 Now there we are. We're recording. Hold on. What was that? We're recording just so you know. Yes. I have limited vocal. You make a cold or something. I've been sick. Quite sick for three or four days, but I'm better today, but we got a bunch of participants. So good. I will. Oh, I guess you need to make me a co-host. We have a quorum. And Sarah is listening. Maybe I'll just allow her to talk to him. Okay. I invited her to join as a panelist, but she didn't yet. So. And we have one guest, Jeffrey Vidal. And we have two, maybe. And John Tyson. Yeah. So go ahead, Alan. So I just want to let everybody know who is attending the hearing that this is being recorded and will be available. For review off the town website. After Friday. Saturday morning essentially. So in accordance with the provisions of mass general law chapter three, three warden is holding a public. Shaitree hearing. Today, Tuesday, June 13th, 2023. For the proposed removal of a 17 inch. In diameter. Norrie maple. Located on college streets. Approximately 32 Collins street. The applicant to remove this is ever source. And partially the town as well, it sounds like so where the town is. Also agreeing with the removal of this tree. At this point. So I will just open this up for. I guess I should tell you why it's being removed first request to remove it. So I'm just going to run from the sub station. So the resource is installing a new. Underground. Power line. That's going to run from the substation. Up college street to. Self. Pleasant street along the north side of college street. So it's the opposite side of the street where the power lines currently are. And so I'm just going to run from the substation. So I'm just going to run from the substation. The lines, these conduits that will be installed. Large. Faults in the ground. Are for new lines that don't exist yet. To provide. Power. To. A new connection they have. Which was installed, I believe. This winter. Under the road. The road nine. North Hampton road project. The tree essentially will not survive. Construction. That's taking place for these underground utilities. In the public way. That is why they being the tree is being requested to be. Just quick, just popping near. Just wondering like the importance of the tree is there any significance to it or anything other than the fact it's a tree. It's a, it's a relatively healthy norway maple. It's the remaining norway maple of. The tree, that section of the road was lined with norway maple at one point in time. And one by one, they've all. Slowly declined and died and been removed. So this is the remaining. One norway maple that was planted in the grass belt. Between the sidewalk and the curb of the road. So that is significant in itself, that it survived this long. It is an or a maple, which is in his face and species, which normally we purchased anywhere in Massachusetts. But they are naturalized and growing. Have been planted for years across Massachusetts. Thank you. I appreciate you answering that question. I can also add that. The tree. Shades an area that gets no shade from any other tree. It's a standalone tree. So for that reason, it felt important to me. Thank you, Henry. Oh, I see your concern there. That makes sense. So I think. Do you have any other. Questions from our guests. Who worked on the public. I do. I do, sir. It might be a little loud in the background because my wife is vacuuming. So I'm sorry for that. But I want to ask, is there a certain budget. We're going to go over. For this. And yeah, that's, that's my question. Thank you. Okay. So the town. Is not going to incur any cost. For the removal of this tree that the applicant will do that. No, I'm not seeing the town being our budget being impacted by this. As far as the removal of tree goes, the contractor. Applicant is responsible for removal of all the parts of the tree or paying for the removal of all the parts of the tree. May I talk to the person who made the complaint? I just want to hear this out of the story. I'm sorry, I don't understand the question. Is the person who had filed the complaint in this zoom calculator? I just want to hear this out of the story. What I haven't heard a complaint yet. I'm not sure what you're talking about. The question or just. No, I think the last person who was just talking like personally messaged me some complaints. So I was just a little confused or something. Okay. I haven't seen any. Messages yet. So. I'm getting. Um, sir, whoever would like to speak or answer me, I'm getting direct messages. It says from anonymous and they're sending inappropriate pictures. So I'm also getting, I'm also getting that right now. Is anybody else getting those? I don't know what's up. It's, it's to the mail genitalia. Okay. Can we block all this? Yeah, can we please block all this? It's just like, it's too much. Like, I don't know if you guys can post me blocking because it is the direct message to me. So I don't know. It's someone trying to hit on me. I just find it extremely inappropriate. I believe the person who sent it was, um, Ellen, I think Ellen was setting these out to people. I don't know. It's kind of strange. Did you also get it from Ellen? Um, whoever was just speaking. No, none of us. John Tyson. John Tyson. Did you also get it from Ellen? What happened? Are you saying from Alan? It was Ellen. It was Ellen. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just assuming that I'm just assuming it was Ellen. Cause she hasn't piped up one time this entire meeting. So I don't know. It seems a little bit nefarious to me. Um, So those are probably spam bots. I'm not sure. I think. I think Jeffrey. I'm Henry. I think Jeffrey battle is a zoom. If you guys go back to. I know what I can do. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you. I'm going to remove you from the panelist. Can you. Can you kick Jeffrey? I think he. Yeah. Can you please kick John Tyson. He's so annoying. He's annoying me so much right now. You guys, please. Jeffrey, you're muted and you have your hand raised. So if you want to speak, you still can. Okay. Actually he may. He's gone. So all right. Ellen's back with us. There's only three panelists. What happened to everybody? Where's Bennett. He might have left to try to rejoin. Henry, could you try to make me a panelist again? I don't, I didn't see that option. Okay. Did it twice. Yeah, I don't know. It's not, it's not popping up for me. Oh, there. Okay. Okay. So. I appreciated their questions, but. Still missing that. Yeah. He said. He suggested we quit and restart. So I texted him with those two. And he said. