12 12 24 PSEG West Orange BOA ZB 24 06 PSEG 35 Mt Pleasant Ave Condensed

went into -- when it was contemplated to be put into 15 effect. It usually doesn't happen overnight, so 16 that's why I am asking. 17 THE WITNESS: It -- this new ordinance 18 was developed subsequent to my employment with West 19 Orange. 20 VICE CHAIRMAN SCHWARZBAUM: And when 21 you -- did you leave West Orange on your own? 22 THE WITNESS: No. 23 Quite frankly, no. 24 VICE CHAIRMAN SCHWARZBAUM: Can you 25 elaborate a little? Page 24 1 A. Yes, I am. 2 Q. And how are you familiar with this 3 site? 4 A. When I was employed by West Orange, 5 there were a couple of projects that I was involved 6 with. 7 There was a replanting over on the -- I 8 guess it would be the southern -- southwest corner of 9 the property, a lot of the new plantings went in 10 about 12 to 15 years ago. 11 And about, I guess, maybe five or six 12 years ago, maybe a little more, the sidewalk was put 13 in on Prospect and I was involved in the routing of 14 the sidewalk and working its way around trees and 15 whatnot. 16 Q. And are you familiar with the plan 17 that's before the board tonight that's been prepared 18 by PSE&G? 19 A. Yes, I am. 20 I was given a copy of the TR-1, -2 and 21 -3 by Mr. Malanga. 22 Q. And were you able to review the tree 23 removal plan that was proposed by PSE&G as part of 24 this application? 25 A. Yes, I was.

65b96228-b9ab-4f72-9291-fa4a14ff04c8 7 (Pages 25 to 28) Page 25 1 Q. And with respect to the trees that are 2 the subject of that tree removal application, are you 3 familiar with generally those trees in that -- the 4 areas in which those trees are located? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. Okay. So starting off with -- or going 7 into the ordinance itself, you were asked questions 8 about your -- the current zoning -- tree preservation 9 ordinance. 10 Can you please give the board the 11 benefit of your understanding of the ordinance and 12 how it impacts the decisions to remove trees on 13 properties in town? 14 A. Well, the West Orange Ordinance is 15 probably the strictest ordinance I have ever seen. 16 It has -- the opening statements in the findings and 17 purpose are quite extensive, and that is indicative 18 of the fact that the town council has a high 19 importance of preserving trees and recognizing that 20 the contributions they make to the West Orange 21 community. 22 And so the -- stronger than the prior 23 ordinances, there is now a requirement for the 24 replacement of trees by residents and property 25 owners, whereas before there was a diminishing tree Page 27 1 leave it up to the discretion of the enforcing 2 officer, who may be a forester or may be an engineer 3 or a public works official. 4 But West Orange, by putting it under 5 land use, they put it under the scrutiny of many 6 people. 7 Most of the tree removal in the 8 township is private land owners taking down dead 9 trees in their yards. 10 But when there's a larger project of 11 development or redevelopment and it has to appear 12 before a zoning board or at least if it's denied it 13 would be appealed before the zoning board, it brings 14 it into the scrutiny of many people, so that the 15 discretion of one person is cushioned and 16 strengthened by this -- by the oversight of many 17 people, as we're doing tonight. 18 Q. So given that it's part of the land use 19 ordinance and your understanding is then the 20 evaluation of the tree removal plan and the 21 achievement of the goals of the tree protection 22 ordinance to -- to maximally protect the trees, is 23 that within the purview of this Board then to 24 consider whether that is met? 25 A. Yes, yes, it definitely is. Page 26 1 canopy coverage with development. With the loss of 2 trees there was no incentive to -- for property 3 owners to

