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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20220555 44 Ruggles Rd. Subdivision Modification Correspondance (6) To: Susan Barden, Principal Planner, Saratoga Springs MarkTorpey, Chair, Planning6oard From: Tom Denny, Chair, Open Space Advisory Committee (OSAC) Re: Mitigation for logging violation in a deed-restricted conservation area Date: J u ly 29, 2022 You requested that I participate in the July 20, 2022 site visit, which was attended: by the owner, Geraldine Eberlein, accompanied by John; AI Flick and Susan Barden, City staff; Chuck Marshall, Planning Board; and myself, OSAC. Here are some thoughts that grew out of that meeting. No other OSAC members visited the site or reviewed the plans and I did not consult with the committee. Although the ideas in this letter generally align with the values and the priorities that inform the work of the OSAC, this letter summarizes my personal perspectives on the project and is not an official advisory opinion from the OSAC. 1. Tree preservation in general is a far wiser and more beneficial strategy for enhancing the City's urban forest holdings than any cut-and-replace approach. No matter how many trees might be planted to replace these downed trees, it will be decades before any short-term mitigation can compensate for the environmental and ecological loss that the dozen mature hardwood trees at 44 Ruggles Road represent. (For detailed perspectives on the value of preserving mature trees, see chapter 8 of the Citv's 2020 Natural Resource Inventory, especially section 8.3, "Mature Trees, includin� Herita�e Trees.") Recommendation: In this and in all projects, anything that the Planning Board can do to require and/or incentivize tree preservation will have a large payoff for the city and the environment. See section 8.3E of the 2020 Natural Resource Inventory for best practices and recommendations. 2. Appropriate mitigation or compensation for tree removal in violation of a Conservation Easement Area or a No-Cut Zone. I believe that this is relatively new territory for the Planning Board. It is important that the Planning Board develop protocols and standards for a full range of mitigation options, including: a. Payment of a financial compensation by the violator to the City. These funds can be used to plant compensatory trees elsewhere. b. Immediate replanting of the conservation area or other areas of the property by the violator to begin the restoration of the area to its original purpose and function. c. If valuable mature trees still remain on the site at the time of the violation, expand or adjust the boundaries of the original conservation area to preserve mature trees that had been slated for removal. Revised site plans may require moving the planned location of the proposed structures to preserve the trees in the newly redefined conservation area. At the beginning of the site visit,the discussion centered on mitigations 2a and 2b. After the owner and Chuck Marshall left, Susan,AI, and I began to discuss the value of mitigation 2c. Here are some thoughts on the three options. 2a. Financial compensation. This should definitely be part of the City toolkit and the Planning Board should move to lay out a clearly defined policy. The July 14, 2022 email from City Arborist Steve Lashomb offered a good starting point for further Planning Board research and deliberation. In various urban forestry policies adopted elsewhere, formulas based on DBH (diameter at breast height) are commonly used. It was not clear why he suggested $100 as an example, as that is far less than it would cost for purchase and labor to plant a tree. Recommendation: I would urge the Planning Board to develop a clearly defined formula for compensation when trees are killed or removed in violation of owner obligations to preserve them. This should become publicly available. However,the lack of a current formula should not, in the case of the 44 Ruggles Road violation, prevent the Planning Board from requiring financial compensation at a level it determines to be appropriate. 2b. Immediate replanting in the violated conservation area. This is the most obvious way to begin a mitigation plan, although it will take decades to restore the damage. Such planting does have challenges, however. How can the City ensure that any planted trees get through the first 4-5 challenging years of life and become fully established,thriving specimens? Recommendation: The applicant should plant a dozen hardwood trees from the City's approved species list in the area where the logging violation occurred. These should probably be in the range of 1.5 to 2.0 inch caliper(no reason to plant larger). Ideally, someone should monitor their survival and they should be replaced if they die in the first few years. After a few decades, these plantings, coupled with normal forest re-seeding, should result in a conservation area of the natural quality that existed prior to the logging. 2c. Expand and/or adjust the original boundaries of the conservation area, moving the planned location of the house and possibly the driveway. Since the logging violation led to a stop work order before completion of all the preparatory logging, there remain many mature trees that can be part of the mitigation plan. Since preserving trees is far preferable to cut-and-replace, this would be the most desirable resolution to the violation. The recommendations below refer to this map and the photos below. 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"�' � r ,t r- .,f� r. - .. � � f# �� . � ��, • ��,'� ' �s� '�~ �:. -. }f�'� i ,y^to_, -i___ a yr� ''-� � y 7^ J. : �'j . �- � . - — ■ ,. .;'L!1 0.1�k. ' �.� F ",�� 'e Y[SIR TI L r" / LAIJQS N,/� Cr"s�ffF.-r_r� ' � ;r'� � � � a` -,�;� SMAWNQPi LEE ''ar LAl*J: �'� _ �,���,�` � ` •�" AND �m+:r•,�•.r. ALEXAa , '� iirl � � . . - � �E8QR151'1 A.CFiAYE2 A! ��r - -.w A3 r�.'� h;f� � 58L 154.�1-24 `'�'��/� � 58L 57�C � � . 1 ,_;�. � - • �� i ,�..,.. � ',�C RE4tRF.�rc y � ur���i.r,ikirit. � ANNE TRIW@LE I �l - rar��rytiuw � $�1,154-1�-��.� � ..� �, � � µ�f� .i• al��, , -• r ra.'R{' N �.. .. 'L _ t. � � ' ' �r . r. w � � I . w. ••r�r �,�y� zs _ �i . � , /�,' , � r�- .se�++ --� - . +'i. �'r',..{e f:� �� , I ' - jf, { .,. �_ i �"'�/.. � , { 1 Recommendation: The green markings on the map designate three areas that contain valuable mature trees that can serve as part of the compensation for the logging violation. Area "A" is a forested high point on the property. Preserving this area will require relocating the house. Area "B" includes a dramatic oak and a middle-aged maple that would be great to preserve. This will likely require a minor redesign of the driveway. Area "C" is a forested area to the south of the driveway entrance. Conserving this will not require any significant redesign of the built infrastructure. All three areas contain healthy mature oaks and maples. The purple area suggests a possible new location for the house. The red area,where the logging violation occurred, is where 12 trees should be replanted. (See two photos below.) In my view,the solution that would be a win-win—best for the environment and the spirit of the conservation easement and best for the applicant's wallet—would be a combination of 2b and 2c. In other words, require replanting of the 12 trees as partial compensation and also require revision of the plans to conserve areas A, 6, and C as the remaining mitigation for the logging violation. 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