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

65b96228-b9ab-4f72-9291-fa4a14ff04c8 19 (Pages 73 to 76) Page 73 1 up to your forester, you know, Walt Kipp is -- 2 whatever decision he makes, it's scrutinized. And he 3 could be blamed, you know, because not everybody in 4 West Orange is going to agree with his decisions and 5 there's always going to be someone who disapproves of 6 the granting of that ordinance for whatever reason. 7 And it's -- it's usually somebody, you 8 know, somebody from the other side of town that is 9 going to object about a tree that is removed on, you 10 know, over in South Orange end of town, you know. 11 You know, they drove past and they see a solid stump 12 and they say, oh, that was a healthy tree. 13 Well, not -- not all dead trees are 14 hollow in the -- you know, so basically, you know, 15 having expertise and having support of other people 16 -- in fact, and the way this ordinance is structured, 17 a lot of the heavy lifting is done for Walt Kipp by 18 requiring a licensed tree expert to certify the 19 tree's dead. The tree's not dead but it has this 20 defect. 21 You know, I mean, it's -- it's -- it's 22 a lot. It's a lot of hoops to jump through. But -- 23 but it's for the good. 24 And, you know, I mean I -- 25 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Mr. Linson, I think Page 75 1 open space that you've preserved. 2 MR. SCOTT: Absolutely. 3 You've mentioned that the large 4 specimen trees, the ones that are 100 to maybe even 5 150 years old, and you've mentioned their diameter 6 and their height; would you say they are as important 7 as champion trees, which are on the State of New 8 Jersey's big tree list? 9 THE WITNESS: They may not be on as 10 large -- you know, in order to be on the big tree 11 list, you know, it's got to be the biggest tree of 12 that species. 13 Now, West Orange, I know they have at 14 least one tree because I found it in Llewellyn Park, 15 it's an American Hornbeam. 16 So, but they could be candidates, they 17 could be potential candidates to be the champion tree 18 of New Jersey. 19 There's certainly, you know, a 58-inch 20 diameter London plane is -- is enormous. 21 MR. SCOTT: Okay. 22 And would you please go over again how 23 long it takes for new trees to grow to the size of 24 the large specimen trees that you've talked about 25 tonight? Page 74 1 you've answered the question. 2 Thank you. 3 THE WITNESS: Okay, good. 4 I could talk forever. 5 (Simultaneous

to the size of 24 the large specimen trees that you've talked about 25 tonight? Page 74 1 you've answered the question. 2 Thank you. 3 THE WITNESS: Okay, good. 4 I could talk forever. 5 (Simultaneous Speaking.) 6 MR. SCOTT: And would you agree, 7 Mr. Linson, that I believe it's your testimony here 8 that the purpose of the ordinance is to maintain the 9 tree canopy overall? Can you hear me? I want to 10 make sure you can hear me. 11 CHAIRMAN NEUER: He can hear you. 12 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 13 Replacing trees is something that we -- 14 we all can do to slow the process of climate change 15 and it just makes good sense, if you're removing a 16 tree, even if it is dead, to replace it with another 17 tree and not -- not just replace it if it's a healthy 18 tree. 19 But, you know, basically the quality of 20 life, we -- we appreciate our trees. 21 We -- you know, we don't always -- 22 always think about it, but, you know, the shade they 23 provide, the wind break they provide, the aesthetics, 24 the quality of life that -- that you enjoy in West 25 Orange, a lot of it has to do with the trees and the Page 76 1 THE WITNESS: Well, these -- these 2 largest trees are, you know, approximately a 3 hundred years old, maybe a little more. 4 But, you know, for a new tree to, you 5 know, they may never -- they may never grow to that 6 size. 7 But, you know, to -- to the extent 8 that, let's say you're planting a tree and it's 9 10-feet tall, how long will it take to be 50-feet 10 tall? Probably 25, 30 years. 11 How long will it take to be 70 or 12 80-feet tall? Well, maybe 75 years. 13 So it's just -- it's -- it's a 14 tradeoff. It's a tradeoff. 15 MR. SCOTT: Right. Right and -- 16 THE WITNESS: I mean it is -- 17 MR. SCOTT: I'm sorry. 18 Go ahead. 19 THE WITNESS: We're -- we're -- we're 20 fooling with Mother Nature. And she has a mind of 21 her own. 22 MR. SCOTT: Yes, absolutely. 23 You also testified, I don't know that 24 you've listened to other testimony from previous 25 hearings, but it was testified here by the presenters