THE ISSUE: Residents were disappointed to see the majority of trees on Beacon Street removed on Thursday afternoon. WHY IT MATTERS: There is an ongoing investigation regarding the tree removal, with residents outraged over the lack of oversight of the contractor in charge of the ongoing reconstruction project in the area.

Early on Friday morning residents were outraged at a number of trees cut down on Beacon Street. The area is under a reconstruction project to be completed in 2018.



All but reportedly six trees were cut down, something residents, and the city, were unaware of.



The city said Newport Construction, under contract with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), removed the trees. Newport is not under contract with the City of Somerville.



“Those removals were performed without notification to or through the City of Somerville and our project managers,” said a letter written on behalf of the Beacon Street reconstruction team.



Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston contacted the city on behalf of constituents late last night. According to residents, she said, contractors removed the majority of trees on the street on Thursday, Oct. 5.



There were no signs about the tree removal, said Heuston, and the city should be compensated for this issue.



“We haven’t gotten an answer about whether MassDOT told Newport Construction to do this or they took it upon themselves because they wanted to get things done fast,” she said. “[Somerville] doesn’t take down trees like this.”



With a big reconstruction project like Beacon Street, said Heuston, someone from the city should be overseeing the contractor.



“This construction company needs a babysitter, unfortunately,” she said. “They won the state bid, we don’t even have control over them.”



According to the city’s letter, there is an ongoing investigation regarding the tree removal which will go well into next week.



The following is a full statement issued on behalf of the Beacon Street reconstruction team on Friday afternoon:



“Your concern and anger around the widespread tree removal on Beacon Street this week is warranted, and we share those feelings. Let us be clear from the start: the City of Somerville neither knew of nor approved any work to occur this week on Beacon Street between Washington Street and Inman Square. We certainly would not have approved any proposal to remove trees without warning or notification for abutters. In fact, just last week we received written confirmation that all MassDOT contracted work for this section of the Beacon Street reconstruction project would be deferred to spring 2018.



Our staff immediately launched an investigation into the facts of this matter this morning, and that investigation will continue well into next week. As we are about to enter a long weekend, it’s important that we share with you what we know so far, and steps we intend to take moving forward.



After receiving your reports and important questions raised by Alderman Heuston overnight and early this morning, we contacted MassDOT and demanded an immediate halt to any activities by the contractor today that the City has not been informed of. Upon a site visit by staff, it was clear that several remaining trees had traffic cones placed around them, suggesting that the contractor may well have intended to continue tree removals today. Thank you for your phone calls and emails that helped the City intervene this morning.



As it stands today, it appears that the tree removals were carried out by Newport Construction under their contract with MassDot, and these removals were performed without notification to or through the City of somerville and our project managers. This violates the City’s standard operating procedure for public notification on construction activities and the public right of way..



The City’s standards operating procedure for tree removals is to notify abutters via hand-delivered letters, as well as via printed signage placed on sawhorses adjacent to the removal location prior to the work.



The street trees between Washington Street and Inman Square were anticipated to be removed in the Spring of 2018, in order for the sidewalks to be reconstructed. Again, this action would only be taken after the typical public notifications described above. To further clarify, these trees were not scheduled for removal in order to accommodate a protected bicycle lane, but in fact due to other intricacies relating to underground utilities and placement within the new sidewalk/street configuration.



As some of you also noted, this project has been met with several significant delays which we also want to re-address for those not familiar with the background and timeline.



While many of you are aware of this project’s background, for those who may not be, I want to be clear that the City of Somerville does not have a contract for this construction. The construction contract held by Newport was issued and managed solely by MassDOT. As the City does contribute funding to the project, we have an important seat at the management table for this project, however the lack of accountability, especially this week is extremely disheartening and one of the main reasons why we have already begun the process of ensuring that all future projects of similar size do have contracts issued by the City, thereby increasing accountability. Of course that does not fix the problem at hand.



As was discussed in more detail during our community meeting in June 2017, this project was primarily delayed due to additional, unforeseen but very necessary gas main upgrades which were not discovered until initial excavation began on Beacon Street. Initially, Newport and Eversource were able to work in tandem by fully closing Beacon Street, which was never a situation we hoped to encounter. Nonetheless, it allowed the project to stay mostly on track. When Eversource reached the Washington Street intersection, the scope of their work became more complex and it was no longer possible to work alongside Newport, causing a significant delay in Newport’s ability to make progress toward project completion.



In each of these circumstances, many City staff have sat at the table during bi-weekly project meetings and have had strong input, based largely on community feedback, into the project’s future progress. In fact, many times we have been instrumental in keeping additional delays from occurring, and as much as possible, holding Newport’s and MassDOT’s feet to the fire in providing detailed information to us to pass onto residents. This week, there was a massive communication failure on the part of MassDOT and Newport, and the investigation continues. We will hold them accountable, and we will report back to you when we have additional details on this important issue.



With regard to the tree removal issue, an emergency meeting between City staff, MassDOT and representatives of Newport has been scheduled for next Tuesday, October 10. The City will update the community following that meeting.



Again, City staff and our elected officials share your surprise and anger. We will continue our investigations into what went wrong this week, what recourse may exist for the City, and what steps need to be taken to prevent process failures of this type in the future.



As we enter the long weekend, any reply to this email should be sent (or copied) to Mayor@somervilleama.gov, so that we can track, flag, and respond to any and all remaining questions upon return to the office on Tuesday, when the investigation will continue.



Sincerely,

The City of Somerville Beacon Street Reconstruction Team