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

65b96228-b9ab-4f72-9291-fa4a14ff04c8 17 (Pages 65 to 68) Page 65 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Thank you, Mr. Eben. 2 Mr. Ricci? 3 MR. RICCI: Yes. 4 Mr. Linson, you said you did not look 5 at the rest of the plans other than the tree removal 6 plan. 7 Am I correct? 8 THE WITNESS: That's correct. 9 MR. RICCI: Okay. You said that West 10 Orange has one of the strictest or the strictest tree 11 ordinance that you know of. 12 Is that correct? 13 THE WITNESS: That's correct. 14 MR. RICCI: Okay. You said that if you 15 take down a tree, a large tree, and there was 16 difference sizes, different, you know, 36 to 40, 40 17 to 45, whatever those numbers were, there was a 18 replacement ratio that you had to replace that with, 19 correct? 20 THE WITNESS: That's correct. 21 MR. RICCI: And you said that the 22 current plan meets or exceeds all the requirements of 23 that replacement number. 24 Is that correct? 25 THE WITNESS: That's my understanding Page 67 1 trees, those oak trees are providing tree canopy 2 coverage. They're for air filtration, heat -- heat 3 island, you know, so they're -- what we're trying to 4 do is balance it. All right, you want to remove a 5 healthy tree? 6 Well, we're going to plant other trees 7 somewhere else in town if you don't do it on your own 8 property. 9 One of the -- one of the most 10 aggressive things I've ever seen in an ordinance is 11 in this ordinance, and it requires existing parking 12 lots to plant trees within the next, I don't know, 13 couple of years. 14 MR. RICCI: That's not part of this 15 application. 16 THE WITNESS: No, but -- but it is -- 17 it is -- I am just, I am just telling you -- 18 CHAIRMAN NEUER: No, Mr. Linson, you're 19 going far afield. You've answered Mr. Ricci's 20 question. 21 Mr. Ricci, do you have any further 22 questions? 23 MR. RICCI: Yes, I'm worried that if 24 the -- the impression I'm getting from you, and you 25 could say I'm right, I'm wrong, is that you -- Page 66 1 of Walt Kipp's appraisal of the application, that it 2 complies with the replacement requirements. 3 MR. RICCI: Okay. Then my next 4 question is, twice, when you were talking, you 5 referred to that -- that the meeting the ordinance, 6 but it is a bean counting method. 7 What did you mean by that? 8 THE WITNESS: It's -- it's -- it's what 9 the Township committee, in passing this ordinance, 10 deemed to be justification for removing a healthy 11

bean counting method. 7 What did you mean by that? 8 THE WITNESS: It's -- it's -- it's what 9 the Township committee, in passing this ordinance, 10 deemed to be justification for removing a healthy 11 tree and compensation for the removal of a healthy 12 tree. 13 And it's stronger than most towns. 14 So, you know, it -- they tried to make 15 the decision, the process as black and white as 16 possible. If this is what you want to do, this is 17 what you're going to have to pay in compensation for 18 the right to remove a healthy tree. And they've -- 19 West Orange has a very, very strict replacement 20 schedule, and it's designed as a deterrent for you 21 not to take a healthy tree down, you know. 22 But, you know, if you really want to do 23 that, I mean, bring it down on a smaller scale. 24 If somebody wants to put a pool in 25 their backyard but they have to remove four big oak Page 68 1 despite West Orange having the strictest tree 2 ordinance in the State of New Jersey, despite the 3 fact this Applicant is exceeding all the requirements 4 of all of that, and despite the fact that you said 5 the forester approved all of this, do you feel that 6 the forester who is working presently -- I don't know 7 how to say this nicely -- does not know what he's 8 doing. 9 THE WITNESS: Well, the forester -- the 10 forester's job is to enforce the ordinance. 11 And people may not like the outcome of 12 that, but the ordinance is the ordinance. 13 And the -- but the preamble to this 14 ordinance, before we get to the compensation for 15 removing healthy trees, the purpose is to protect and 16 foster the existence and health of trees growing 17 within the town borders and to preserve the maximum 18 possible trees in the development of this site or 19 lot; to protect specimen trees. Encourage innovative 20 design and grading to promote the protection of the 21 existing trees and to prevent indiscriminate, 22 uncontrolled excessive removal of cutting of trees, 23 et cetera, et cetera. 24 That's right from -- from section C in 25 findings and purpose of this ordinance.