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No longer a panelist, so you can join back in. What happened to. Julian. Julian left. Earlier. I noticed that he was gone. Before. Those other people were. Bantling. There's Bennett. Okay. So we have a quorum. Let's continue. Right. We have any guests in attendance. Does one like it. Chris bamboo. Chris have a question. I have to allow him to talk. Or did you just do that? I did not. There it is. Chris, you have your hand raised. If you'd talk now, it would be good. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Hi, I'm sorry. I'm actually. I'm just listening in. I met with Brett. A couple of weeks ago and she told me I should listen on these calls. Cause we want to do something similar in Belcher town. So I'm just observing. Did you have any concerns or questions around the. The tree that is being proposed. No, I don't. Okay. Thank you. Well, Chris, right after this at five 30, we have our regular meeting. Which may be more of use to you. So. Yeah. It's a different link. It's on the town website as well. I saw that I'll join there as well. Thank you. Thank you. And Julian's computer crash. So he won't be joining back. We're joining on a different device. Okay. So I would like to open this up. To. Discussion with the committee. You had a site visit. Would you like to discuss? The tree at this point. It's been a while. There. Do we know that there is no other option for ever source? Like to go on the other side of the street. I'm told that this is the side of the street they need to go on. The other side of the street. They're proposing to put. A different set of underground. Lines there. Essentially the three phase that you see above ground. Plus all the communication lines that hang below those. We'd go on that other side of the street. Thank you. The line they're proposing to put in. I believe is not sort of it's, it's more of a. Transmission line. Then a distribution line. So the transmission lines are the ones that. Kind of move electricity long distances, but don't really feed any of them. The areas in between them. So this line is just trying to get. Power. Up the hill to another. Junction where it will be distributed. Whereas the lines on the other side of the street are. Distribution lines. Distributing electricity to each structure as they go down the street. I have a question. Well, would we be able to plant on the side of the street that the tree marked for removal or for the hearing. Is on after they do this work or is there. You know, like a no plant buffer or whatever for the transmission line that they're putting in. Yeah. So we would be able to plant, you know, Right around them. The, the. Conductor is going underneath essentially the sidewalk. For part of the part of the way it's in the road, part of the way it goes up onto the sidewalk because of already existing underground utilities. So in this particular section. The power lines are actually going to be. Up on the sidewalk side. So we would be able to plant in the. Setback. With Amherst college. Chris has his hand raised still. I'm not sure if that was from the question previous. No, sorry. That's okay. And Alan, you said. The town's already approved this. So they give them sort of permission. They filed for a permit to put the infrastructure in the public way. And the town approved that. Could we ask for money to be paid into the tree fund to pay and replace the tree so that we could do. Plantings. Along. Along that side. Of the street when the work is done. Thank you. You can always ask. I think the town. Looks. And I have to admit that I do look favorably upon. Every source. Because of all the work they do for the town. So it's some. They. Remove, you know, tens of thousands of dollars. Trees for us that are dangerous and we can't do. They prove one side of the street. Every four years. So that I don't have to do it. So it's, it's, um, We can always ask. Is there precedent? Have they done. Things. Have they like paid into the tree fund for projects similar to this before? The only thing that comes to mind for me is. The only time they've been charged for. Replacement tree was when they took down an inappropriate tree. That was not. You know, Permission. There was a misunderstanding. Between myself and the, in the ever source. About what tree was supposed to be removed. And they took down the wrong tree. So. That's the only time that I remember them being. Um, charged the. Replacement costs. Okay. I guess. I'm my feeling is that. The work needs to be done. And it's basically has all of its other approvals, but then we should ask that they pay into the tree fund. I don't know how much. Um, if we want to try to figure out an amount that seems appropriate for. Retreating that side of the street when the work is over. Um, It's hard to figure out how much. Cause the, that's a big tree. It's like a nice big shade tree. So, you know, putting in just one little replacement trees really not going to. It's not the same. It's not the same value. Um, but if we could put in a bunch of different trees and like re-tree that whole. Side of the street that. That will be something in a couple of, a couple of years. So the, the inch per inch replacement cost. You know, our policy. Um, states that it would, you know. A $90 per inch replacement costs would be. We're $1,500. That would go into the tree fund. If they were doing that. Um, It was a town. Um, I should say a town. I certainly have. Plans. To plant trees along that side of the street. Um, When we get to that point. Um, And we now. Fortunately, we have the money to do that. So we have the. Line item in the budget to plant trees. And Amherst college has expressed a lot of interest. In replanting. That section of street. All right. Do we want to. Make a proposal