The Somerville Board of Aldermen and the Mayor’s Office took immediate action to determine what went wrong with the oversight process at the Beacon St. reconstruction site. — Photos by Bobbie Toner

By Jim Clark

The repercussions of the seemingly unauthorized removal of trees as part of the Beacon St. reconstruction project hit a fever pitch last week as the Somerville Board of Aldermen took up the issue, demanding answers from those who were responsible.

After receiving complaints from residents of the area, members of the Board, most notably Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston, made sure that the matter was put on the agenda for last week’s regular meeting.

At the meeting, a formal order was put forward asking that MassDOT, Newport Construction and all other parties with knowledge of the cutting down of the trees on Beacon Street on October 6, without any public notice, appear before the Board at its next regular meeting to respond to concerns about the surprise tree removal.

An additional order was submitted asking the Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development work with MassDOT to cease all work on the Beacon St. reconstruction project until a full report on the removal of trees from the street is received and presented to the Board and until city staff is assigned day to day responsibility for oversight.

Both orders were approved by the Board and referred to the Public Utilities and Public Works Committee for follow-up.

During the meeting, several Board members expressed their anger and outrage over the removal of the trees without prior notice and approval by the city.

Tim Snyder from the Mayor’s Office addressed the Board and offered an update on the administration’s reaction to the issue.

“The administration shares the concerns and the anger that we have heard from this Board and this community,” Snyder said. “This is something that is simply not acceptable.”

Snyder pointed out that the contract for the Beacon St. project is administered by the state, with a contractor responsible for the work, and a sub-contractor who cut down the trees. According to Snyder, the sub-contractor obtained approval by the contractor, but not by MassDOT or the City of Somerville.

“Immediately upon finding out that this had happened, the administration contacted MassDOT, who immediately issued a stop work order on this,” Snyder told the Board.

According to Snyder, the city asked for an emergency meeting with MassDOT and the contractor to establish what exactly had happened.

“The city does have boots on the ground,” Snyder said. “It’s not a 24/7 presence on the ground, but there are boots on the ground from DPW, from engineering, from transportation infrastructure, to monitor the project. And beyond just monitoring, but to actually look at the specifications of what they’re doing.”

According to Snyder, because there was no work scheduled in that portion of the corridor at that time, no oversight monitoring was in place to prevent the cutting of the trees.

Snyder emphasized that the actions of the subcontractor was not acceptable and that the city should have been notified before any trees were taken down.

Additional actions taken by the Board at last week’s meeting related to the issue included a resolution that the administration assign or hire city staff to oversee the daily operations of contractor and utility company activity for the Beacon St. reconstruction project, and adopt a policy of such oversight for every state funded street reconstruction project going forward.

Also, an additional order was passed asking that the City Solicitor and the Director of OSPCD submit to the Board amendments to the Tree Preservation Ordinance with criteria for removal and notification to add safeguards for street reconstruction projects.

Beacon St. residents held a vigil Sunday night on at the site where the trees had been removed. City and state officials also attended. At each tree stump attendees shared how they felt about what had happened and what the trees meant to them. Flowers, notes and candles were placed on the stumps as well.