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

Page 11 1 forester to discuss the tree removal, as well as the 2 tree replacement plans and their compliance with the 3 township's tree ordinances, both the prior ordinance 4 which we were subject to, as well as the new 5 ordinance which we were exempted from, but 6 voluntarily chose to comply. 7 After that testimony was given, we did 8 entertain questions from members of the public, and 9 at this point PSE&G is ready to rest with its direct 10 testimony regarding the application. 11 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Thank you very much, 12 Ms. Porter. 13 That brings us to the point in these 14 proceedings where we take testimony and evidence from 15 members of the public. 16 Are there any members of the public who 17 wish to be heard on this application or to present 18 evidence? Please raise your hand so that you can be 19 admitted. 20 MS. BRILL: Yes, we have 21 Mr. Turteltaub. 22 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay, Mr. Turteltaub, 23 please bring him into the -- 24 MS. BRILL: Should I promote him to 25 panelist --

Page 12 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Yes. 2 MS. BRILL: -- or is he okay in the 3 gallery. 4 CHAIRMAN NEUER: No, bring him into the 5 panel. 6 MS. BRILL: Okay. I'm doing that now. 7 You should see a prompt. 8 Here he comes. 9 There you go. 10 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Welcome back, 11 Mr. Turteltaub. 12 MR. TURTELTAUB: Good evening, 13 Mr. Neuer and Members of the Board, I thank you for 14 your time tonight. 15 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Mr. Turteltaub, my 16 recollection is that you're appearing on behalf of a 17 citizen of this community, Kevin Malanga. 18 Is that correct? 19 MR. TURTELTAUB: Yes, Mr. Neuer. 20 This is actually my first appearance 21 for Mr. Malanga in this application. And I do have a 22 case to put on tonight on his behalf, yes. 23 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. What do you 24 intend to present? 25 MR. TURTELTAUB: We intend to present

Page 13 1 three witnesses tonight, three expert witnesses. The 2 first witness we intend to -- we ask the board to 3 listen to is John Linson, who is a former forester 4 for West Orange. He is also a licensed tree expert 5 in New Jersey. 6 We intend to follow Mr. Linson's 7 testimony with a Robin Blanton, B-L-A-N-T-O-N. He is 8 a PE. Mr. Blanton has experience in the design of 9 stations like the PSE&G station which is the subject 10 of this application. 11 And, finally, we're going to have the 12 testimony of Mary Paist-Goldman, P-A-I-S-T, dash, 13 Goldman, G-O-L-D-M-A-N. 14 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Yes. 15 Did any of your experts prepare 16 reports? 17 MR. TURTELTAUB: They have not prepared 18 any reports. Though Ms. Goldman does have some 19 diagrams and concepts that she would like to share 20 with the board at the end of her testimony, during 21 her testimony. 22 CHAIRMAN NEUER: For the record, we've 23 received a curriculum vitae for Ms. Paist-Goldman. 24 MR. TURTELTAUB: Yes. 25 CHAIRMAN NEUER: We haven't received a

Page 14 1 curriculum vitae for the other two gentlemen 2 mentioned, Mr. Linson -- although I can say he's 3 well-known to the board -- and Robin Blanton has not 4 submitted a curriculum vitae. 5 So you can go through that when you -- 6 when you qualify them as experts. 7 MR. TURTELTAUB: I intend to do so, 8 thank you. Thank you, sir. Yes, that's exactly what 9 I intend to do. 10 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. 11 MR. TURTELTAUB: So with that, if I 12 may, overall our testimony here tonight is going to 13 focus on the tree ordinance and the aspects of the 14 tree ordinance, it's really two steps, one is to 15 maximize the preservation of the trees that are on 16 the site, and then once you get past that, you have 17 the replacement issue. 18 Here we're really going to be focusing 19 on the first of the two steps, which is to maximize 20 the preservation of the trees. 21 This site -- and the plans that are 22 here look to destroy a number of trees that have been 23 part of this community for, in many cases, a hundred 24 years. And they provide a lot of natural resources 25 and value.

Page 15 1 And we intend to have Mr. Linson talk 2 about those trees, about the ordinance in his view of 3 how compliance has -- has not occurred with this 4 plan. 5 We will then have Mr. Blanton, who will 6 then discuss design options for -- that would 7 potentially solve some of the problems that my client 8 has seen in this plan. 9 And we'll end it with Ms. Goldman, who 10 will then be able to talk about some of the 11 alternatives that we can -- we can hopefully work 12 with here and achieve the preservation of trees that 13 have -- like I say, have been part of this community 14 for at least a hundred years from what I understand. 15 So with that, I'd like to see if we 16 could elevate Mr. Linson as a speaker here so he can 17 provide his testimony in this matter. 18 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Please do so, 19 Ms. Brill. 20 MS. BRILL: Yes, if he could raise his 21 hand so I can find him. 22 I'm not seeing a hand yet. 23 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Mr. Linson, raise your 24 hand, please. 25 MS. BRILL: What's the first name?

