City of Fall River Meetings
Search and subscribe to city meeting topics that impact you
Newsletters
Subscribe
← Back to video
8.5.2026 Park Board
−
Fit
+
IN
0:00
OUT
0:00
Length
0:00
▶ Play selection
Export clip
Keyboard:
I
set in,
O
set out,
←
/
→
nudge playhead 5s.
0:10
87 Mass General Law to see like what his thoughts were on this, because some of these require— some of these things that, uh, like if you look on your packet, it has the general— it's a general, uh, like a shortened version of, uh, number 87.
In
Out
0:26
If you look at the 3rd one down It says that no greater tree can be removed without a public hearing, and it has to be posted.
In
Out
0:36
I mean, so the tree— I don't think we've ever actually— I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, but I don't think we've actually ever done that.
In
Out
0:42
Typically, it's up to like what you think, and we usually go with that.
In
Out
0:45
Well, usually I will say, based off of this photo, I do not think this looks very safe.
In
Out
0:49
That tree probably— we don't know which one this one is.
In
Out
0:53
That's, that's on Mount Hope.
In
Out
0:54
Yeah.
In
Out
0:55
Okay, so that tree is probably the only one.
In
Out
0:58
There was 3 over there we looked at.
In
Out
0:59
That was the most offending one.
In
Out
1:01
The other 2 were just something we could ramp, right?
In
Out
1:03
That, that one on the corner, it's like where the guy's driveway is.
In
Out
1:08
Yeah, that one to ramp up to even be able to get over it would be way too much, and then it would probably just grow, continue to grow over time.
In
Out
1:15
It's wrapped around the, the power wires too, right?
In
Out
1:19
Gotcha.
In
Out
1:19
The other 2 down from it are not nearly like that.
In
Out
1:24
They're barely like Those panels were barely popped up, so I think those would be a possibility to, to redo.
In
Out
1:34
I think the thing was with these trees is just that the question was why now, because some of these trees have been there for decades.
In
Out
1:42
Well, has someone— has something happened?
In
Out
1:43
Well, they said on Conant Street somebody did trip and fall.
In
Out
1:47
They put in a claim to the law department, but it was past the time frame.
In
Out
1:53
It happened in March, April, don't quote me.
In
Out
1:56
They submitted it like last month.
In
Out
1:57
You have only X amount of days to submit a claim, which I don't understand what happened, but they denied it because, right, the time frame was too much.
In
Out
2:05
That out of all 3, 2 spots, that was the only trip that fall.
In
Out
2:10
The, the Mount Hope didn't have anything as far as we know.
In
Out
2:15
Mount Hope might have been a new owner that moved in.
In
Out
2:19
That I believe that might have been the issue that there was somebody that was longstanding.
In
Out
2:23
I, you know, Darren brought this up.
In
Out
2:25
And, you know, the thing is, we had a tree ordinance that was created probably about 10 years ago.
In
Out
2:32
And unfortunately, we don't abide by that tree ordinance.
In
Out
2:34
We're supposed to have a tree warden, and we don't have a tree warden.
In
Out
2:39
I think Chris, Chris acts in that capacity.
In
Out
2:42
But according to that Mass General Law, like Darren was saying, You're supposed to have a hearing.
In
Out
2:46
We just haven't been good with trees in the city.
In
Out
2:50
So, and usually it's, it's when they come to us, it's typically like, they're so bad that they have to cut, like there's not even a question as to whether— so like having a meeting or not, like if this thing is about to fall on someone, it's got to go.
In
Out
3:02
Yeah, we don't— like we did at Maplewood.
In
Out
3:04
Yeah, we just took them down.
In
Out
3:06
Yeah, it doesn't— but these trees, if you were to see them in person, if anybody had a chance to go by there, there's not a dead limb.
In
Out
3:14
Yeah.
In
Out
3:15
So very, in very good shape.
In
Out
3:16
So the tree's fine.
In
Out
3:17
So now it's like a, I guess, a DCM issue, right?
In
Out
3:20
Yeah, it's different.
In
Out
3:22
There's multiple different— like, this one definitely needs to be addressed.
In
Out
3:24
Right?
In
Out
3:25
Absolutely.
In
Out
3:26
Right?
In
Out
3:26
Absolutely.
In
Out
3:27
The other 2 we can send to DCM, but I don't think— I don't know what we need to do, but we need to do something about this one.
In
Out
3:33
Right.
In
Out
3:33
For sure.
In
Out
3:34
Um, so if we want to table the ones that are on— I don't even know if I'm saying it— Kono— Kona Street.
In
Out
3:43
Um, but for the one for Mount Hope, what would, what would you suggest be the next step for that one?
In
Out
3:48
So that one, the one that you're looking at, um, I would, I would agree that that one, that one needs to go.
In
Out
3:57
There's, there's not really a way of working around that one.
In
Out
4:02
The other 2, there's a good possibility that those can be worked around.
In
Out
4:08
Yeah, we've done it in the past.
In
Out
4:11
Um, both myself and Darren have had a few that we worked around.
In
Out
4:18
Um, but as far as that one goes, that one's gonna have to end up going.
In
Out
4:23
So would you, would you suggest we follow Mass General on trying to get a warden to come and look at it?
In
Out
4:30
Or I don't think, in my opinion, there's nothing with that particular tree.
In
Out
4:37
There's nothing we can do with that.
In
Out
4:40
There's, there's no way of because there's a— so there's a driveway right there.
In
Out
4:46
And it's kind of right on the corner.
In
Out
4:48
So there's really no way of being able to work around that one.
In
Out
4:53
So are we— can we take this down?
In
Out
4:56
Or do we need to have some sort of formal meeting?
In
Out
4:59
Well, technically, so Chris is the acting tree warden, but in ordinance it says an acting tree warden is supposed to get a stipend, and they haven't paid a stipend for that position in more than a few years.
In
Out
5:11
So, but he still acts in the capacity.
In
Out
5:15
If it wasn't for him, there'd be nobody making tree decisions in the city besides the park board.
In
Out
5:20
Okay.
In
Out
5:21
Um, so I mean, I, I work with him on the trees.
In
Out
5:25
We've come to the agreement that one tree on out of these both streets is the offending tree.
In
Out
5:31
Yeah, I'm— I just don't want to— I'm fine with taking this thing down and calling it a day.
In
Out
5:36
So I just don't want to piss anybody off.
In
Out
5:37
So my thing is not following a certain— so my thing at DCM was sidewalks.
In
Out
5:41
That tree, just by the what it looks like, there's no way you could make that work because that where that tree is, that picture, right on the side of that route is a driveway.
In
Out
5:51
So we damaged the driveway.
In
Out
5:52
You couldn't ramp it to make the clearance because then the car would be up like this.
In
Out
5:56
Yeah, and I don't think it makes sense to even ramp it because if it's already coming up that much, what, 5 more— 5 years down the line we're gonna be right here having the same conversation about a tree that probably just pushed through what we just did.
In
Out
6:06
And then in addition to that, it's, it's totally wrapped around the pole and the wires.
In
Out
6:11
Like, it's really up, right?
In
Out
6:13
So yeah, the pole is literally right there.
In
Out
6:18
Yeah, where the driveway where it comes up, there's actually a pole there where the tree is.
In
Out
6:24
So it's like kind of right through it and right into the wires.
In
Out
6:31
So I want to make a motion to take the tree down.
In
Out
6:39
Just that one.
In
Out
6:40
Yeah.
In
Out
6:40
Can I just ask a question?
In
Out
6:41
If it's in the wires, doesn't like national— is it national grid?
In
Out
6:44
Don't they have to come out?
In
Out
6:45
National grid would cut would cut it out of the wires unless the company that we have do it, if they're certified to work around the wires.
In
Out
6:56
I know you can't go within 10 feet, right?
In
Out
6:57
Yeah.
In
Out
6:58
So with us, our in-city guys that we have can't touch any of the wires.
In
Out
7:06
We always have to go out to National Grid to trim away, and then we can trim the other stuff, but they gotta actually trim it.
In
Out
7:14
And just a question, I mean, I just saw pictures, but just a question on that one.
In
Out
7:17
If you take that down, are you going to damage that driveway?
In
Out
7:19
No, no, no, it's not going to affect the driveway.
In
Out
7:22
No, it's not going to affect the driveway because what'll happen is once the tree gets taken down, yeah, they'll, um, the panel that's lifted, yeah, the DCM will go over there, pull that panel straight, and then the stump will actually get ground.
In
Out
7:37
Okay, and then just paper it over.
In
Out
7:39
Yeah, they'll clean it up from there.
In
Out
7:42
I knew right away.
In
Out
7:43
So, so wait, we need to make So if you make a motion, we have a motion to take that down.
In
Out
7:48
But then for the other 2, are we just leaving it?
In
Out
7:50
Well, if they're saying that they think that it's fine, I don't think we should touch them.
In
Out
7:54
No.
In
Out
7:54
Well, so like, I put a call to law, they weren't— they're coming back tomorrow.
In
Out
7:59
So I wanted to ask them about this Mass General Law 87, you know, in regards to trees.
In
Out
8:05
I mean, you guys could table it till the next meeting until I get like a concrete answer from Law Department.
In
Out
8:14
You know what his response would be to that?
In
Out
8:16
If I could just say something, just looking at like this tree here.
In
Out
8:20
I mean, this is not a well-traveled sidewalk like Conan.
In
Out
8:23
I mean, if you go to other places like New Bedford, you go to New Bedford, they have like friggin 100 times more trees than we have.
In
Out
8:30
And they deal with stuff like this.
In
Out
8:32
I would just— you cut that down.
In
Out
8:35
That's— it probably took 30 or 40 years to get this tree to grow.
In
Out
8:38
Like in the Highlands, you go up to the Highlands, and they have these nice trees.
In
Out
8:41
We have very few of these in the South End.
In
Out
8:45
I would just— I mean, it is what it is.
In
Out
8:47
But to me, to cut that down, the aesthetics, just looking at it, and again, I believe it's probably a new owner, because there's never been an issue with before.
In
Out
8:56
This was like 40 years later.
In
Out
8:59
It just, you know, it doesn't mean that it's not dangerous, though.
In
Out
9:02
Like new owner or not, if it's around electrical poles, and it's lifting, you could just trim it, though.
In
Out
9:07
You could just trim that, but it's lifting the sidewalk.
In
Out
9:09
Yeah, but I mean, we would cut— we can't cut down every tree that lifts the sidewalk though.
In
Out
9:13
I mean, we— if it's a hazard, we have.
In
Out
9:17
And then sometimes if it's— if there's a space that's enough, we'll put something different in its place.
In
Out
9:21
That's what the one— that is what we've had to do.
In
Out
9:24
Sidewalk aside, can it be trimmed off the blinds?
In
Out
9:28
It could be.
In
Out
9:28
Okay.
In
Out
9:29
Yeah, it could.
In
Out
9:31
It could be trimmed off of the— away from the wires.
In
Out
9:35
However, if that— that's the one right on the corner of the driveway.
In
Out
9:40
Yeah, I don't know.
In
Out
9:43
Like I said, I, I'm not sure if they'll be able to fix the, the lip of it.
In
Out
9:50
That, like I said, I'm not— my— that's not my thing with sidewalks, so I'm not sure.
In
Out
9:56
The trimming part, it just takes it away from the wires, right?
In
Out
9:59
It would pull it away from the wires, help the— sometimes it makes the tree look a little funny because they kind of— yeah.
In
Out
10:06
Clearance cut it.
In
Out
10:08
But will it hurt the tree?
In
Out
10:10
No.
In
Out
10:12
At the end of the day, the tree would be okay.
In
Out
10:14
But I don't know that it's possible to fix the issue with the sidewalk.
In
Out
10:19
Yeah, I say we table it and we all go check it out before we make a decision.
In
Out
10:23
I'm dead serious.
In
Out
10:24
I mean, I mean, the pictures are— yeah, they're self-explanatory.
In
Out
10:28
But like, until we actually go and see it— no, no, I know.
In
Out
10:30
Sure, it's like, I feel like I don't need to go see it in person to see the difference.
In
Out
10:32
Yeah, no, I know.
In
Out
10:33
That's— that is that.
In
Out
10:34
It's 100% bad.
In
Out
10:35
Trip bikes, everything.
In
Out
10:36
Yeah, just like even if you're trying to snow blow your sidewalk, like even just that.
In
Out
10:41
Yeah, it's, it's a weird— it's kind of a weird spot the way it is.
In
Out
10:48
We can table it, but I'm— my thoughts on it are just— I'm not gonna change.
In
Out
10:53
I'm gonna say the same thing next meeting and probably the meeting after that.
In
Out
10:56
Like, I don't think we have— we have never had a tree that's come in front of us like this that we haven't taken taken down because of the fact that it's a hazard.
In
Out
11:02
But if you want to— if everyone wants to table it, we can.
In
Out
11:05
But I, I'm just saying we got 2 issues because we have the 2 trees in one spot and this one tree that we know is bad.
In
Out
11:10
So we kind of have to like— so, so, but so that's why I was saying the 2 trees that he's saying are good, like, we, we always go with his opinion because really, I like— I'm an accountant.
In
Out
11:19
I have known nothing about trees.
In
Out
11:20
So I know this is his actual job.
In
Out
11:23
No, I know.
In
Out
11:23
So like, if he's saying those 2 are good, in my opinion, we go with what, what he says.
In
Out
11:27
But for this one He's saying he doesn't think there's anything else.
In
Out
11:30
Yeah, like I said, I'm not a side— I'm not a sidewalk guy.
In
Out
11:35
But I don't know if there's any fix to that.
In
Out
11:39
But like, these also have come before us before, and we have chosen to get rid of them because it is an overall just hazard.
In
Out
11:46
So there'd be 2 motions, one to just leave the trees as is on Ridge and alleviate the one on Conant.
In
Out
11:52
So, so I think The other issue was, is the time frame of this.
In
Out
11:58
I think it's— this all happened within a month.
In
Out
12:01
Um, what, 6 trees?
In
Out
12:03
Yeah.
In
Out
12:03
So that's the other— well, internally, not to do 6 trees.
In
Out
12:07
What though?
In
Out
12:07
All these trees came within 3, 4 weeks of each other.
In
Out
12:11
I just don't know if this is something we want to do citywide, if this is going to continue on, because like I said, we could— there are trees you can go around you know, work it, work a sidewalk around.
In
Out
12:23
But I don't want to get to the point where I'm removing every tree that has a bump in a sidewalk because we're gonna totally decimate the city in trees.
In
Out
12:31
But at the same time, do you really want 10 people coming in because they tripped and fell and broke their nose?
In
Out
12:36
Like, well, that one— so like I said, in the past what we've done is we've pulled these out and then found something smaller to put in their place.
In
Out
12:43
So it wasn't like we just took the tree out and then there's nothing there.
In
Out
12:47
We typically have found something to put in its place so that there's just not nothing there.
In
Out
12:52
That call from that address, it came from the director, but it initially came from the neighbor across the street.
In
Out
12:59
And their thing was that they help the person living in that house pick up leaves.
In
Out
13:06
And I think that's part of the issue.
In
Out
13:08
And then they had mentioned squirrels in the trees, which I don't know what that has to do with anything.
In
Out
13:13
But it wasn't that, that address on Mount Hope.
In
Out
13:15
There was no trip and falls there.
In
Out
13:17
I think we should table this and look into this further.
In
Out
13:19
Law Department, uh, said it was only on Coney.
In
Out
13:23
So, so I have one last question.
In
Out
13:25
If this was something that we did take out, could we put something smaller in its place?
In
Out
13:28
You could put something smaller in its place.
In
Out
13:32
It's, it's kind of an odd spot.
In
Out
13:34
Yeah, like to have a tree in the first place.
In
Out
13:37
Yeah, it's kind of a, it's kind of a weird spot, but certainly something go back there.
In
Out
13:43
I think with what Chris— if you look at this again, this took 30 to 40 years, it's providing shade.
In
Out
13:48
You plant another tree, it's going to take 30 or 40 years to provide the same kind of shade.
In
Out
13:53
But what I'm saying is so that we have some sort of greenery, so that we're not just taking it out and there's literally nothing there.
In
Out
13:58
Yeah.
In
Out
13:58
So yes, they won't have shade for the next 20 years, but at least there's something there for the environment versus just taking it out and literally having nothing.
In
Out
14:06
Because like I said, in the past, that's what we've anything like this, we take it out, we'll put something smaller.
In
Out
14:10
Yes, it'll take time to grow, but we're a Tree City USA.
In
Out
14:15
I don't know if anybody knows that we're part of that Tree City USA.
In
Out
14:18
So it's like, we want to try to, you know, I mean, why don't we table it?
In
Out
14:23
I agree.
In
Out
14:24
Yeah, I have a different opinion on trees because I've been involved in something.
In
Out
14:28
No, no, no, it's definitely— we can all have different opinions.
In
Out
14:31
Yeah, it's fine.
In
Out
14:31
It's not— we don't have to always agree.
In
Out
14:33
It's just like I said, my motion is to table this and look into it further.
In
Out
14:37
Okay.
In
Out
14:39
Second by Amber.
In
Out
14:40
All in favor?
In
Out
14:41
Aye.
In
Out
14:42
Okay, that is tabled for now.
In
Out
14:46
Okay, next is a request from Abigail Law to host a fall accessible for all yoga series.
In
Out
14:58
It will be held from 10 AM to 11 on the following dates: September 1st, 8th, 15th, and the 22nd, plus October 6th and the 13th.
In
Out
15:09
Make a motion to approve this.
In
Out
15:11
Alex, I'll second this.
In
Out
15:14
Where did you want to hold it?
In
Out
15:16
At Bicentennial.
In
Out
15:16
Bicentennial?
In
Out
15:18
Yeah, it doesn't— yeah, Bicentennial.
In
Out
15:20
I think she did this last year.
In
Out
15:22
I was gonna say, I think she did this last year as well.
In
Out
15:24
No, she did it in the summer.
In
Out
15:25
Oh, okay, okay.
In
Out
15:27
I remember seeing that name.
In
Out
15:28
We've always had yoga in the— on Bicentennial.
In
Out
15:31
No, I know I'm here.
In
Out
15:34
I feel like I've seen that.
In
Out
15:35
Yeah, we've been, but not by her.
In
Out
15:37
I guess they bring the people from that, uh, apartment complex there.
In
Out
15:41
It's people in wheelchairs, uh, disabled, and they do yoga.
In
Out
15:45
So we got a motion and we second it.
In
Out
15:49
Okay, no, I, I do that.
In
Out
15:52
Oh, yeah, it is a bicentennial.
In
Out
15:54
Okay, cool.
In
Out
15:55
All right, so we— do we have a second?
In
Out
15:59
All in favor?
In
Out
16:00
Aye.
In
Out
16:01
So approved.
In
Out
16:02
All right, so the last thing, the City of Fall River is requesting the use of Mapewood Park for its annual Public Safety Palooza event.
In
Out
16:11
The event is designed to bring community together to meet local public safety officials, learn more about public safety initiatives and promote trust, safety, and neighborhood unity.
In
Out
16:22
It'll be held on Tuesday, August 11th, from 3 to 7.
In
Out
16:28
Make a motion to approve.
In
Out
16:29
Okay.
In
Out
16:29
Second.
In
Out
16:31
Seconded by Amber.
In
Out
16:32
All in favor?
In
Out
16:33
Aye.
In
Out
16:34
Okay.
In
Out
16:35
Um, there is no new business.
In
Out
16:37
Does anybody have anything?
In
Out
16:39
Nope.
In
Out
16:40
I make a motion to adjourn.
In
Out
16:41
Okay.
In
Out
16:42
And we have a second.
In
Out
16:43
Second.
In
Out
16:43
All in favor?
In
Out
16:44
Aye.
In
Out
16:44
Okay.
In
Out
16:46
Have a good evening.
In
Out