From now on, before a tree on city property in the Annapolis Historic District comes down, friends will get to say goodbye.
Or, maybe the might ask whether an ailing figure on the historic streetscape has to go after all. But there must be an application.
After a public hearing this week on an 80- to 100-year-old willow oak removed from a sidewalk across Prince George Street from the William Paca House, the Office of Environmental Policy is putting into writing a long-standing, informal policy for tree removal and replacement on public property in the Historic District.
From now on, taking down a municipal tree will require approval by the city Historic Preservation Commission.
“We ask these questions because this is a significant tree and we were really saddened to see it go,” Karen Brown, vice president of preservation for Historic Annapolis, said during the hearing Tuesday. “This has been a fixture on the streetscape for several decades and this tree removal constitutes a major loss for Prince George Street and the entire Historic District.”
At the commission hearing Tuesday, city urban forester Brian Adams testified about the assessment and removal of ancient tree across from the historic Paca house and gardens, the home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The nonprofit Historic Annapolis maintains the property, which is on the list of National Historic Landmarks.
The Historic Preservation Commission regulates changes that affect the character of historic properties in the district as well as the district itself, the 18th-century heart of Annapolis and home to dozens of Colonial-era homes buildings.
“It had become a hazard,” Adams said. “If this were in the woods, it could stay but when you’ve got a tree like this in an urban area it’s a high risk.”
The tree’s health worsened over the last two years, Adams said. Medical treatments would have needed to be administered 10 years ago to save the tree.
BGE notified residents of the impending removal before city contractors were called out to make the cut.
When all that was left was a stump, Adams said the decision to remove it was validated by “a presence of decay throughout the tree.”
That was when Adams learned that before any publicly owned tree is removed, the Historic Preservation Commission expects an application.
Roberta Laynor, city chief of historic preservation, said the process has been “understood verbally” for years.
In an email, city Environmental Policy Director Jacqueline Guild said tree removal and replacement in the Historic District is an accepted policy that will now be put into writing thanks to a collaboration between the Office of Environmental Policy, the Historic Preservation Division and the Office of Law.
“(T)he process for removal and replacement of trees in the historic district is longstanding and now is reduced to writing to ensure that the process is understood clearly and can be passed on to future city staff,” Guild wrote in an email.
Alderwoman Elly Tierney, D-Ward 1, said codifying the tree removal application will help avoid similar issues in the future calling it “a lesson learned.”
“I think it was some kind of lost in translation from the previous arborist,” Tierney said. “It is just very unfortunate that it was across from the William Paca House.”
The procedure now includes the steps to apply for tree removal, including submitting an HPC administrative application form, color photos of the tree and descriptions of the tree and how the area would be restored after removal among other items.
The city environmentalist should submit applications “even when the Environmentalist determines that the tree is hazardous and requires removal” but that “(a) tree may be removed without prior application and approval when the tree poses a risk of imminent danger to person or property. In those instances, an “after-the-fact” application must be submitted within 48 hours after removal, according to the document.
The document also states that the chief of historic preservation either approves the application or submits it for a public hearing with the commission.
During the hearing, Brown said Historic Annapolis did not receive notice from BGE about the tree removal.
“We don’t argue with the professional judgment of the arborist’s statements as to the tree warranting removal,” Brown said. “(But) there is not any clear understanding to what extent the city did to slow down the decay or implement any protective measures, antifungal injections of that nature.”
