Tag Archives: trees

Woodman (And Developers): Spare Those Trees!

Posted on December 1, 2023 | 12 comments

You might be thinking about Christmas trees.

They’re pretty. They’re fragrant. And they’re planted with one purpose only: to be cut.

One “06880” reader is thinking about many other species: those that are disappearing from residential properties at a rapid rate, all over town.

The reader says: “When I first moved to town 6 years ago and began walking about, I discovered Ferry Lane East. It’s a quiet, charming street with towering trees and houses hidden in the forest.

“Year by year, ‘luxury’ developers take one lot after another. The first thing they do is clear-cut the 100+ year-old trees, before building the maximum size box allowed by zoning.

“Of the 18 lots on Ferry Lane East, 7 have been ‘developed’ in this manner.

24 East Ferry Lane

“It’s going on everywhere in Westport, of course. But — leaving aside the absurd carbon impact of 8,000-square foot houses replacing 2,000-square foot ones — there is no effort to integrate at least some of the mature trees in the new development.”

The reader asked Dick Stein about this. Dick is a long-serving member of the Westport Tree Board, a professional landscape expert, and the driving force behind the identification and attempted protection of Westport’s “Notable Trees.”

The reader says: “Dick’s explanation was that developers are worried about buyers suing them if a beautiful, mature tree dies within the first couple years of a sale. this happens frequently, since the soil around the trees gets compacted during construction. The developer fails to remedy it before they leave. and the trees can die off simply from that.

“Also, trees can get in the way and slow down construction. It’s cheaper and safer to just clear cut as step number one. So that’s what they do.”

Here is #4 East Ferry Lane. Trees that were removed are circled:

Here is the lot today:

The reader notes: “I’m not sure what, if anything, can be done to encourage developers to stop clear cutting, and attempt to integrate mature trees.

“I know everyone is aware of the situation. This is just a reminder of the speed with which it is happening. I’ve been here only 6 years, and as a complete newcomer I can see the ongoing impact.”

(“06880” has covered Westport tree issues regularly. We’ll continue to do so. But we need reader support. Please click here to help. Thank you!)

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Posted in Environment, Real estate

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Ode To A Sugar Maple

Posted on July 5, 2023 | 41 comments

Faith Taylor has lived in Westport for 33 years. She has been a fundraising professional for local non-profits including Planned Parenthood, Norwalk Hospital and Earthplace, a trustee of the Westport Library, and a member of the Board of Education. 

Faith writes:

A 2022 real estate listing called it “Connecticut’s Largest Sugar Maple Tree.”

The State of Connecticut registry of notable trees highlighted it as a “champion.” With a height of 90 feet, a circumference of 246 inches and an average spread of 79 feet, it was the largest specimen in its species.

The sugar maple provided shade, habitat and elegance to the charming, historic Wright Street neighborhood.

Wright Street sugar maple. (Photo/Rowene Weems)

After more than 100 years in the same family, the house at #41 was sold last year, in a bidding war. Listed at $850,000, it sold for over $1.4 million.

Last week, this champion tree was taken down.

Was it dying? Not apparently. In danger of falling? Check out the trunk.

But it must have been in the way of a soon-to-be porch, swimming pool or 2-story addition.

Private property owners have the right to manage their own landscaping.

But this was not just any tree.  This maple had history. This tree had significance.

It was more than 200 years old. It’s a devastating loss to the neighborhood and our community — never mind the birds that nested there, the bees that found pollen, and all the microorganisms that sustain the life cycle of our fauna.

Grief may be too strong a word.

But it certainly is sad to lose the very elements of our town that contribute to its soul.

(“06880” covers Westport — from its people and events to its history and trees. Please consider a contribution to support our work. Just click here — and thank you!)

 

41 Comments

Posted in Environment, Real estate

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Roundup: Teardowns, Trees, Artists …

Posted on September 5, 2022 | 5 comments

The streetscape of Compo Road South near the beach will soon change.

