Is Croton’s Planning Board set to approve cutting down two more trees at Katz site? [Updated]
A resolution for the Planning Board to approve the cutting of the trees is all prepared and ready to go. But who approved the developer damaging them during construction of a retaining wall?
At this evening’s Planning Board meeting, Tuesday June 4, board members appear to be ready to approve the cutting down of two more trees at the Katz property (now known as Maple Commons) in the area of the so-called “pocket park” now under construction at the corner of Maple and Municipal Place. For reasons that are not clear in the supporting document, these two trees were not included in the original tree survey. The Planning Board is the approving authority for the issuance of a Tree Removal Permit.
The supporting document can be found here, and the Resolution for the Planning Board to approve—if it chooses to—is already drawn up, as is often the case:
We might hope, however, that some members of the Planning Board will at least want to discuss this proposed approval before it is issued. For one thing, at least one of the trees was damaged during the construction of the retaining wall, and it is not clear from the supporting documents whether that was approved or anticipated by the Planning Board—and to what extent it is now being used as part of the justification for the removal of two trees.
Perhaps all will be made clear at tonight’s meeting. We plan to attend and we will report further on what happens.
Update: L’après meeting.
So, our reporting team has returned from the field (being in this case the Georgianna Grant meeting room at the municipal building) and can update our story on the Planning Board meeting. No one actually showed up to “Save the Trees,” and so the discussion of the issue was somewhat anti-climactic.
There did not seem to be any clear explanation for why the two trees had been missed during the much earlier tree survey, but there was general agreement that “these things happen.” Village engineer Dan O’Connor did remark, however, that if the trees had been spotted earlier, they probably would have been marked for removal anyway because of the two retaining walls (an upper and a lower) that were planned for the pocket park.
Acting chair Steven Krisky asked the group whether the developer, Regan Development Corporation, should be required to do some remediation for the “compromised” trees. All eyes turned to board member Eva Thaddeus, who is also co-chair of the Croton Garden Club. She agreed that the developer should be required to do some replanting, commenting that “there have been so many trees lost to this project, more than was anticipated.”
After a bit of discussion the board members agreed that the developer would be required to plant one new tree in a spot that would provide some visual blockage of the auto dealerships down below, and a second tree where Regan chose to put it.
We were curious as to why Regan did not send a representative to the meeting, but afterwards Dan O’Connor explained to us that he had told the developer they did not really need to attend, on the assumption that Regan would be amenable to what the Planning Board decided. It was also revealed during the meeting that Regan will be installing some sort of standing clock in between the two retaining walls to add to the aesthetics of the park.
Villagers might find it interesting to follow all of these developments as they unfold.
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Thanks for this update and further reasoning as to why they are likely to do this. Did an arborist come in and assess the trees? Or are they just thinking the damage is enough to take them down?