rd then to 24 consider whether that is met? 25 A. Yes, yes, it definitely is. Page 26 1 canopy coverage with development. With the loss of 2 trees there was no incentive to -- for property 3 owners to replace trees. So now the removal of 4 healthy trees requires replacement by the property 5 owners. 6 Q. With respect to the preservation of 7 trees, are you familiar with what the current 8 ordinance -- the requirements of the current 9 ordinance with regard to the protection of trees that 10 exist today -- for trees that exist today? 11 A. Yes, I am. 12 In the -- in the purpose statement it 13 indicates that this section is to protect and foster 14 the existence and health of trees growing within 15 township borders, to preserve the maximum possible 16 number of trees in the development of a site or lot, 17 and to protect specimen trees to encourage innovative 18 design and grading to promote the protection of 19 existing trees. 20 That's in the preamble to the 21 ordinance. 22 The West Orange Ordinance is unique 23 because it comes under land use. Most of the 24 municipalities have their tree preservation 25 ordinances under police powers, and that tends to Page 28 1 If this application does not meet the 2 purpose of the ordinance, then it has to be revised 3 to accommodate the wishes of the council in passing 4 this ordinance. 5 Q. Okay. And with respect to the prior 6 ordinance and the current ordinance, it was brought 7 up earlier in counsel's introduction about saying 8 that they're adhering to the -- to the stricter new 9 ordinance, what are the differences mainly between 10 the two ordinances, if you know? 11 A. Well, one fault of the prior ordinance 12 was neighbor notification. 13 And the removal of trees, particularly 14 healthy trees, in the vicinity of a property line can 15 sometimes be disputed. And once the tree is removed, 16 you know, it's gone. 17 So now before you get a permit, there 18 is a requirement to notify your adjacent property 19 owners. That's probably the most important aspect of 20 it. 21 But also, if you're removing a tree 22 that is not completely dead, the procedure is a lot 23 more involved. You have to fill out a form, a 24 nationally recognized form, listing the potential 25 defects of the tree and its potential targets should

65b96228-b9ab-4f72-9291-fa4a14ff04c8 8 (Pages 29 to 32) Page 29 1 the tree fail. Is it -- is it the trunk that's the 2 problem or is it individual branches or encroaching 3 structure? Is there an insect or disease. 4 A tree that still has a green leaf on 5 it, you've got to go through a tremendous procedure 6 to get approval to remove it. 7 So it's -- there's no doubt, once Walt 8 Kipp receives the application and he has all the 9 background information, you know, only then is he 10 permitted to issue a tree removal permit. 11 And the -- you have two groups of tree 12 contractors. You have the tree removal contractors 13 and you have the full service tree companies. And 14 the tree removal companies, by the New Jersey Board 15 of Tree Experts, there's two categories. There is 16 licensed tree care operators. Now, they're only 17 qualified to remove trees or to prune trees. And 18 then you have licensed tree experts, such as myself. 19 They are the only ones who can actually put in print 20 whether a tree is alive or dead or write a report 21 about a condition of a tree. 22 And so these full service tree 23 companies, most of them have licensed tree experts. 24 So the new ordinance requires a 25 licensed tree expert to declare the tree as dead, or Page 31 1 A. I'm not sure where they got all of 2 this, but about a year ago, DEP came up with a model 3 ordinance that they were requiring -- well, initially 4 requiring municipalities to adopt. 5 And then we found out it was really 6 just a model which could be improvised. 7 But it did -- the emphasis was -- on 8 the DEP ordinance was water preservation, water 9 quality. 10 And it introduced a schedule for 11 replacement of living trees, trees being a source of 12 recharging water -- water reserve. 13 So the West Orange Ordinance far 14 exceeds the minimum requirements that the State had 15 proposed. 16 Q. Okay. And before you started to talk 17 about the different tree sizes. Could you -- is 18 there an impact on the loss of a tree of different 19 sizes? Do the impacts change? 20 A. Well, the intent is to maintain the 21 tree canopy coverage in the town. 22 And, you know, basically when you're 23 losing the canopy coverage of a large, say an oak 24 tree that's 30 inches in diameter and having to 25 replace it with four or five or more trees, those Page 30 1 to define what the defects of the tree may be that 2

