your 70s you're in your 80s, we've got arthritis you're on the decline. And it's it's kind of a pain to put the energy into taking care of you so we've just decided to pull the plug. And, you know, Alan said there are some more extreme measures that can be taken to prevent this tree from becoming a public risk. I mean, I really think short of fencing it off, you know when that point is reached it would be a different conversation in my mind but short of fencing it off I do think those measures should be taken to preserve this tree for the community for as long as possible so maybe it's only two more years maybe it's five years. I do think that, you know, given the history of this tree and the meaning of this tree in the community it's, it's worth it. You know, as my, my seven year old put it, just because the tree is old and a little bit sick doesn't mean they should cut it down, maybe it's not supposed to live here right speaking to the fact that it's not a native tree, but it still gives shade and oxygen to the air, it's part of our town. And this point hasn't come up in the conversation today but you know it is a non native species it's considered an invasive species. But I wanted to point out that pretty much all of our ecosystems at this point are novel ecosystems or human engineered ecosystems, you know whether we like that or not. And so, Norway maples have been here for more than 300 years, and so it has in the past hearing, you know, people in the town talk about cutting the tree down because it's a Norway it's felt a little bit like an excuse to kind of validate the cutting of the tree to move forward with with this project. I wanted to point out also that Norway's were originally planted for their shade benefit. They are in some ways, you know a healthy Norway at least or a peak health Norway would be the shade tree right this is the public shade tree committee. And so if we're making decisions about trees based on their ability to positively contribute to the civic life and public spaces in our town. So a vote to cut this tree down, you know, unless it is an immediate safety risk would in my mind undermine, you know the purpose and legitimacy of a committee called the Amherst public shade tree committee. So, those are my thoughts on this and thank you for the opportunity to share them. Thank you. Thank you for that. I'd like to respond. So yeah, I think you know obviously, you know, we're not taking them because it's Norway maple, though it is sort of a notch on the list of reasons why you might want to take a tree down. You know, nor maple here stay we never need rid of them. They do provide dense shade. They do provide massive seed. They do leaf out before the other native trees and they hold on to leave longer and that's why they are there. They've been so successful. But, you know, the only reason we would take down a allowed to be taken down a healthy public shade tree. Is because it was going to preserve, provide some benefit to the community overall and the tree that is at the end of its life expectancy is potentially going to come down to allow another project to be built. So, you know, the generations will have a nice space to live in to, you know, to enjoy. We are going to increase the green space on the common in this project so I don't. I don't see how we could do the project without cutting the merry maple down. So it's not like we can. We can do the project and leave the merry mix standing. It's there's no way that much of cutting and filling to achieve the grades we need to make everything work. The tree because of eyes and that's why we chose the merry maple to be removed because it was not healthy and the other large trees there are very healthy and with some extra care will be there for a lot longer. Whereas the merry maple doesn't really have that long to go. So it's, it's a tough call. It's not easy call. But when you're trying to plan the urban forest for future generations sometimes you just need to make that call and say it's time to restart. And it's a tough social, you know, kind of community thing to do, but I appreciate your, your concern. Yeah, I'll just add that as a committee we've agreed that we would not cut down healthy no way maples just because they're an invasive species. We're not planting new ones, but we're not cutting them down just for that reason. All right, I'm going to call on Sue Kelly next. Hi. I'm really concerned about the tree. Your name and full name and address please. Sorry. I understand. And I agree that cannot imagine all of that work being done and the tree, even as healthy as it is. So we can barely hear you keep fading it out like you're turning your head away from the microphone or something like that, or maybe it's just a connection. Okay, but I would hope that there's some sort of shade going to be placed there to replace the shade that's going to be lost, because I think that's one of the big things is with, especially with this heat. It makes it even more obvious that we need as much shade as we can get, especially in those areas that people in the public want to be in. So is there any shade, any other shade plans. That's it. Yes, there are there's 13 trees are