Page 16 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: John. 2 MR. TURTELTAUB: John. John Linson. 3 MS. BRILL: Oh, okay. 4 Our old forester. 5 MR. TURTELTAUB: Yes. 6 MS. BRILL: Ah, okay, he didn't raise 7 his hand, but I'm promoting him now. 8 MR. TURTELTAUB: Okay. Thank you. 9 MS. BRILL: He has to accept it. 10 MR. TURTELTAUB: Mr. Linson, you should 11 see a request for you to accept, a blue button to 12 press to get up, to be elevated. 13 MS. BRILL: Right. 14 He hasn't accepted yet. 15 Maybe buzz him? 16 MR. TURTELTAUB: Yes, if you don't mind 17 I'll disappear for one second. 18 CHAIRMAN NEUER: As long as you promise 19 to come back. 20 I keep forgetting to record the 21 Jeopardy music for moments like this. 22 MS. BRILL: Oh, okay. I think he's 23 coming. 24 No, somebody else just joined. 25 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Mr. Turteltaub,

Page 17 1 let's... I see him. 2 Okay. Mr. Linson is there. 3 Mr. Linson, turn on your video and your 4 microphone please? 5 MS. BRILL: He's coming in. 6 MR. LINSON: Okay. All right. I found 7 how to unmute this thing. 8 MR. TURTELTAUB: Okay. We got him. 9 Okay, good. 10 MR. LINSON: Okay. 11 I can begin? 12 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Well, we need to -- 13 MR. TURTELTAUB: You need to put your 14 camera on. 15 We need to put your camera on, 16 Mr. Linson. 17 MR. LINSON: Okay. 18 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Lower left. 19 MR. LINSON: Oh, start video. 20 There it is. 21 Okay, how's that? 22 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Looks like John 23 Linson. 24 MR. LINSON: You have -- you have 25 visual and sound.

Page 18 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Welcome back. 2 Mr. DeLuca, please be kind enough to 3 swear the witness. 4 MR. DeLUCA: Mr. Linson, if you could 5 please raise your right hand. 6 MR. LINSON: Yes. 7 MR. DeLUCA: Do you swear to tell the 8 truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 9 MR. LINSON: I do. 10 J O H N D. L I N S O N, SR. 11 52 Ricker Road, Kinnelon, New Jersey, having been 12 duly sworn, testifies as follows: 13 MR. DeLUCA: Thank you. 14 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Before we begin, 15 Ms. Porter, were you alerted to this witness? 16 MS. PORTER: I was alerted to the fact 17 that there would be a tree expert. 18 I was not provided with any information 19 as to who it would be, nor any information regarding 20 their credentials. 21 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Any objection before 22 we get into credentials? 23 MS. PORTER: No. 24 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay, thank you. 25 Mr. Turteltaub, please continue.

Page 19 1 MR. TURTELTAUB: And I do thank the 2 board for its time in getting Mr. Linson on. 3 VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION 4 BY MR. TURTELTAUB: 5 Q. Mr. Linson, if you could, could you 6 please provide the board with the benefit of your 7 background, experiences, especially as it pertains to 8 trees and the preservation of trees? 9 A. Okay. 10 I have a bachelor's degree in forestry 11 from Rutgers University, 1973. 12 I have been a New Jersey licensed tree 13 expert since 1976. 14 I served as Millburn Township forester 15 for 25 years and retired 21 years ago and have served 16 as a consultant to municipalities, primarily I've 17 served -- I've consulted with over 44 municipalities 18 in three counties over the last 21 years, and I 19 served as West Orange forester for 14 years. 20 That's pretty much it. 21 Q. And in those capacities, with respect 22 to tree preservation and enforcement of tree 23 ordinances, could you give the board a little bit of 24 the benefit of your background in that as well? 25 A. Well, serving as -- as a -- as a

Page 20 1 municipal forester, you're subject to all kinds of 2 issues, street renovation and sidewalk renovation is 3 one of the most -- the hardest things on saving 4 trees, but -- and then the development of building 5 lots. 6 So I've developed a pretty good 7 experience in terms of how to save trees when -- and 8 knowing when they can and cannot be saved. 9 And I actually implemented a number of 10 methods in West Orange in the road reconstruction 11 projects and pretty much any tree that an adjacent 12 property wanted to save we were able to save it, so 13 -- but it's the ones that didn't want to save, that 14 didn't want to have a sidewalk that curved around a 15 tree or leaving the old curb in the -- 16 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Mr. Linson, you've 17 answered the question. 18 THE WITNESS: Yeah. Okay. 19 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Any other questions, 20 Mr. Turteltaub? 21 MR. TURTELTAUB: I just have a couple 22 quick ones and then we'll move on to his testimony. 23 BY MR. TURTELTAUB: 24 Q. Mr. Linson, in your capacities working 25 for these municipalities, have you ever been asked to