Demolition permits have been issues for 2 homes between the Minute Man monument and Soundview Drive.

This house at 330 Compo Road South will soon be gone:

So will this one, at #296. It’s set back from the road, behind a thicket of trees and bushes.

A third Compo Beach South house — though north of the Greens Farms/Bridge Street intersection — will also be torn down. It’s #162, though the driveway is on Ivanhoe Lane:

(Photos/Dan Woog)

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Speaking of removals … Bob Weingarten writes:

“In the last few years, I’ve seen ribbons placed around trees that are to be cut-down by the town. Recently I noticed a more modern, effective and imaginative notice: one that’s written. Thank you to the tree warden and his staff.”

The tree with the notice is at Hillandale Road and Morningside Drive South:

(Photos/Bob Weingarten)

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Hey, artists! Do you want your work to be seen by hundreds of people every day?

The Westport Arts Advisory Committee and Westport Public Art Collections seek submissions from Fairfield County artists for 9-month loans of large-scale art. They’ll be displayed at Bedford and Coleytown Middle Schools.

Paintings, photography, textiles and other 2-dimensional media suitable for hanging will be considered. Proposals are  due September 23. To learn more, email westpac@westportps.org.

“A History of Civilizations” by Westport artist Eric Chiang hangs at Coleytown Middle School.

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Tip jars have become ubiquitous.

Whether you regularly donate, merely tolerate them or despite the idea, you have to admit: This one, at Superior Seafood inside  Stiles Market, is totally on brand:

(Photo/John Karrel)

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Tracy Porosoff was not thrilled to see this woodchuck tunnel near her plants. But she was impressed with how wide and deep it is — and sent it along, for our “Westport … Naturally” feature.

(Photo/Tracy Porosoff)

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And finally … Happy Labor Day!

(“06880” does not even take Labor Day off. If you’d like to leave a tip, please click here.) 

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Posted in Arts, Education, Environment, Local business, Real estate

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Train Trees Cut Down

Posted on January 19, 2022 | 17 comments

Private property is not the only place where trees are being cut in Westport.

Earlier today, Eversource and Metro-North took down trees in the right-of-way at the railroad station.

Matthew Mandell — an RTM member for the district, and director of the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce — called it “a great loss to the community. A number of these trees are beautiful in summer. They also obscure part of the tall electric gantry.”

(Photo/Matthew Mandell)

(Photo/Matthew Mandell)

(Photo;Monica Buesser)

 

17 Comments

Posted in Environment, Saugatuck, Transportation

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MORE BREAKING NEWS: Prospect Road Tree Cutting Underway

Posted on December 20, 2021 | 18 comments

Just seconds after I posted a report from Prospect Road — noting that a tree crew was on hand to cut a stand of old oak trees, overhanging Mark Donovan’s Prospect Road property, with the Donovans sitting underneath attempting to stop it — Mark sent me a video.

It’s just 35 seconds long. At the start, a contractor uses a chainsaw on one of the trees.

A worker begins using his chainsaw.

Twenty-five seconds in, it begins to topple.

By the end, the tree has fallen.

It is expected that more oaks will be cut soon.

18 Comments

Posted in Environment, Real estate

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BREAKING NEWS: Prospect Road Tree Cutting Near

Posted on December 20, 2021 | 12 comments

Just 3 hours after this morning’s “06880” story about the possible destruction of a stand of grand oak trees hanging over Mark Donovan’s property on Prospect Road, a work crew arrived with chainsaws.

They were ready to cut the trees, to make way for a developer’s new home.

Donovan — who is concerned about environmental and esthetic impacts, along with effects on the stone walls supported by the trees’ root systems, and possible changes to water runoff — and his family reacted quickly. They sat underneath the canopy, on their own land.

Concerned for safety, the crew has not yet begun cutting.

The Donovans, meanwhile, served coffee and cake to the work crew.

