The City of Peabody has appealed an assistant district court judge’s decision overturning $140,000 in fines imposed on Salem CC and Mayer Tree Services for illegal tree felling. (decency)
PEABODY — The Peabody Conservation Commission is holding a special meeting on January 10th to discuss the continued enforcement orders issued to Salem Country Club Inc. and Mayer Tree Services, Inc.
“The Peabody Conservation Commission will hold an executive meeting to discuss litigation relating to The Salem Country Club, Inc. and Daniel Mayer (Mayer Tree Service, Inc.),” read the agenda for the meeting.
Enforcement orders were issued to Salem Country Club and Mayer Tree Services in April for a violation order issued on January 30, 2022.
The club applied for and received permission from the Commission to remove some trees in areas outside of the jurisdiction in connection with its golf course renovation project. In the end, they illegally removed 233 of the 685 trees felled.
“The fact that the country club came to us to buy 20 trees and fell 700 is very disturbing to the Conservation Commission because … conservation is everyone’s business,” commission chairman Stewart Lazares said in one Interviewed by The Daily Item in April. “Yes, there are a million more trees, but we didn’t give anyone permission to cut them down and you didn’t ask us for more than 20 trees. It’s not the only time this has happened.”
Salem Country Club and Mayer Tree Services were each fined nearly $70,000 for illegally removing the trees. The enforcement order requires the club to prepare and implement a recovery plan, which must include the replanting of trees, among other responsibilities.
The enforcement order states: “The restoration plan must include canopy plantings that will restore the canopy to the point where it will function as a full canopy in ten years’ time.” The commission is seeking at least one replacement for each lost tree. Each tree must be at least 2 inches thick. The goal is to create a recovery plan to restore the lost treetops within 10 years.”
In response, the club filed a lawsuit against the commission in Salem Superior Court in June, seeking a waiver of the enforcement order. It has been claimed that the commission’s order calls for more trees to be replanted than have actually been felled.
The complaint, filed on June 29 by club attorney Barry P. Fogel and reviewed by club chief operating officer Peter Fischl, said the action was necessary “to correct errors in the data provided by the Conservation Commission to review and correct procedures conducted by the City of Peabody.”
www.itemlive.com
https://www.itemlive.com/2023/01/03/conservation-commission-to-hold-public-meeting-over-illegal-tree-removal-at-salem-cc/
