On Thursday, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont was publicly told by his state’s inland wetlands agency to replant more than 180 trees and thousands of bushes that were cut down in November on land behind the Democrat’s Greenwich home.
One of Lamont’s neighbors and a neighborhood group also helped cut down trees in protected wetlands and on property they don’t own. However, the rich governor has agreed to pay for all of the work needed to replace the trees, according to his lawyer.
“He made it clear a long time ago that he would pay for everything,” lawyer Thomas J. Heagney told The Associated Press after the Greenwich Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency meeting on Thursday.
Heagney said that the illegal tree-cutting, which the head of the agency called “clear-cutting” in one of the three parcels involved, was caused by a misunderstanding between Lamont and the landscaping company he had helped hire.
“The governor told the landscaper what to do, and the landscaper did a little more than what was asked,” Heagney said.
Lamont has rejected the claim that he cut down the trees to get a better view of a pond. The governor said the plan was to fix up trees that were damaged by weather in the past.
The neighbors and Lamont were given a “cease and correct” order in November after a property manager heard the sound of chainsaws on some vacant land nearby where the trees were being cut down. According to papers made public by the Greenwich Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency, the manager said the work “went far beyond the destruction of wetland vegetation.”
Fred Jacobsen, who is in charge of the land owned by INCT LLC and used to belong to the Rockefeller family, said that the “massive cutting effort” looked like it had been going on for several days and that he saw more than 10 workers cutting down trees and bushes. According to minutes from the wetlands commission, Alexander Vik and his wife Carrie, Lamont’s wealthy neighbor, had given people access to the spot through their land.
Not long after the event, Jacobsen told the commission, “The people involved knew they would never be allowed to do this if they had applied for a permit, so they did it anyway.”
Several public meetings and site visits have been held since then to find out how bad the damage is and what should be done next to restore the sought-after forests in one of the country’s wealthiest neighborhoods. There has been a lot of talk about how many trees were cut down and how wide the new trees need to be to make sure they grow into big trees.
The head of the local agency, Beth Evans, gave her suggestions on Thursday. In some cases, her suggestions doubled the number of trees and shrubs that should be planted that Lamont’s landscape architect team had first suggested. She called for a wider range of plants to be planted sometimes, offering trees and shrubs like sugar maples, red twig dogwood, and witch hazel.
Evans said of one of the parcels, “This property was clear cut, pretty much all the shrubs and trees were taken out.” “And at the time of the violation last November, what was left was mostly empty ground.”
Lamont’s team also needs to make plans for how to get rid of unwanted plants and keep the new trees and bushes healthy for years to come. It was also talked about putting up fences in some places to keep hungry deer from eating the new plants that were planted.
Heagney said that Lamont is ready to follow the director’s order to replant the three parcels, which was passed by the Wetlands Council unanimously on Thursday.
Heagney said, “The wetlands director was looking at what she thought would be needed to fix up the area.” “And, as I said at the hearing, we thought it was a little more than what was needed because we thought the plan we turned in was good enough, but we can work with that.”
The boss, Heagney, said he doesn’t know how much the job will cost or when the work will start yet.
Source: AP