The tree-cutting crew, near the Donovans’ property line at Prospect Road.

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Posted in Environment, Real estate

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P&Z Chair: Let’s Talk About Trees

Posted on December 20, 2021 | 5 comments

Westport Planning & Zoning Commission chair Danielle Dobin noted this morning’s “06880” story on trees with interest. She writes:

Westport does not have regulations protecting mature trees. However, the P&Z — via its Regulations Revision Subcommittee — is working to change this.

The Subcommittee met on this issue in early December. They’re drafting a regulation to protect mature trees in the setbacks, stop the wholesale clear cutting of properties, and ensure that when mature trees are removed, new trees are planted.

Provisions will be made for immediate removal of a tree if there is a safety issue.

The Regulations Revision Subcommittee will take this up again in January. I hope interested residents, and builders, will join the conversation

Click here for a Westport News story about the early December meeting.

Trees cut on Prospect Road, in preparation for a new house.

In other tree news, Westport Journal reports that tree warden Bruce Lindsay will be replaced on January 1 by Ben Sykas. Click here for the full story.

5 Comments

Posted in Environment, Local politics

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Neighbor Fears Prospect Of Tree Demolition

Posted on December 20, 2021 | 7 comments

Mark Donovan is proof that you can go home again.

Last January the 1985 Staples High School graduate — now a new business entrepreneur — moved with his wife and youngest daughter into the Prospect Road house where he grew up. His mother — who moved there with her family 50 years ago — welcomed the companionship.

Now Donovan worries that the house he went home to may lose some of its greatest assets.

A developer bought the house next door. He’s ready to demolish the home — and the old oak trees that give the area so much beauty.

Some of them sit near the Donovans’ property line, within the next door property setback.

The grand oaks on the property line this fall ….

Donovan fears what the loss of those trees will do to the streetscape. He worries too about the effect on his and his neighbor’s centuries-old stone walls; the trees’ root systems run directly underneath.

Of course he’s concerned too about water runoff, from the increasingly severe storms we now see.

Donovan has one more worry: that Westport’s Tree Board — and every other town body — is powerless to stop the developer’s plans.

No regulations currently address the cutting of trees on private property.

“From time to time trees obviously need to come down,” Donovan says. “But why doesn’t the town protect those that don’t have to?”

… and more recently.

John and Melissa Ceriale — his across-the-street neighbors, who have spent 25 years building beautiful gardens and a meadow on their 8 acres of land — are concerned too. They’re helping Donovan try to convince developer Joe Feinleib of Coastal Construction to scale back his clear-cutting plans.

The Westport Garden Club is also making calls.

Donovan admits this is a personal issue. But, he says, his eyes have been opened to broader, town-wide concerns. Other places, like Greenwich and Nyack, have very strict rules about trees. Why, he wonders, don’t we?

The developer has already cut many trees on his property.

“There’s nothing to stop any developer,” Donovan notes. “If no one says they can’t, I don’t blame them for trying. Why does the town allow that to happen?

“They don’t have to care about me personally. But they should care about the history, the beauty and the environment of the entire town.”

Right now, the trees remain. But Donovan knows that any day, he could arrive home and see the land next door irrevocably altered.

“They say they’ll plant new trees,” he says of the developer. “I don’t understand that reasoning. If these old oak trees come down, we can’t get them back in my kids’ and grandchildren’s lifetimes.”

(Developer Joe Feinleib of Coastal Construction did not reply to a request for comment.)

7 Comments

Posted in Environment, Local politics

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Friday Flashback #243

Posted on May 7, 2021 | 6 comments

This has been one of the most beautiful springs in memory. Trees, flowers, bushes — the colors are eye-poppingly wondrous.

There’s only one thing missing: the beautiful tree that stood for decades in front of the old YMCA (now Anthropologie).

Of course, nothing lasts forever. Once upon a time, another large tree graced the Y’s corner on Main Street.

