Tree Condo Somerville
By Anthony Longo 21 02 2008
This is a good one…we will be following this story for a while!
The tree beat the condos. In a battle pitting a 14-unit condo development against a single tree, the tree has prevailed.
The developers of 343-347 Summer Street, had seen their project delayed by lawsuits from the neighborhood for six years but were coming off a legal victory and had only one obstacle in their way before cashing in with new West Somerville condo’s: a single tree that had to come down for construction of a fire lane.
But the tree will continue to stand on Summer Street after Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone refused to accommodate the developers and declined to remove it. The decision was left up to Curtatone because of neighborhood complaints about the development.
The developers of the condo project, Dakota Partners (formerly Emerald Development Group) have filed a lawsuit against Curtatone and the city in connection with their refusal to take down the tree.
Source: by way of The Somerville News
[...] larry wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
Wouldn’t moving it where it can be placed on the condo property have been an alternative. It could have been made a prominent part of the landscape. I am always amazed of battles of vegetation and cities. Don’t get me wrong save the trees but there are so many other things a city needs to consider.
We had a battle similar in our community over adding sidewalks along the river and ended up moving the side walk around the trees as the sidewalk came up to each tree. Took two years and alot of legal fees and tax payer money to do the obvious. The trees in our area were huge massive tree line river scape so you can imagine the community not wanting to loose them.
Yes I agree. There has to be more to this story. Stand by.