Tree Growth Letter
Carolyn Misch
From:Ken Jodrie [KJodrie@CBAarchitects.net]
Sent:Thursday, September 10, 2009 11:13 AM
To:Jeff Casey; Carolyn Misch
Cc:smgilson@comcast.net; Eric Forish; Deb Jacobs; Susan Ford
Subject:RE: Trees
Carolyn and Jeff,
I’m assuming the 263 King Street property is the proposed Kia site which was the only one inspected by the applicant?
Those are the most recent plantings and appear to be the healthiest although all the Ash on that site as well as the Ash on
the other two Lia sites are infested with ash borers. I’m not a horticulturalist but I noticed this issue immediately – 1/16 to
1/8” round holes, some with larvae casings sticking out of them. Jay says it’s likely that all these trees will eventually die
without ongoing treatment of some sort. As for the dead and dying trees, it’s a short walk across the street to find those;
they are obvious and there is a requirement to maintain them which we have brought to the attention of this applicant on
many occasions. It’s difficult to feel confident that we can expect any co-operation on these issues without an ongoing
debate. So that’s why the NTC is requesting permit conditions that will hopefully make things easier for all of us on this
new project. All this writing and site inspection time is a burden. As for the other two sites, the dead and dying trees and
misc. dead plantings should be replaced as required by the city ordinance.
Ken
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Casey [mailto:jeff.casey@forishconstruction.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 10:38 AM
To: 'Carolyn Misch'
Cc: Ken Jodrie; smgilson@comcast.net; 'Eric Forish'
Subject: RE: Trees
Carolyn,
I had Mountain View Landscaping, the landscaper who originally installed the trees at 263 King
St., conduct a site inspection yesterday to look at the concerns noted by the Tree Committee. He said
that he did not see any dead or dying trees on the 263 King St. property. He did notice a fungus growth
on multiple trees, which I am assuming is the disease mentioned in Ken’s email. Please see the attached
letter from the nursery’s Massachusetts Certified Horticulturalist regarding the fungus and the corrective
action required.
Can you please forward this to Deb and Susan – I did not have their email addresses.
Thanks,
Jeffrey P. Casey
Project Manager, LEED AP
Forish Construction Co., Inc.
Phone: (413) 568-8624
Fax: (413) 562-7136
From: Carolyn Misch [mailto:cmisch@northamptonma.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 8:51 AM
To: Jeff Casey
Subject: FW: Trees
Jeff-
Just a heads up. This will definitely be an issue this week.
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Applicants are responsible for maintaining trees in perpetuity as part of the site. If possible, please contact an
appropriate landscaper/arborist to contract them to correct the problems and replace the trees prior to the
hearing.
Thanks,
Carolyn Misch
From: Ken Jodrie [mailto:KJodrie@CBAarchitects.net]
Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 8:32 AM
To: Carolyn Misch; smgilson@comcast.net
Cc: Deb Jacobs; Susan Ford
Subject: Trees
The Tree Committee did a site visit to King Street this past week-end to look at Lia plantings. We understand that
non-compliance at the Honda and Toyoya sites can’t be addressed with conditions on the current permit
application but given the history on this we would like to request a condition that requires inspection of the
plantings prior to a C.O. on the Lia project. A number of the trees installed by this applicant to date are dead or
dying and the Tree Committee has spent many hours trying to get this problem corrected. Planting trees is not
rocket science and should be done right the first time around. The selection and maintenance of healthy trees is
important and to that point, virtually all of the ash trees are infested with some type of ash borer. Mr. Forish
insisted on planting ash against the recommendation of the committee and we plan to pursue some remedy for
the existing problem. (Wish us luck. We’ll need it.)
The plan submitted for existing conditions identifies the existing trees to remain as maples. In fact, they are all
either ash or oak – two diseased ash and two oak in the parking lot and four oak and two diseased ash in the
back.
Our Sustainability Plan emphasizes the goal of maintaining the city’s tree canopy. Currently, the city is not able to
sustain an adequate replacement program. It’s important that we try to guarantee that what does get planted is
done properly.
Ken
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