on the plans to be replanted along the whole new North common plans. Some of them are smaller trees, but there are large trees as well. I will now call on Craig all Miller. Craig is not allowed, not available, because using an older version of zoom. I will promote you to a panelist to speak, and then you'll be able to speak. Okay, if you unmute and say your name and address and you can go ahead, you're on camera also for this little bit on mute please. Craig you're muted there you go. Still muted. I can I can I can't unmute I can I ask you to unmute should be a button on the bottom left. I'll say mute or unmute. Hello. Yes. There you go. We can hear you. Please state your name, full name, and then go ahead with your comment. Thanks for coming. My name is Craig on Miller, and I live at 38 Kingman road. And I guess my what I would echo what Adrian and Britt said, and I would also like to add that. I feel that, and I've provided you with written commentary about this. I feel that the process so far by which this decision was made is not in keeping with the spirit of our public shade tree law that would invite public commentary before decisions remain. Regarding shade trees. Clearly, the committee. I don't know to what degree to council, but clearly steps have been made for securing funding with the plan. That cuts down the merry maple. And that presents the public with a very, I think unfair, either or situation of either we take the merry maple down, and we care for our future generations. Or if we leave the merry maple, then it'll just get sick and it will fall on somebody and die, which has been the tenor of the presentation by this committee and other council members of council members. And I find that very dispiriting as I find the removal of the tree disparaging in fact it seems sort of of a piece. So I am requesting that in the spirit of transparency and community. Keep the tree. The plan can wait. Thank you. Thank you Craig. Yes, thank you Craig. It didn't come to us the word channels for speaking up about the plan beforehand but it didn't come to us until now, as a something we could vote on and decide. The town council was responsible for approving the funding for the North Common. All right, Sue, I think I was permitting you to talk but you didn't get to talk. So Sue Kelly, if you haven't talked already. You did speak and you answered my question I think my question was 13, you're going to put in 13 trees, will some of them be large shade canopy trees, or will they be smaller ornamentals. I just answered that in the chat in the question and answer. I believe mostly be large shade trees, maybe a few ornamentals. Alan, do you want to add anything. There are a number of large trees. And there's a number of small trees so this is a mix of trying to get shade where we need it and some maybe some color during the year. And some other, you know, benefits fruit and things like that for birds and insights. It's a mix. Is there anybody else they don't see any other hands up at this point. Okay. Britt raised her hand again okay sorry. There you go I've allowed you to talk. I actually didn't realize that I had raised my hand again but I was typing a comment in the chat. I guess I just wanted to mention that you know it's been mentioned several times that the, the new the plan for the new common or the the revamp of the common is not compatible with the continued existence of the Mary maple. But I wanted to point out that's because the plan was designed under the assumption that the tree would be removed the that didn't have to be the plan. There could have been a different plan right and so I didn't live here, I moved here in 2020 so I don't know what the public input process was for that. But, you know, it is hard to imagine, you know, it has been presented as kind of an either or right and it that didn't, it didn't have to be that way so I just wanted to. I completely understand how people feel that there hasn't been, you know, public comment, especially since it hasn't seems like it's the sudden thing that's suddenly happening. We, you know, we started with a with a master plan for the North Common. Oh, I don't know, must have been five, six years ago. And there were multiple public meetings and well attended public meetings that just to kind of ask people, what, what do people want to see on the North and, you know, this redesign what do people want. And so they took this, these meetings and all the information and there was a consultant at the time it came up with a conceptual drawing of what it might look like in the redesign. And in that particular design that consultant did not really taking consideration, any of the trees, it was a blank slate, and everything was, everything would have had to been removed if we would try to build that concept. It wasn't designed with engineering drawings or anything like that it was just really it was just a conceptual drawing of what it could look like. So the town took on the challenge, our engineering department, which just successfully designed Kenrick Park. And, you know, started from the very beginning with the idea of preserving trees. So, you know, nothing hit the paper until we say which