The trees that were chopped down on July 12 as part of a redevelopment process of the Monfort Shopping Plaza, located between Main Street and Campus Drive, will be replaced.

"They are going to be replanted this fall," said Mindy Germain, executive director of Residents for a More Beautiful Port Washington. "Residents have been working with the developer on tree selection and I think it's going to be nice."

Thanks to the newly minted Peninsula Tree Committee, this has all been made possible.

On August 10, a tree summit meeting was held with elected officials from every village, town and state in the peninsula and five goals were proposed in order to prevent another shocking tree catastrophe. Councilman Fred Pollack, New York State Senator Craig Johnson, D-Port Washington, and New York State Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, D-Great Neck, presented a letter from the Regional State Department of Transportation office stating that they are willing to work jointly with the Town of North Hempstead moving forward, creating a dual jurisdiction over public trees on the Peninsula.

Village of Port North Mayor Bob Weitzner presented the five goals as such:

(1)  A notice. There will be a public notice when a tree is to be taken down, including pictures. This might be on the Town of North Hempstead's website or in an e-mail that goes out to residents.

(2)  Establishing wait time. When the community has been made aware that a permit is issued to tear down a tree, a 30-day wait period is requested.

(3)  A clear tagging system. For trees that being considered for demolition, there will be a notice on the tree, like a neon sign that states the tree has an application filed with the building department to be taken down, the reason why and if you have any questions or concerns, who to call.

(4)  Inclusion on a board meeting agenda. For public discussion, comments, suggestions and opinions. 

(5)  Notification of decision.

"In order to implement these five steps, everybody needs to go back to their own jurisdiction and play it through," said Germain. "People in this town have always cared about trees. I've already heard from the state that they can do almost everything on this list. And everything we discussed was for public trees, not private. This is street trees or trees in a public parking lot. If it's in someone's backyard, that's going to be phase two."

The group also discussed setting a peninsula policy that any public tree removed must be replaced in such a way that the peninsula's carbon footprint is maintained. A comprehensive tree policy will be presented to the community at large in the beginning of October and then a public meeting will be held potentially on November 18 concerning the development of a public tree protection program.

For now, Germain is satisfied with phase one being carried out.

"Rather than point fingers, all parties agreed to work together to create a process for tree removal on the Peninsula that focuses on protection, sustainability and public comment," she said.

Property developer Victor A. Musso has already been in touch with a certified arborist who works for the City of New York, and received several suggestions on the type of tree that would work best.

His choice? A Zelcova tree.

"It's a pretty tree that doesn't get too big, but it's hearty," he said. "They're used often in the City of New York. It's a pretty leaf and it's meant for this location, kind of like a vase shape. It grows up and it grows out."

Musso has already sent the proposal for the Zelcova trees to the State of New York, who will have the final decision.

As far as an actual planning date goes, Musso would like to start in October, but worries that there is still too much heavy construction going on there.

"I've had a landscaper, an architect and a designer down there with me," he said. "I would prefer October, it's a good time to plant, but then again, when there is heavy equipment and machinery all around, the trees might get messed up. We don't want the contractors killing the trees. We want them to take and take well."

In total, 17 trees will be going up at the Plaza. 

For background, see http://portwashington.patch.com/articles/summit-scheduled-in-light-of-tree-removals

and also http://portwashington.patch.com/articles/protecting-the-trees-in-port-washington