anyone. I mean, I just, I feel frustrated that. Like, I feel like it's a done deal. So I'll make a proposal that we don't want to take it down. Just because it's a nice tree and it's healthy. And I don't know. I hate that we keep losing trees. I just wanted to pipe in. I apologize. My computer crashed. So I had to rejoin on a new computer. That's camera is a little fuzzy for some reason. Um, But I can hear you just a brief understanding. So I can get an understanding of what the idea here is. Is there any reason they can't put. The. Dig the wires on the other side of the street. So that they avoid. This tree at all. Yeah. Julie, they did ask that question has been asked. Unfortunately missed it. So, um, The line that they're the underground. Kind of what they're putting in is for a new line that doesn't exist right now. Um, And it's too. It's more of a, um, Transmission line. So it's transmitting power. From one point to the next with no sort of. Taps going off of it. The lines that are currently above ground on the other side of the street are. Distribution lines and they distribute the power. To house to house or building to building as they go up the street. So these, this is a very different type of. Line than the other side of the street. And the talk is, is that those lines on the other side of the street and. All the communication lines that hang below those power lines are. Planned to go underground as well. So. In the. Near future. We will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to. Completely. Replant that whole street. Which will be nice. Okay. So there are two different types of lines. And thus they can't. They have to dig up more than just the one side of the street. Um, So. I guess what I'm wondering is, is there any way to offset it? So they dig up. Like most of the street. And part of Amherst college property rather than that tree or something along those lines, or is that not a possibility? I'm told they tried putting everything in the street where they could. Unfortunately due to. Already buried infrastructure. Um, they have to. Leave the road at that point go up towards the sidewalk first for a length of time. Where. Um, They can fit their conduit in. In there. There's kind of these, these large vaults, concrete vaults, which are, you know, like. 18 by like 20 or so. And probably. 12 or so feet tall. Like it buried in the ground every so. Many. You know, feet. And that's where the land is. Lines are connected and joined. And there's a point for them to. Get into this. Infrastructure and maintain it. We did the same thing. When we'd underground in the utilities. East Pleasant street. When that road was redone. And the roundabout was built. So there's. This massive underground infrastructure. That it's more than just a. Piece of PVC pipe there. So it couldn't. You couldn't theoretically have that angle up towards the sidewalk. In a different. Location. Theoretically. And then keep going down the sidewalk because. The large underground infrastructure is. Holding the ability to do that. And that infrastructure can't be moved. The existing infrastructure can't be moved. So they're not. They need to go around it. At this particular section. And the tree, like, is the only. The tree is in the only line where they can go around it. They can't go around it in another line. That's what I'm told. I haven't seen the plans. Yeah. Talk to the engineers. In the interest of time. Since our other meeting starting at four minutes. Ellen's made a proposal. You want to say that again. I propose that. We. Vote to. Keep the tree. Okay. Any other questions or changes or. Should we vote on that proposal? Okay. All in favor of Ellen's proposal. To. Say no to the removal of that tree. And. It needs to be seconded. I think. Okay. I'll second it. Someone else. Could we add it that if they disregard our motion entirely. That they still pay into the tree fund. I just feel like they're going to ignore what we say. And then we're not going to get anything for it. And I want a backup plan. I just, I just think it's worth investing in. The trees, even if they take it down against our wishes. Okay. Do you accept that on. Yeah. Absolutely. So let's vote on. That we. Do not allow removal of the tree. But if they remove it anyway. They need to pay into the gift tree fund based on 17 inches at $90 per D inch. Okay. All in favor of that. Raise your hand. I. Julian, did you raise. Yep. I support that unanimous then. All right. Thank you for that. So let's see. It is. 528. So I mean, I. I just want you to know my opinion. Why I'm going to approve the removal of the tree. It's. You know, We can leave the tree and the damage to the root zone is going to be so severe that it's probably going to fall over into the road. So the project is going to get built. And. We just need to. Look at this as an opportunity. To lose one tree and. End up with a whole new streetscape that will. Be there for generations to come. So. It's going to be a process. There's going to be a lot of construction. Sidewalks going to need to be fixed. The roads will get repaved. But I think in the end, we're going to, we're going to have a nice. New section of college street. It's. Does look bare. And it's going to look worse. For a number of. Possibly years until everything is completed. It's going to be a. Good project in the end. So I'm going to approve the removal of the tree. And hearing no. Objections from. Anybody or having not received any letters to object. To move the tree. I will vote to remove the tree. Thank you. Public safety committee for. Making this the point that. It does have a value. And they should be. Reimbursing the town. For that. And now we're going to. Overall. The large scale of the project. It's a minute. Challenge that now. And then it would go to Paul. I'm sure it would approve it. So I don't see a point to doing that. Yeah. Great. So thank you for your time. And for the site visit. And in all the different. And I'm going to end the. Tree here. And at this point. Again, if anybody wants to see it's available. After Friday on the town website. Thank you. I'll see everybody at the. Meeting. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks.