Debate Over Removing a Mount Hope Street Tree
Park Board Tables Decision on Tree Removal for Further Review
Fall Accessible Yoga Series Approved for Bicentennial Park
The Fall River Park Board held a meeting primarily focused on a lengthy and detailed discussion regarding the removal of hazardous trees. The board debated whether to remove a specific tree on Mount Hope Avenue that was severely lifting a sidewalk, located near a driveway, and entangled in power lines. The discussion also covered two other trees on Conant Street. Board members weighed public safety against the aesthetic and environmental value of mature trees, referencing Mass General Law 87 and a city tree ordinance that requires a public hearing for such removals, a procedure the city has not been following. The board also noted the city lacks an officially paid tree warden, though a person named Chris acts in that capacity. Ultimately, the board voted unanimously to table the decision on the trees to allow for further investigation and consultation with the Law Department. Following the tree debate, the board quickly approved two park use requests. The first was from Abigail Law to host an "accessible for all" yoga series at Bicentennial Park on several dates in September and October 2026. The second was a request from the City of Fall River to use Maplewood Park for its annual Public Safety Palooza event on Tuesday, August 11th. Both requests were approved unanimously. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn, which passed without opposition.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Watch the video to verify.
Public / Other
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.
0:26If 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.
0:36I 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.
0:42Typically, it's up to like what you think, and we usually go with that.
0:45Well, usually I will say, based off of this photo, I do not think this looks very safe.
0:49That tree probably— we don't know which one this one is.
0:53That's, that's on Mount Hope.
0:54Yeah.
0:55Okay, so that tree is probably the only one.
0:58There was 3 over there we looked at.
0:59That was the most offending one.
1:01The other 2 were just something we could ramp, right?
1:03That, that one on the corner, it's like where the guy's driveway is.
1:08Yeah, 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.
1:15It's wrapped around the, the power wires too, right?
1:19Gotcha.
1:19The other 2 down from it are not nearly like that.
1:24They're barely like Those panels were barely popped up, so I think those would be a possibility to, to redo.
1:34I 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.
1:42Well, has someone— has something happened?
1:43Well, they said on Conant Street somebody did trip and fall.
1:47They put in a claim to the law department, but it was past the time frame.
1:53It happened in March, April, don't quote me.
1:56They submitted it like last month.
1:57You 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.
2:05That out of all 3, 2 spots, that was the only trip that fall.
2:10The, the Mount Hope didn't have anything as far as we know.
2:15Mount Hope might have been a new owner that moved in.
2:19That I believe that might have been the issue that there was somebody that was longstanding.
2:23I, you know, Darren brought this up.
2:25And, you know, the thing is, we had a tree ordinance that was created probably about 10 years ago.
2:32And unfortunately, we don't abide by that tree ordinance.
2:34We're supposed to have a tree warden, and we don't have a tree warden.
2:39I think Chris, Chris acts in that capacity.
2:42But according to that Mass General Law, like Darren was saying, You're supposed to have a hearing.
2:46We just haven't been good with trees in the city.
2:50So, 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.
3:02Yeah, we don't— like we did at Maplewood.
3:04Yeah, we just took them down.
3:06Yeah, 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.
3:14Yeah.
3:15So very, in very good shape.
3:16So the tree's fine.
3:17So now it's like a, I guess, a DCM issue, right?
3:20Yeah, it's different.
3:22There's multiple different— like, this one definitely needs to be addressed.
3:24Right?
3:25Absolutely.
3:26Right?
3:26Absolutely.
3:27The 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.
3:33Right.
3:33For sure.
3:34Um, so if we want to table the ones that are on— I don't even know if I'm saying it— Kono— Kona Street.
3:43Um, but for the one for Mount Hope, what would, what would you suggest be the next step for that one?
3:48So that one, the one that you're looking at, um, I would, I would agree that that one, that one needs to go.
3:57There's, there's not really a way of working around that one.
4:02The other 2, there's a good possibility that those can be worked around.
4:08Yeah, we've done it in the past.
4:11Um, both myself and Darren have had a few that we worked around.
4:18Um, but as far as that one goes, that one's gonna have to end up going.
4:23So would you, would you suggest we follow Mass General on trying to get a warden to come and look at it?
4:30Or I don't think, in my opinion, there's nothing with that particular tree.
4:37There's nothing we can do with that.
4:40There's, there's no way of because there's a— so there's a driveway right there.
4:46And it's kind of right on the corner.
4:48So there's really no way of being able to work around that one.
4:53So are we— can we take this down?
4:56Or do we need to have some sort of formal meeting?
4:59Well, 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.
5:11So, but he still acts in the capacity.
5:15If it wasn't for him, there'd be nobody making tree decisions in the city besides the park board.
5:20Okay.
5:21Um, so I mean, I, I work with him on the trees.
5:25We've come to the agreement that one tree on out of these both streets is the offending tree.
5:31Yeah, I'm— I just don't want to— I'm fine with taking this thing down and calling it a day.
5:36So I just don't want to piss anybody off.
5:37So my thing is not following a certain— so my thing at DCM was sidewalks.
5:41That 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.
5:51So we damaged the driveway.
5:52You couldn't ramp it to make the clearance because then the car would be up like this.
5:56Yeah, 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.
6:06And then in addition to that, it's, it's totally wrapped around the pole and the wires.
6:11Like, it's really up, right?
6:13So yeah, the pole is literally right there.
6:18Yeah, where the driveway where it comes up, there's actually a pole there where the tree is.
6:24So it's like kind of right through it and right into the wires.
6:31So I want to make a motion to take the tree down.
6:39Just that one.
6:40Yeah.
6:40Can I just ask a question?
6:41If it's in the wires, doesn't like national— is it national grid?
6:44Don't they have to come out?
6:45National 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.
6:56I know you can't go within 10 feet, right?
6:57Yeah.
6:58So with us, our in-city guys that we have can't touch any of the wires.
7:06We 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.
7:14And just a question, I mean, I just saw pictures, but just a question on that one.
7:17If you take that down, are you going to damage that driveway?
7:19No, no, no, it's not going to affect the driveway.
7:22No, 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.
7:37Okay, and then just paper it over.
7:39Yeah, they'll clean it up from there.
7:42I knew right away.
7:43So, so wait, we need to make So if you make a motion, we have a motion to take that down.
7:48But then for the other 2, are we just leaving it?
7:50Well, if they're saying that they think that it's fine, I don't think we should touch them.
7:54No.
7:54Well, so like, I put a call to law, they weren't— they're coming back tomorrow.
7:59So I wanted to ask them about this Mass General Law 87, you know, in regards to trees.
8:05I mean, you guys could table it till the next meeting until I get like a concrete answer from Law Department.
8:14You know what his response would be to that?
8:16If I could just say something, just looking at like this tree here.
8:20I mean, this is not a well-traveled sidewalk like Conan.
8:23I 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.
8:30And they deal with stuff like this.
8:32I would just— you cut that down.
8:35That's— it probably took 30 or 40 years to get this tree to grow.
8:38Like in the Highlands, you go up to the Highlands, and they have these nice trees.
8:41We have very few of these in the South End.
8:45I would just— I mean, it is what it is.
8:47But 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.
8:56This was like 40 years later.
8:59It just, you know, it doesn't mean that it's not dangerous, though.
9:02Like new owner or not, if it's around electrical poles, and it's lifting, you could just trim it, though.
9:07You could just trim that, but it's lifting the sidewalk.
9:09Yeah, but I mean, we would cut— we can't cut down every tree that lifts the sidewalk though.
9:13I mean, we— if it's a hazard, we have.
9:17And then sometimes if it's— if there's a space that's enough, we'll put something different in its place.
9:21That's what the one— that is what we've had to do.
9:24Sidewalk aside, can it be trimmed off the blinds?
9:28It could be.
9:28Okay.
9:29Yeah, it could.
9:31It could be trimmed off of the— away from the wires.
9:35However, if that— that's the one right on the corner of the driveway.
9:40Yeah, I don't know.
9:43Like I said, I, I'm not sure if they'll be able to fix the, the lip of it.
9:50That, like I said, I'm not— my— that's not my thing with sidewalks, so I'm not sure.
9:56The trimming part, it just takes it away from the wires, right?
9:59It would pull it away from the wires, help the— sometimes it makes the tree look a little funny because they kind of— yeah.
10:06Clearance cut it.
10:08But will it hurt the tree?
10:10No.
10:12At the end of the day, the tree would be okay.
10:14But I don't know that it's possible to fix the issue with the sidewalk.
10:19Yeah, I say we table it and we all go check it out before we make a decision.
10:23I'm dead serious.
10:24I mean, I mean, the pictures are— yeah, they're self-explanatory.
10:28But like, until we actually go and see it— no, no, I know.
10:30Sure, it's like, I feel like I don't need to go see it in person to see the difference.
10:32Yeah, no, I know.
10:33That's— that is that.
10:34It's 100% bad.
10:35Trip bikes, everything.
10:36Yeah, just like even if you're trying to snow blow your sidewalk, like even just that.
10:41Yeah, it's, it's a weird— it's kind of a weird spot the way it is.
10:48We can table it, but I'm— my thoughts on it are just— I'm not gonna change.
10:53I'm gonna say the same thing next meeting and probably the meeting after that.
10:56Like, 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.
