Compromise Reached On Trees Set For Removal In Binney Park

GREENWICH, CT — Twenty trees at Binney Park in Old Greenwich will be spared temporarily under a compromise deal reached on their eventual removal, former Greenwich Tree Warden Bruce Spaman announced this week.

The trees will not be removed all at once but gradually over a two-to-three-year period, and only after plans for improvements to the park, located on Arch Street and Wesskum Road, are in place.

Once any of the trees are removed, a new one will be planted immediately, and that replacement will be a "tree species tolerant of a wet environment." Of the 20 trees, 16 are Crabapples, one is a Sugar Maple, one is a Dogwood, one is a Red Cedar, and one is Hemlock.

The 20 trees, many of which line portions of the perimeter of the park, were recommended for removal in accordance with a 2015 master plan prepared by Martha Lyon Landscape Architecture, LLC. Town officials, including the Board of Selectmen, and Parks & Recreation Board, approved the master plan.

However, several residents and others objected to their removal, leading to public hearings and the eventual compromise reached by Spaman, who now serves as a consultant to the town.

"Therefore, based on my research of the circumstances associated with these trees, and taking into account the concerns of parties present at the Public Hearing and correspondence received, my decision is not to remove all of the 20 trees as the proposed but to gradually phase in the tree removals over the next two to three years and require the immediate replacement of any trees removed with tree species tolerant of a wet environment," Spaman wrote in his decision. "Trees recommended for removal because of their proximity to areas with future plans for formal gardens or plantings shall only be removed when final plans for those plantings have been properly vetted and approved by the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Board of Parks and Recreation."

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