trees stand the best chance of a long life on the North Common. And that's when the Noray Maple, the merry maple was, you know, picked as a tree that, you know, probably would be removed and we came up with several conceptual drawings. And then over the years, because it's been years, it's been going back and forth between DPW and the Town Council bouncing around trying to get, you know, trying to get to what people wanted on the North Common. So it has, there has been public comment all along at all these meetings, their public meetings. So our engineering department has come up with this final plan with the guidance of, you know, all the other sort of government agencies in town wasn't wasn't a simple decision made by one department. It was interdepartmental and a lot of public comment, which, you know, is a challenging process in itself to go through. We're here now. And it was not an easy process. A lot of tough choices were made. Okay, well, since there are no other hands, I'm going to open it up for the committee to discuss and we will make a proposal and vote on that. Anybody want to start the process. Yeah, Sarah. I'll just share that I've been thinking about this a lot. I've been thinking about this especially over the last week since our site visit, and I, I hear what people are saying about it feels like it's a choice it feels kind of forced, like, and I, and I feel all of those things myself. I honestly kind of don't want to make a decision, because I feel like it's so fraught, and, and I hate to see the merry maple come down. I really, I'm a mean I'm a resident of Amherst myself and I love the merry maple and I am feel that I'm we're all kind of put into a really hard position, because at this point, we are faced basically with a decision of it's the plans or it's the tree and maybe it didn't have to be that way and maybe that's a lesson to learn for next time but that's certainly what we're finding ourselves having to vote on tonight and I'm finding it really hard to have to make some sort of choice the I find some piece knowing that it's just a recommendation and that I'm not having to make the final decision myself. So I just want to say that that this is is really difficult and I'm really happy to hear from everyone in the community who loves this tree. It's so nice to know that that people come out for their trees and love them as much as I do personally. So, so thank you. And probably Alan you're probably the best person to answer this but in my recollection, we were talking about like this was a topic of discussion. And I could be misremembering that happened before I even heard any news about the North town common plans, like the tree, the viability of the tree. And, you know, to Sarah's point, it does feel like we're in this, you know, Sophie's choice moment, it where it's all these things that Craig Armilla also mentioned it in that way. Am I misremembering that, would we be having this conversation anyway if not for those plans. Yes, no, it's we're not far away. We're talking years. It's a decision country made to radically prune the tree to keep it, or to take it down. And the common project essentially is forcing the issue a little early. We're going to have this conversation with the tree stays we're going to have it again. Julian. One question I have is just do these type of radical prunians have you seen a lot of success with them on town trees or what impact does it make if we were to go that route. Yeah, again, I don't. If we're going to build the project, which sounds like we are. I cannot foresee a way to do the work and have the trees life expectancy be extended in any way. If we were to be shortened, even further, the radical pruning would just make it's, you know, less of a risk of failure. And we'd still be needing to come back and remove the tree. Likely within the next 10 years is that a fair cap to say. 10 probably less than five based on the decade. When I look at the plans I feel like there's nothing like so major happening in that spot that something couldn't be done as like a phase later on after full failure of the tree. I think that it continue on for a little bit more time. I feel like it would probably be a good idea to have a phase in sort of things so that like there's been since like the past five years I would say there's been a lot of changes in town and it's and it's upsetting for a lot of residents and a lot of residents to have measured changes seems like that would be more respectful for our people. I mean, we've actually discussed phasing was a project and, you know, in order to even, even just to make the path that runs through an angle through the common most common now, even trying to make that day to accessible is going to do there's going to be a fair amount of cutting and filling going on in the root zone underneath the drip line around the pipeline that tree. There's just no way to work around it to achieve the basic basic things and the in the design. If you have a copy of the handy. You'll see that where that central sort of round ovalish patio area is reason why that's there is because it allows you to have an area that flattens out for a while. And it takes up a