Arlington Residents Rally To Save Trees And Win — For Now

ARLINGTON, MA — The tree stays. After a couple months of back and forth between Arlington residents and a developer who wanted to remove a 60-year-old tree from the front of a property he's developing on Webcowet Road, residents 2, developer 0.

On July 10, Developer Keith Lombardi who is in the process of building a duplex at at 40 Webcowet Road, petitioned to remove a street tree from in front of the lot in order to build a driveway.

He was told at that tree hearing that he could not remove the tree. In a rare move for the town he appealed and brought his case to the Board of Selectmen Sept. 11.

He argues he needs to in order to build the driveway. Residents are concerned about the dwindling number of trees in town amid teardowns and an influx of town homes, condos and duplexes.

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Residents claimed he'd already taken down a number of trees.

"First thing he did was take down a tree in the back. A gigantic tree, must have been 100 years old. As tall as the tallest tree in the cemetery," said Webcowet Road resident Herb Rosenbluth to the selectmen. "The way he's building now it's very obvious he's going to pull it down. I'm sad about that because it's destroying the neighborhood. It's destroying the town."

The room erupted in applause as he finished, indicating agreement.

Lombardi is no stranger to construction in the area. He was behind the new duplex at 20 Webcowet Road. There, three large trees on the lot turned to one to make way for a garage and driveway.

"Taking down a 50, 60-year-old tree seems counter productive to the vision our neighborhood has of Arlington," Karen Roth a neighbor told selectmen Monday night, noting how slow trees grow.

Some residents asked selectmen why a driveway couldn't simply go around the tree, others noted the town and residents should be planting more trees, not removing them.

One resident praised the steps the town has taken in recent years, specifically developing a master plan and last year's passage of the tree protection by law.

"It was a huge leap forward," said Susan Stamps of the Tree Committee.

The Board of Selectmen and the board voted against letting the developer Developer Keith Lombardi remove the old tree after hearing resident after resident take the mic and explain why it was a bad idea.

It culminating with the selectmen asking Lombardi if he could agree not to cut down trees without permission to which he agreed.

"I'm a tree lover myself," he told selectmen. The crowd immediately made sounds of disagreement with that. But the selectmen shushed them, noting he had been respectful when they took the mic so he deserved the same in return.

If Lombardi removes the tree anyway, he faces a fine that could be as high as $900, though it could also be much more than that if authorities define the removal as trespassing.