SWAMPSCOTT — The town administration is wrestling with the state over the proposed removal of six mature trees on Paradise Road.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is planning to go ahead with the removal of six trees along the west side of Route 1A near the entrance to the Swampscott Mall, according to a letter received by the town from Paul Stedman, district highway director at MassDOT. The tree removal is needed as part of the highway-widening and intersection reconstruction project that will include the addition of a bike lane, MassDOT said.
“I told them there’s going to be an issue,” said Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta, who has met with MassDOT representatives regarding these trees twice since November 2021. “There was going to be some serious pushback.”
The trees in question are five maples and one elm, said Cresta. He has recently acquired a town tree warden certification and is in charge of protecting the trees of Swampscott. The town wanted to have a public hearing about the removal of the trees, because if a tree is not deemed an immediate hazard and one or more people oppose the removal, the tree should stand, said Cresta.
“It was a foregone conclusion that the Select Board was going to oppose the removal of those six mature trees,” Cresta said.
MassDOT is planning to resume work on the project, including the removal of the trees, beginning the week of Feb. 27. Cresta said he thinks it is not a firm date of the start of the project as MassDOT is going to receive a reaction from the town.
Since the highway was originally laid out by the state in 1897, said the letter from MassDOT, three of the trees are “exclusively within MassDOT’s care, custody and control” and exempt from a local tree warden authority. Another two trees are located on private property, and MassDOT has acquired temporary construction easements, including the tree removal.
The sixth tree is located on private property as well and is to be removed because it would hinder motorists’ ability to see pedestrian safety devices that will be installed as part of the project. The letter said that affected property owners have been notified and are eligible to receive compensation for the trees. They can replace the trees within the remainder of their property if they desire, the letter said.
According to Cresta, mall owners have already received compensation for the temporary easement and at least two trees.
MassDOT’s General Counsel’s Office determined that the trees are exempt from the public hearing requirement. Currently, the town counsel is reviewing the MassDOT letter.
Cresta said he hopes the situation can be resolved in an amicable fashion.
As a part of the project, MassDOT is planning to install a bike lane, Cresta said. To save the trees, he suggested eliminating the bike lane to the department’s representatives.
“When I first brought that up to MassDot, they were not very receptive to that idea,” said Cresta. “It is going to be a bike lane to nowhere right now. It is going to start where the Dunkin Donuts is and end right out at the other side of the Swampscott Mall’s entrance.”
Select Board Member Peter Spellios posted on Facebook about the letter from MassDOT and urged the residents to reach out to the transportation department.
“It must be nice not having to live with the results of what you do,” Spellios wrote. “But we have to.”