lot of the slope, but that is right where the the very maple is it's right on top of the current very maple position, and then the other sidewalks that come up, kind of from the corner which was another big issue that everybody fixed on the common was the the bolt woods spring street. Kind of desire line where it starts and heads up at an angle towards the flag all that desire line there to try to make a path. It's extremely challenging. It's been a lot of times spent trying to work on the grading there to accomplish it and minimize the impact on the trees. So phasing would be challenging. I'm not the engineer so I can't say I'm not going to say can't be done. Definitely based on what I've learned in this process would be extremely challenge to phase those parts. There's one question that I'm going to read Alan I want you to answer and then I am going to make a proposal for us to vote on. This is from Carol rose posture. I'm sorry if it mispronounced that she writes having identified the tree is failing what does this mean about the town's liability. If somebody is hurt limb falling on a child playing under the tree for example. Just as tree warden, you know I'm responsible for making our trees, you know, to use the word safe but you know to reduce as much risk as possible from trees failing under normal weather conditions. You know, so we're moving dead wood and identifying week week, you know, branch unions and things like that in trees and mitigating that risk when possible. So, you know, if, if I say the tree should come down, because it's a risk, and I don't even need a tree here. I can just take the tree down. I, you know, as I said, at the site visit I don't think we're at that stage yet but we're very close we're years away from from need to take that drastic action to reduce the crown. And do do other things to keep the tree from coming a risk and unacceptable risk to the public. And trying to preserve the tree during construction, and then invite more people sit around underneath it is is is not something I would want to take responsibility for. Thank you, Bennett. I have a, I thought like Sarah and like everybody else in this committee I thought a lot about this, and I've actually just got a few remarks I can keep under two minutes, is that okay. Yeah. Great. So, today, I'm suggesting that we heed the Council are tree warden to accept that it's beyond rehabilitation and have six reasons for it. And again, I'll be, I'll be brief. I believe in the professionalism of Alan snow who's been named a former tree warden of the year in Massachusetts. In my experience in this committee has never been eager to cut down any tree, much less the maple tree that we call Mary maple. He has real expertise with trees and he says it's time, and I believe him the viability and safety of the maple tree have been under scrutiny well before any plans for the north town common. I'm attempting to reduce this discussion to cutting down the maple tree to make way for new plans for the north town common but I think that's inaccurate. I would vote this way regardless of plans for the north town common. Third, the artificially constrained root structure rotting center which actually hadn't seen it like I did today in Alan's presentation. The tree is obviously sick and failing main leader, the faulty cabling and other indicators of continued poor health mean that this tree isn't serious decline. Number four, while this argument that removing the tree before its time as it can to euthanasia and humans who still have a lot of life and then pulls in my heart strings truly. The difference is this tree stands in one of the most heavily trafficked parts of town and could fall at any time, presenting a safety risk that cannot be compared to an aging human. We've indicated many times to let some trees out of the public way die on their own time, because we're in no rush. In this case, I do think safety makes all the difference in this discussion. Number five, we have finite resources, I believe the amount of budget it were required to attempt to put the maple tree on life support for a few more years, could be much more efficiently and successfully deployed, preserving and improving the health of our tree canopy all over town. We have to move on. And finally, I don't want what happened on my street to happen to the town common. We had a street full of aging trees that all were roughly the same age and all declined at the same time. As a result, I now live on a dead end street for many of the trees removed at the same time, and more soon to follow. Our poor street is going to look bare for a generation. I believe the tree warden when he says we need to pursue a tree canopy that is buried in age to avoid the same scenario. I've planted dozens of trees in my yard. When I moved in, it truly hurt me to do so, but I removed two ancient maple trees that flanked my house on the front they were gorgeous. But their time had passed. They were unsafe, being in such close proximity to the people that I love. I'm equally sad that it's time to do that here. And those are my comments. Thank you. Okay. I agree with what you said, Bennett. I'm feeling that because there were so