y coverage of a large, say an oak 24 tree that's 30 inches in diameter and having to 25 replace it with four or five or more trees, those Page 30 1 to define what the defects of the tree may be that 2 would warrant its removal. 3 And again, if it's still alive or 4 partially alive, there is that requirement of 5 replacing the tree. And it's not a one-to-one 6 replacement, it's a scaled replacement based upon the 7 diameter of the tree. 8 So as I said before, West Orange has 9 probably the strictest tree removal ordinance 10 possibly in the State of New Jersey at this time. 11 Q. And under the prior ordinance or the 12 current ordinance, do they both look to the maximum 13 preservation of trees; before you get into the 14 replacement, to try to preserve as many trees as 15 possible? 16 A. Well, this one -- this one really puts 17 some teeth into it. The other one, the purpose was 18 to try to preserve trees to the greatest extent 19 possible, but there weren't as many hoops to jump 20 through. 21 And you're not going to be able to 22 remove a healthy tree without consequences of -- and 23 requirement to replace. 24 Q. Now, the current ordinance, was there 25 -- what was that based on, if you know? Page 32 1 trees are only going to be, you know, 10, 12-foot 2 tall. 3 And so you don't have the intense shade 4 and cooling effect that a large tree will have. 5 And, you know, a 30-year -- 30-inch 6 diameter tree could be a hundred, 150, 175 years old. 7 So you're losing screening and wind break even by -- 8 the goal of replacing trees is great, but the actual 9 fulfillment and restoration takes years for these 10 replacement trees to grow to the size of the tree 11 that was removed. 12 Q. And the replacement schedule, does it 13 alter based upon the size of the tree at all or is it 14 static schedule? 15 A. Yes. 16 In fact, I have it right in front of me 17 right now. If you're removing trees from 18 2-and-a-half to 6-inches in diameter -- 19 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Excuse me, sir. 20 From what are you reading? From what 21 are you reading? 22 THE WITNESS: I am reading from the 23 West Orange Tree Replacement Table, Table A. 24 CHAIRMAN NEUER: From the ordinance? 25 In the ordinance?

65b96228-b9ab-4f72-9291-fa4a14ff04c8 9 (Pages 33 to 36) Page 33 1 THE WITNESS: That's on page 17 of the 2 ordinance. So... 3 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Thank you. 4 THE WITNESS: So a tree that's 5 2-and-a-half to 6-inches in diameter, it's a 6 one-to-one replacement. 7 As you go to 6 to 13, it's a 8 four-to-one replacement; 13 to 22, it's a six-tree 9 replacement; 23 to 32, it's an eight-tree 10 replacement. Over 33 inches, it's a ten-tree 11 replacement. 12 So it's -- it's very aggressive in 13 terms of the replacement. It's much, much more 14 stringent than the State had proposed. 15 BY MR. TURTELTAUB: 16 Q. And by going to the larger number of 17 trees to replace, does that signify anything to you 18 with respect to the value placed on larger trees 19 versus smaller trees? 20 A. Well, it's supposed to be an incentive 21 not to remove large, healthy trees. You know, so 22 that's -- because in this situation, they're removing 23 -- they're proposing to remove trees that are perhaps 24 70- to 100-foot tall, that presently shield the 25 structure from view from Mount Pleasant and Prospect Page 35 1 And as you look at the -- the species, 2 it's quite obvious that when the substation was 3 constructed, there were certain species of trees 4 which were actually planted. And that would be white 5 cedar, white pine, Colorado blue spruce, Norway 6 spruce, Rocky Mountain juniper, Willow Oak, Little 7 Leaf Linden, London plane, Douglas fir, horse 8 chestnut and serviceberry. 9 So these were trees that were 10 specifically planted, they were purchased from a 11 nursery and installed. 12 And then as time went on and the 13 maintenance of the site was not up to par, we got 14 invasive species coming in. We got box elder, black 15 cherry, black walnut, white ash, Norway maple, red 16 oak, red maple, eastern red cedar crab apple, black 17 locust, Tree of Heaven, oh boy, yellow birch, 18 American elm, white mulberry, and bitter nut hickory. 19 Those trees all were self-planted by 20 nature. And many of them are really undesirable 21 trees to have on a property, but it's indicative that 22 the maintenance of the property was really not up to 23 par. 24 Of the original trees that were 25 planted, what I did was I tried to look at trees that Page 34 1 Avenues. 2 Any other replacement trees are only 3 going to be 10-foot tall. And the transmission 4 station is, I don't know, maybe that --

