A hat trick of shade tree hearings occupied Edgartown selectmen Monday afternoon.
Gerret Conover of Conover Restorations offered to remove two trees, a 15-foot Japanese cherry and an 18-foot plum tree, for the town. The trees are located on the Yellow House property, which the town took by eminent domain.
Conover is working with Christopher Celeste, who is operating under Summer & Main LLC, to lease and renovate the Yellow House. The lease agreement between Celeste and the town has been signed, and the Edgartown Historic District Commission has approved the plans.
Conover said it would be helpful to have those trees removed for the project, adding that some “very nice trees” would take their place.
Administrative assistant Kristy Rose told The Times that Conover is permitted to remove the trees, and that the town would have to remove them anyway.
“These are town trees; before we took them down or take them down, we wanted to have a public hearing. Mr. Conover has offered to take these trees down. As part of his project he’s offering to clean up the site, the existing site, and he’s asking permission to take the trees down. Obviously, he can’t do any of this stuff until everything’s signed off and done, but I think he has a right to ask to take down trees and offer to take it down for the town,” selectman Mike Donaroma said.
Ben Hall Jr., a member of the Hall family who used to own the Yellow House, told selectmen he was “confused” and “concerned” that Conover would remove trees that are in an open space. He said a plan had not yet been developed for that area.
“The one plan we have is those trees would be gone,” Donaroma said. “We’re going to replace them. We haven’t finalized any plans yet, but we’re working on them. This is part of the process.”
Selectman Arthur Smadbeck said the town would save money by having Conover remove them. “It’ll save the town some money,” Smadbeck said, “those trees were going to come out anyway.
“I think this project is long overdue,” selectman Margaret Serpa said, “that we have somebody that has a pride in the town and wants to do some of these nice things to improve the property.”
The selectmen approved Conover to remove the trees with a condition they be replaced by June 30, 2019.
Martha’s Vineyard Museum executive director Phil Wallis asked selectmen to remove five shade trees on the 51 School St. property. The trees are a sycamore maple, a horse chestnut, crabapple, Norway maple, and a walnut seedling. Wallis said the museum would like to retain the horse chestnut. The trees will be replaced with three zelkova trees and two dogwood trees.
The museum said it needs to regrade the land to protect the Thomas Cooke house from potential water damage. The museum will also move the picket fence back from the road to allow pedestrian access along Cooke Street.
Tim Boland, executive director of Polly Hill Arboretum, is working to provide a full habitat plan on the property in the coming months.
The trees will be taken down this fall or next spring. Selectmen approved the tree removal, and gave the museum until Sept. 30, 2019, to plant the new trees.
Kate and Stephen Foster received approval from selectmen to remove a cedar tree on their Curtis Lane property. The removal is part of a landscaping project, and a new shade tree will take its place. The Fosters will defer to tree warden Stuart Fuller.
In other business, Cape Light Compact administrator Margaret Downey gave town selectmen a brief presentation on Cape Light Compact’s upcoming three-year energy-efficiency plan.
Cape Light Compact works to promote energy efficiency in homes on the Cape and Islands by offering incentives, rebates, and technical assistance to renters, homeowners, and business owners.
Island residents can contact Cape Light Compact and have an assessment done on their house to determine how much power is being used, and what it’s costing.
Town administrator James Hagerty said that the assessment was done on his home, and his energy bills have gone down this year.