many people who came and spoke up in favor of saving this tree that was shared my, my vote on this would be to, to not make a decision to, I can't vote to remove the tree. And I understand why it needs to be removed. So you didn't exactly make a proposal did you, Bennett. No, so I'm going to propose that we take a neutral stance on this. Comments on that. From the committee. I have a vote. What did you say. I'm going to vote that I'm planning to make. Well, we need a proposal to vote on. So, I propose that we vote. Does anyone second. Well, on what? On the merry maple on chain selling the merry maple. You're proposing to remove it. No, no, I'm proposing that we talk about like we vote on whether or not we recommend to. Take a neutral vote. What do you say it's no vote. Not a neutral vote. Use what you say. Right. Like an actual vote. Okay. So. Do you want to make a proposal to save it or. To remove it. I propose that we do not take it down at this time. Okay. Can I just add something here? We're not doing each one at a time. I thought we were going to do each one separately. Well, you can make a motion that would include all three. So it's one motion. If you want to do three separate motion, that's fine too. I think three separate is good. Okay. So we're talking about the merry maple right now. Right. And your vote is to save the tree. Your proposal. Okay. That is correct. So. I tend to agree that we should have, I actually am in favor of a vote. Being one way or the other and not neutral. Just because I feel it's our. It feels like it's ours. Our responsibility to. Make a choice either way. Okay. So the proposal now is that we vote to save. I also. Who's speaking. I'm sorry. Can you. Ellen, is that you speaking? We can bear. You. This is Ellen. I have to keep. Turning my camera off. It may help others do it. It does seem slightly better since you turned your camera off. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It does seem slightly better since you turned your camera off. Try again. This better if I turn my camera off. Yes. Yes. Sorry. I'm running off of my phone. I still don't have a lot. For internet. I'm just. I'm wondering about to save the tree. I think that's a little misleading. Maybe vote not to remove it immediately. Or I don't know. I just, I would be worried in public perception of state. What we're promising if we vote. To save the tree. And maybe I'm getting into semantics here. No, I agree. That sounds appropriate. We don't want to give any false hope. Or. Or any sort of. Excitement on what. Our powers actually are, you know. Okay. So proposal for just the merry maple that we vote. To not allow it to be removed. Yes, that is my proposal. All in favor. You have to turn your camera on. Yeah. So raise hands is the easiest way. And we don't have to worry about the sound quality. So one in favor, all opposed. And abstentions. Helen, I don't think you voted. I wasn't clear on what. I was voting. We're voting on Shoshana's proposal that we did not. We vote to oppose the removal of the merry maple. Okay. Once again, all in favor. Not removing the merry maple. Okay. All opposed. And abstentions. So to oppose. Three abstentions and one fourth. All right. Let's try the opposite. Okay. I'm going to put all three together in the interest of time. I vote that we accept the removal of all three trees. I propose that. All in favor. Yeah, it does not work the same way. We'll see. So. Three people voting in favor of removing all three trees. Accepting the removal of all three trees. Yes. I'll try to get all in favor of. Accepting the removal of the three trees. All in favor. Three all opposed. And abstentions. Okay. So that's our vote. Sorry. There was. One other question that we don't really have time for in one other. Hand raised, but. At this point, we'll close the meeting the hearing. Unless Allen has any final comments. I just will say that. Thank you for, for, you know, co-hosting this meeting and, and, you know, the hard work you put into. To this decision, it's, it's not an easy one. And unfortunately in a situation like this, there are no. No, no one's a winner. You know, really. So. But, you know, if anybody has. More comments and want to submit. More questions. They can send it to myself. You can send it to the Shaitree committee. And, you know, all that information will be included to. Time manager who will be making the decision now. As far as whether or not the tree. Would be removed. So. Okay. And there's a question. What is the best way for people to learn of the official determination? I'm sure I'm pretty sure there'll be a public announcement made relatively soon. I don't think the town manager is going to, you know, sit on this very long. I think he's going to move pretty quickly in his decision. Okay. Well, thank you everyone. I appreciate all the comments. It's a difficult topic. This question is still pouring in, but we do have to end our time here. So there's some thanks and yeah, more information will come from the committee and please post on our Facebook page or write us emails and we will respond. Thanks everybody. Thanks everyone. Thank you. I'll be closing the tree hearing at six or four. Thank you.