As reported earlier, the Newton Cemetery & Arboretum (NC&A) had requested a waiver of a strict application of Newton’s Tree Preservation Ordinance with regard to NC&A’s planned removal of 219 trees in order to develop more burial space in its Knoll development project. In short, NC&A asked that, in accounting for the replacements for the trees removed, NC&A could include the trees it has planted in the last five years and the trees that it plans to plant over the next ten years. NC&A explained its view that making all required replacements over the next 18 months, as required by the ordinance, would go against best practices for arboretum stewardship. Marc Welch (Urban Forester and Deputy Commissioner of the Parks, Recreation, and Culture Department) denied NC&A’s request, and NC&A appealed to the Mayor.
Last week, the parties met and reached a compromise under which NC&A could include trees planted over the next ten years but could not include a trees it had already planted in the previous five years.
Per the Tree Preservation Ordinance, trees removed must be replaced by trees that have at least the same cumulative inches of DBH (diameter, measured at breast height). Thus one 12″ DBH tree could be replaced by four 3″ DBH trees. NC&A’s president, Mary Ann Buras, said that the compromise reached last week will require NC&A to plant an additional 600 inches DBH beyond original plans for the Knoll development project. Marc Welch noted that overall, NC&A will be planting about 1,100 trees over the next ten years.
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