11:02But if you want to— if everyone wants to table it, we can.
11:05But 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.
11:10So 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.
11:19I have known nothing about trees.
11:20So I know this is his actual job.
11:23No, I know.
11:23So like, if he's saying those 2 are good, in my opinion, we go with what, what he says.
11:27But for this one He's saying he doesn't think there's anything else.
11:30Yeah, like I said, I'm not a side— I'm not a sidewalk guy.
11:35But I don't know if there's any fix to that.
11:39But like, these also have come before us before, and we have chosen to get rid of them because it is an overall just hazard.
11:46So there'd be 2 motions, one to just leave the trees as is on Ridge and alleviate the one on Conant.
11:52So, so I think The other issue was, is the time frame of this.
11:58I think it's— this all happened within a month.
12:01Um, what, 6 trees?
12:03Yeah.
12:03So that's the other— well, internally, not to do 6 trees.
12:07What though?
12:07All these trees came within 3, 4 weeks of each other.
12:11I 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.
12:23But 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.
12:31But at the same time, do you really want 10 people coming in because they tripped and fell and broke their nose?
12:36Like, 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.
12:43So it wasn't like we just took the tree out and then there's nothing there.
12:47We typically have found something to put in its place so that there's just not nothing there.
12:52That call from that address, it came from the director, but it initially came from the neighbor across the street.
12:59And their thing was that they help the person living in that house pick up leaves.
13:06And I think that's part of the issue.
13:08And then they had mentioned squirrels in the trees, which I don't know what that has to do with anything.
13:13But it wasn't that, that address on Mount Hope.
13:15There was no trip and falls there.
13:17I think we should table this and look into this further.
13:19Law Department, uh, said it was only on Coney.
13:23So, so I have one last question.
13:25If this was something that we did take out, could we put something smaller in its place?
13:28You could put something smaller in its place.
13:32It's, it's kind of an odd spot.
13:34Yeah, like to have a tree in the first place.
13:37Yeah, it's kind of a, it's kind of a weird spot, but certainly something go back there.
13:43I think with what Chris— if you look at this again, this took 30 to 40 years, it's providing shade.
13:48You plant another tree, it's going to take 30 or 40 years to provide the same kind of shade.
13:53But 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.
13:58Yeah.
13:58So 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.
14:06Because like I said, in the past, that's what we've anything like this, we take it out, we'll put something smaller.
14:10Yes, it'll take time to grow, but we're a Tree City USA.
14:15I don't know if anybody knows that we're part of that Tree City USA.
14:18So it's like, we want to try to, you know, I mean, why don't we table it?
14:23I agree.
14:24Yeah, I have a different opinion on trees because I've been involved in something.
14:28No, no, no, it's definitely— we can all have different opinions.
14:31Yeah, it's fine.
14:31It's not— we don't have to always agree.
14:33It's just like I said, my motion is to table this and look into it further.
14:37Okay.
14:39Second by Amber.
14:40All in favor?
14:41Aye.
14:42Okay, that is tabled for now.
14:46Okay, next is a request from Abigail Law to host a fall accessible for all yoga series.
14:58It 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.
15:09Make a motion to approve this.
15:11Alex, I'll second this.
15:14Where did you want to hold it?
15:16At Bicentennial.
15:16Bicentennial?
15:18Yeah, it doesn't— yeah, Bicentennial.
15:20I think she did this last year.
15:22I was gonna say, I think she did this last year as well.
15:24No, she did it in the summer.
15:25Oh, okay, okay.
15:27I remember seeing that name.
15:28We've always had yoga in the— on Bicentennial.
15:31No, I know I'm here.
15:34I feel like I've seen that.
15:35Yeah, we've been, but not by her.
15:37I guess they bring the people from that, uh, apartment complex there.
15:41It's people in wheelchairs, uh, disabled, and they do yoga.
15:45So we got a motion and we second it.
15:49Okay, no, I, I do that.
15:52Oh, yeah, it is a bicentennial.
15:54Okay, cool.
15:55All right, so we— do we have a second?
15:59All in favor?
16:00Aye.
16:01So approved.
16:02All right, so the last thing, the City of Fall River is requesting the use of Mapewood Park for its annual Public Safety Palooza event.
16:11The 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.
16:22It'll be held on Tuesday, August 11th, from 3 to 7.
16:28Make a motion to approve.
16:29Okay.
16:29Second.
16:31Seconded by Amber.
16:32All in favor?
16:33Aye.
16:34Okay.
16:35Um, there is no new business.
16:37Does anybody have anything?
16:39Nope.
16:40I make a motion to adjourn.
16:41Okay.
16:42And we have a second.
16:43Second.
16:43All in favor?
16:44Aye.
16:44Okay.
16:46Have a good evening.