Look what happened:

(Photo courtesy of Seth Schachter, via eBay)

 

6 Comments

Posted in Environment, Friday Flashback, YMCA

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Roundup: Roe Halper, Southport Diner, Elusive Objects …

Posted on May 4, 2021 | 14 comments

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After Roe Halper’s husband Chuck died in 2017, the noted artist wanted to make a tribute incorporating emotion, interpretation and design. She used lndia ink with Chinese brushes to create a book called Passage, about Chuck’s passage through life.

“Although I was thinking of him when I created it, it has a universal theme,” Roe says.

Passage is available at the Westport Library Store, Westport Museum of History & Culture (formerly the Westport Historical Society) and Barrett Book Store in Darien, and directly from Roe (203-226-5187; chalper@optonline.net).

A page from “Passage,” by Roe Halper.

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Once upon a time, it was the Athena Diner.

It had a grand reopening yesterday with a new name: The Southport Diner.

The website says: “Chef John and his brother Chef Adonis, aka Tony the Greek, grew up running Andros Diner in Fairfield, working with their father Leo Pertesis.”

So though the name has changed, it’s still one of those Northeast favorites: a Greek diner. (Hat tip: Isabelle Breen)

Southport Diner

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How do you capture the most elusive objects in the solar system?

I’m not sure. But Thierry Legault may.

The world renowned astrophotographer joins the Westport Astronomical Society on May 18 (8 p.m.) for a virtual talk on the topic of elusive objects.

From his home “in the light-polluted suburbs of Paris,” he’ll show some of those elusive objects he’s captured — like images of the International Space Station, eclipses and transits.

The event will be presented both as a Zoom webinar (click here to register), and a YouTube livestream (click here for the page).

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Dr. Suniya Luthar is familiar to many Westporters.

The emerita professor of psychology at Columbia’s Teachers College led a longitudinal study on youth and resilience here. She chose Westport because of its high number of high-achieving professionals, and the emphasis on status and achievement. 

That study was referenced in a guest essay in today’s New York Times. The piece looks at the mental health of young people today. Click here to read. But beware: The news is not good.

Psressures — academic, social and other — are high on teenagers today. (Photo/Dan Woog)

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“Goodbye Honey.”

That’s the name of the new movie from Todd Rawiszer. The 2007 Staples High School graduate produced and co-wrote the film.

Shot in Westport and Pennsylvania, it follows 2 women who must trust each other to survive the longest night of their lives. They are “badass, strong women,” as well as good Samaritans.

“Goodbye Honey” was screen at festivals across the country, winning Best Thriller Feature, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor at the Garden State Film Festival, Best Lead Performance at the Nightmares Film Festival, and Best Actress at NOLA Horror Film Festival.

It will be released May 11 on cable, satellite and digital HD>

Click below for the trailer:

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Nature continues to elate and inspire us. Lavinia Lawson spotted this handsome sight at Grace Salmon Park …

(Photo/Lavinia Lawson)

… while Lauri Weiser snapped this shot at the Lansdowne condominiums.

(Photo/Lauri Weiser)

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Former Westporter Alex Lasry is running for the United States Senate.

In Wisconsin.

The 33-year-old Democrat hopes to unseat Republican Ron Johnson. Lasry has taken a leave from his position as Milwaukee Bucks senior vice president. His father — a billionaire businessman and hedge fund executive — co-owns the NBA team. The Lasry family first lived on Sylvan Road North. Marc Lasry now lives on Beachside Avenue.

Before the Bucks, Alex Lasry worked in the Obama White House for senior advisor Valerie Jarrett. He was host committee chair for the 2020 Democratic Convention, which was planned for Milwaukee but held virtually due to COVID. (Hat tip: Gloria Gouveia)

Alex Lasry

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And finally … in honor of the Westport Astronomical Society’s lecture capturing the most elusive objects in the solar system:

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Posted in Arts, Education, Entertainment, Environment, Media, Politics, Restaurants, Sports, Teenagers

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