This week the town’s Planning & Zoning Dept announced the town is advancing its vision of a tree-lined boulevard along along Route 1 in Greenwich, from Port Chester to Stamford.
The effort to plant trees – both native species and ornamental – was long in the making.
View of a section of Rte 1/East Putnam Ave that benefits from abundant trees. Oct 29, 2024 Photo: Leslie Yager
In May 2022, elected officials, town employees and volunteers gathered along busy Route 1 in Old Greenwich to mark the last leg of the effort to pick sites for new trees. May 26, 2022. Photo: Leslie Yager
Back on October 4, 2018, Planning & Zoning hosted a workshop for the Post Road corridor, with the goal of making the Post Road a true gateway to New England.
In December 2019, the Representative Town Meeting approved this goal as part of the Town’s 10-year Plan of Conservation and Development.
For the next two-years, Town employees, appointed officials and non-profit volunteers developed a plan, forming the Greenscape Committee, which mapped and walked the full length of the Greenwich Post Road to label 370 sites for trees.
After that, Planning & Zoning, Parks & Recreation and the Dept of Public Works reviewed and verified each planting site. The proposal was then approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission, the Board of Selectmen, and the RTM.
Because the Post Road is a State road, the next step was to send the tree planting plan to the CT Department of Transportation (DOT).
The State and the Town worked together diligently for the next two years to meet all relevant State standards.
Finally, last week, the DOT granted an encroachment permit for the Town to plant the trees.
The Greenwich Tree Conservancy, a non-profit created to plant and preserve the trees of Greenwich, is the Town’s partner in this endeavor and will be paying for the trees and their planting costs. The planting will be inaugurated on Friday, November 1.
Up to 90 of the approved trees will go in the ground this fall and the remaining trees will be planted in the spring.
The number of different departments and agencies involved was numerous.
P&Z thanked the Town Planner, Greenscape Committee, Town Tree Warden, Parks & Recreation staff, Assistant Environmental Affairs Director, Dept of Public Works, Architectural Review Committee, Town Law Dept and Risk Management personnel, Greenwich Tree Conservancy, First Selectman, Representative Town Meeting Members, the town’s Delegation to the CT General Assembly, and CT Dept of Transportation for their efforts.
The inaugural event will take place this Friday, November 1 at 11:30am at 600 East Putnam Avenue in Cos Cob (the former Mike’s Organic). All are invited to attend.
See also:
Major Public-Private Partnership in the Works to Plant 500 Trees on Rte 1 in Greenwich
May 26, 2022
Massive Bulb Planting Effort at Cos Cob’s Chestnut Allée Will Pay Dividends in Spring
November 2020