anted, what I did was I tried to look at trees that Page 34 1 Avenues. 2 Any other replacement trees are only 3 going to be 10-foot tall. And the transmission 4 station is, I don't know, maybe that -- the structure 5 is 100-foot tall. But you're -- right now the trees 6 shield the structure pretty well. 7 Q. And the loss of trees, does it have any 8 impact on the health and safety of the community and 9 the welfare of the community? 10 A. Well, certainly the trees have value 11 for wildlife purposes. And, you know, a large tree 12 is going to be filtering a lot of -- lot of air. And 13 at this intersection, you've got -- you've got 14 traffic stopped and cars idling and the trees provide 15 a filtering affect of the carbon monoxide emitted 16 from the cars. 17 Q. Now, in your review of the -- you said 18 you did review the plan that PSE&G has before the 19 board tonight. Is that correct? 20 A. Yes, I did. 21 Q. Did you come up with any thoughts or 22 comments about the -- what you reviewed? 23 A. Well, the trees on the site, and 24 looking in particular at the tables on TR-2 and -3, 25 the trees are identified by species and diameter. Page 36 1 had significant diameters to them. 2 And I identified them on my map, 3 circling them, and also in respect to what their 4 proposed disposition was, whether they were going to 5 be preserved or they were going to be removed. 6 And what struck me was that a lot of 7 the development seems to be targeted for the largest 8 trees on the site. And as you enter the driveway off 9 Mount Pleasant, there is tree number 4078, it's a 10 42-inch diameter Little Leaf Linden scheduled for 11 removal. 12 There's a 29-inch diameter London 13 plane, tree number 4087. 14 There is a 46-inch diameter London 15 plane, tree number 4135. 16 And tree number 4102 is a 36-inch 17 diameter Linden. 18 These are significant trees. And it 19 appears to me that wouldn't that be great if we 20 reconfigured the driveway access to go around these 21 trees rather than through these trees. 22 And the same -- the same argument as 23 you -- as you're going from the south end of the site 24 up to the north end of the site along Prospect 25 Avenue, and I believe those are water detention

65b96228-b9ab-4f72-9291-fa4a14ff04c8 10 (Pages 37 to 40) Page 37 1 facilities. There's like one, two, three or four of 2 them. There's a linear fashion. 3 The largest tree on the property is a 4 58-inch diameter London plane, perfect shape. You 5 can see it from Prospect Avenue. You look down there 6 and it's a majestic tree, tree number 4203. It's a 7 crime to take that tree down, in my mind. 8 So we have 4203, the largest tree on 9 the site, 58-inch diameter London plane. We have a 10 44-inch diameter London plane. These are, you know, 11 the width of a sheet of plywood. These are that 12 wide. The trees are that wide, tree 4204. 13 Tree 4210, a 36-inch diameter London 14 plane. 15 And then tree 4226, 36-inch diameter 16 horse chestnut. Beautiful tree. 17 Tree 4230, 35-inch diameter horse 18 chestnut. 19 Tree 4235, a 32-inch horse chestnut. 20 Tree 4243, 29-inch London plane. I 21 don't know the -- 22 I'm not an engineer. All I know is if 23 you move that, I believe it's water detention basins 24 or water retention facility, if you move that closer 25 to Prospect Avenue you could avoid all these trees. Page 39 1 ground saturation of water and air, the air 2 filtration through photosynthesis. 3 So that's pretty much where I am coming 4 from. 5 Q. And to preserve trees, you know, one of 6 the -- sometimes the issue of tree roots and the 7 destruction of tree roots therefore could destroy a 8 tree. 9 How far do you have to go, if you know, 10 to protect a tree root if you're going to be doing 11 construction, and where would usually the delineation 12 be here? 13 A. Well, the most accepted standard is to 14 protect the trees within the drip line of the tree. 15 So in other words, the furthest 16 reach -- outreach of the branches covers the majority 17 of a tree's root system. 18 And it's the fibrous roots at the very 19 end that -- that are soaking up the water and the 20 nutrients from the soil. 21 It's, you know, close to the trunks of 22 the trees, within 12 to 15 feet, those are buttress 23 roots that are primarily for the support of the tree 24 under storm conditions. 25 But it's the fibrous routes that go out Page 38 1 So, you know, in my mind it's like what 2 were you thinking? You like targeted the biggest 3 trees on the site to be removed. 4 So to me, this really -- there has to 5 be another way than to remove these 100-year old 6 trees. 7 And, I

