Dispute Over Tree Removal Heads To Select Board After Intense Hearing

70-year-old catalpa tree on York Street was at the center of an intense public hearing Thursday afternoon that ended with a decision to send the dispute over whether the property owner should be able to cut it down to the Select Board for a final adjudication.

The hearing before the town’s Tree Advisory Committee featured extensive debate over whether the catalpa should be designated as a so-called “town tree.” If it is, that designation could prevent the tree’s removal even though it’s located on private property.

But there was no agreement on whether the catalpa at 10 York Street should have that designation.

On one side was Nantucket’s tree warden Dave Champoux and town arborist Dale Gary, who believe the catalpa – by virtue of Gary and previous town arborists pruning the tree over the years – should be considered a town tree and afforded special protection. Abutting property owners on York Street also joined the Zoom meeting to object to the tree’s removal.

On the other side was the property owner, developer Jeff Kaschuluk, and his attorney Richard Glidden, who said Gary and Champoux had not proven that the tree meets the criteria outlined in the town bylaw to qualify it as a town tree.

“We’re talking about private property rights,” Glidden said. “My client owns the tree. If the town had followed the bylaw they could have jurisdiction as a town tree, but just because the arborist drives by and decides to trim a tree, there has to be a protocol followed...I don’t doubt the arborist did what he said he did, but the bylaw says if that’s the case you have to have written permission from the owner. Without that, it’s chaos. We’re talking about a million dollar piece of property. This is a huge deal.”

What is a “town tree”? According to the town code, a tree must meet at least one of the following criteria to earn that designation:

• The tree was purchased, or its planting was paid for, by the Town
• The tree stands on or has its trunk partially on Town-owned property
• The tree was donated or otherwise conveyed to the Town
• The tree has been maintained more than once by use of Town funds, equipment or personnel during the last 20 years, with the visits separated by more than one year

The catalpa tree on York Street wasn’t planted by the town, is located on private property, and was never donated or conveyed to the town. But both Champoux and Gary said that it has been maintained through the town’s tree maintenance program on several occasions, thereby qualifying it as a town tree based on meeting that single criteria for such a designation. Glidden countered that the previous property owner said he was not aware of any tree maintenance conducted by the town, and that the bylaw requires written permission from the owner before such maintenance can be completed.