Wayland demands builder replace trees

Wayland is suing the developer of a condominium project for allegedly chopping down 23 trees, some of them on town property, without permission.

The town's lawsuit, filed in Middlesex County Superior Court, seeks replacement of the felled trees and unspecified damages.

In a hearing last week, Superior Court Judge Bonnie H. MacLeod-Mancuso denied the town's request to halt work on the property until the trees are replaced, the town's attorney, Mark Lanza, said.

Last month the town notified Wayland Meadows Development Inc. of Foxborough that it had violated state law and an agreement with the town when it removed trees from its property and from adjacent town property in August.

The town told Wayland Meadows president Michael Intoccia that it wanted the felled trees on his property replaced with mature plantings to screen the 48-unit condo development known as Wayland Commons from neighbors and traffic on Old Sudbury Road.

The town wants the 10 trees replaced with trees of the same species and size, and it wants them to be planted in the same locations, Lanza said.

The town is also seeking replacement of, and damages for, 13 trees chopped down on town land, including cherry, elm, ash, and oak trees.

Lanza said the town is having an estimate prepared and will ask for three times that amount because it believes the tree removal was intentional.

``We're dealing with an experienced developer," Lanza said. He said an earlier owner had the property lines definitively marked.

Bob Shelmerdine, Intoccia's attorney, acknowledged that some trees had been cut down, saying it was ``a mistake."

He said a number of trees were being cut on the property that week, and the trees that weren't supposed to be cut had not been clearly marked.

He said some of the trees would have gotten in the way of the project's drainage plans anyway, and others were invasive species in less-than-ideal locations, suggesting the replacement trees would be an improvement.

A plan to replace the trees had not been provided to city officials early this week.

But Shelmerdine said the developer is proposing to replace them with younger plantings that are more suitable for the land -- he couldn't say what kind -- and that would screen the project better from people living and driving nearby.

Replacing the lost trees with mature trees would be too difficult, he said.

Joseph F. Nolan, selectmen chairman, called the chopping of the trees that were required to be preserved under a Zoning Board of Appeals permit ``unconscionable."

He said he was disappointed with the developer's vague replacement plans.

``They were not as responsive as we would have liked," he said.

``We thought perhaps they were giving us lip service."

Officials thought requiring the developer to replace the trees before he could continue work would be an incentive for him to replant the trees.

They decided to pursue the lawsuit, filed this month. But the judge said that now that the trees have been taken down, it makes sense to wait until the development is completed to replace them.

The town also sought costs and attorney's fees in the lawsuit.

The Wayland Commons project is a Chapter 40B project. A quarter of its units will be reserved for lower-income homeowners.

The tree cutting came to the town's attention when a neighboring property owner, Martha Harris, frantically called town departments early Aug. 9 to say a number of trees she was expecting to remain were being chopped down.

She pleaded with the contractor to spare a huge elm while she tried to reach town officials.

When police, highway, and park and recreation officials arrived, only the elm was still standing, she said.