Petition Concerns Streetscape Trees

Ald. Aram Ayalon (D-3) has introduced a City Council petition to require a report on the potential for trees being affected by the upcoming downtown streetscape project.

The petition concerns portion of the city’s streetscape paving and sidewalk improvement that will extend past downtown street improvements to Myrtle Street, East Main Street and their intersection with Main Street.

Ayalon’s petition would require a report on questions concerning trees potentially affected by the construction. The petition asks:

• How many trees will be taken down/removed?
• Will any of the trees being removed be Legacy Trees?
• Will any of the trees being removed be relocated and replanted elsewhere within the City?
• Does the City plan on replacing these trees to abide by City Ordinance?

“Legacy trees,” are defined under a new city ordinance (local law), approved by the Council in June of 2018 as any tree determined, under direction of the city Board of Public Works, “to be of unique and intrinsic value to the general public because of its size, age, historic association, ecological importance or aesthetic value.”

Removal of legacy trees requires the approval of the Board of Public Works.

The ordinance approved in June, which was introduced by Ayalon, says that,

The City of New Britain is characterized by its rich heritage of trees. New Britain’s Trees clean the air, calm traffic, increase property values, reduce storm water run-off, and otherwise enhance the quality of life. The goal of this ordinance is to maintain and grow New Britain’s urban forest, maintain trees in a healthy condition, protect existing trees, and mitigate losses and damage to these trees.

The ordinance provides a provides for a program to assess, protect and replace trees in the city.

Ayalon is also proposing a Council petition to require that, “the appropriate department(s) to provide a status report on the mapping of City trees as required by the Code of Ordinances Sec. 17-86,” one of the sections of the tree ordinance.

Part of that provision requires that,

Within one hundred eighty (180) days of the effective date of this ordinance, the Tree Warden shall begin to conduct a tree inventory of City owned street trees, and trees on City property with a DBH of 24” or greater. When completed, the inventory shall be available to the public and shall be updated if possible every ten (10) years.

A City Council petition is procedure in New Britain by which an individual member or more than one member of the Council is empowered to require consideration of action from or a report by a city department or commission. Council members frequently use this process to formally propose that the city take action on a particular concern.

Both of Ayalon’s petitions are on the agenda of the February 13, 2019 Council meeting and both require a report back to the Council by March 6, 2019.