what 2 were you thinking? You like targeted the biggest 3 trees on the site to be removed. 4 So to me, this really -- there has to 5 be another way than to remove these 100-year old 6 trees. 7 And, I mean, other towns, you know, 8 they have landmark trees that are smaller than this. 9 These are really significant trees. So I'm a little 10 excited about it. 11 Q. Would the mere replacement of these 12 trees once they're removed, in your opinion, satisfy 13 the goals of the ordinance of tree preservation? 14 A. That's the thing, that the -- the 15 ordinance, you know, and rightfully so, it tries to 16 compensate for the loss of healthy trees. 17 But, you know, the best deterrent is 18 well don't -- if it's a healthy -- a large, healthy 19 tree, nothing wrong with it, don't take it down in 20 the first place. 21 Because you're not going to have the 22 screening, the height screening of the facility that 23 you presently have. 24 And, you know, it's going to take years 25 for these replacement trees to begin to fulfill the Page 40 1 to the tips of the branches -- and, you know, the 2 roots do exceed that. 3 But that -- the drip line of the tree 4 pretty much defines the protected root zone. We 5 really don't want to be removing roots within that 6 area. 7 If you have to remove some of them, you 8 sort of monitor what percentage of roots are -- if 9 it's a -- if it's, let's say, 10 percent of the roots 10 on the tree, the tree will recover from that. 11 But as you get -- doing the trenching 12 or anything closer to the trunk of the tree, then 13 you're affecting the stability of the tree and then 14 the safety of the public or the surrounding 15 structures. 16 Q. And the drip line being the edge of -- 17 the maximum edges of the tree branches. Is that 18 correct? 19 A. Right. 20 It's, you know, it's a radius around 21 the entire tree. 22 Q. Okay. And in looking at the plan 23 itself, did you see opportunities to possibly -- and 24 we'll get into engineering testimony, but just from 25 your perspective and your experiences, ways to

65b96228-b9ab-4f72-9291-fa4a14ff04c8 11 (Pages 41 to 44) Page 41 1 possibly move some of the -- some of the impacts to 2 save some of these trees? 3 A. Well, one of the ways is by -- when we 4 know the lesser desirable trees, the invasive trees 5 that are on this site. 6 And if you target your development in 7 those areas and avoid the larger specimen trees, 8 that's the best way. 9 And maybe, maybe you have to sacrifice 10 one or two of them, but not all of them, you know. 11 So that's basically, you know, you try 12 to make decisions based upon saving the maximum 13 number of trees to the greatest extent possible. 14 Q. So when you look under ordinance 15 section 25-27.7(c), subsection 1C -- 1B, it says: 16 "To the greatest extent possible, 17 specimen trees and other large trees that 18 would be," with a paren, "ten-inch DBH and 19 greater, shall be preserved." 20 Do you believe that the plan achieves 21 that requirement? 22 A. Not to the greatest extent possible. I 23 mean, they are saving some -- some large trees, but 24 they're not -- the largest and most desirable trees 25 on the site are proposed for removal. Page 43 1 yard? 2 A. I have not. 3 Q. Okay. In connection with your review 4 this evening, you mentioned that you reviewed, I 5 believe, TR-01, 02 and 03? 6 A. Could you repeat that? 7 Q. Sure. 8 In connection with your testimony this 9 evening, what plans did you review? I believe you 10 mentioned TR-1, -2, and -3. 11 A. Okay. That's -- those are the only 12 ones I've seen, TR-01, 02 and 03. 13 Q. Did you review -- so you did not review 14 the site plans that were submitted in connection with 15 the project? 16 A. I did not have an opportunity to see 17 them. They were not provided for me. 18 Q. Okay. And did you review any existing 19 condition plans showing the existing and current 20 layout of the site? 21 A. Only from my own personal observations 22 from driving past the facility on a weekly basis. 23 Q. Are you aware of any existing site 24 constraints in terms of underground electrical 25 equipment that may limit the placement of electrical Page 42 1 Q. Okay. 2 MR. TURTELTAUB: At this time I have 3 nothing further for Mr. Linson. 4 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Let me turn to 5 Ms. Porter for cross-examination. 6 MS. PORTER: Yes. 7 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 8 CROSS-EXAMINATION 9 BY MS. PORTER: 10 Q. Now, Mr. Linson, you indicated that you 11 were the