Description
More than a dozen young trees planted within the past year in front of, behind, and on the sides of the new King Open School at 850 Cambridge St. are dying because they have not been watered. None of the trees have water bags at their base. The grass around the trees is also dying because, unlike at the adjacent Donnelly Field, no sprinkler system has been installed. Can you please water the trees, add bags at their bases, and install a sprinkler system for the grass, or at least water this newly laid sod occasionally?
13 Comments
City of Cambridge (Verified Official)
Acknowledged City of Cambridge (Verified Official)
rdonovan (Registered User)
Public Works - DL (Forestry) (Verified Official)
City of Cambridge (Verified Official)
Public Works - DL (Forestry) (Verified Official)
phil (Registered User)
SAWEvans (Registered User)
Cambridge Public Schools (Verified Official)
Thank you for your inquiry. Please note that Cambridge Public Schools do not maintain trees, grass or any other landscaping around our buildings. The work is done primarily by vendors and overseen by DPW. We have asked city's construction department to provide some input to your questions and they kindly did. Please see their response below:
We are still under a warranty period and also with the pandemic we were barred from setting up the irrigation early in the season. Any trees dying will be replaced but we’ve had city arborists monitoring all of the site trees. They only identified 1 or 2 that are actually suffering. Bags are not required on trees post construction unless the city arborist deems it necessary which he has not.
Also there is no irrigation system for the grass, only select trees as necessary. The fauna was selected from species that are drought resistant.
Thank you.
phil (Registered User)
Dear Cambridge Public Schools,
Thank you for your detailed response. I now better understand the constraints the city and vendors were under earlier this season due to covid, the warranty, and how such contracts protect the district financially from any recently planted trees that may die.
However, I still think it makes more sense for someone to water the trees now if it can prevent more costly uprooting and starting over with a new, small tree later, regardless of who has to pay.
I'm also concerned about what would happen if a tree were to die, get replanted, and then die again due to a lack of watering. Would the replanting absolve the vendor from future damage if the replanted tree were also to die? How long are replacement trees warrantied? What is CPS's watering strategy for replacement trees?
Also, how recently did city arborists last assess the trees behind King Open? I fear many more than the 1 or 2 suffering trees you mention are now at risk of dying.
I appreciate the selection of drought resistant grass, however, when new sod is laid, I still think it needs to be sufficiently watered and I don't think that happened here. I don't see many of the brown patches behind the school coming back. Is new grass warrantied by vendors similar to the warranty you describe for trees? Will dead grass (like that shown in the attached photo I recently took behind the school) be replaced?
Best,
Phil
Steve (Registered User)
afo3666 (Registered User)
Welp, things have gotten more dire! Some of the new trees that were planted after construction was finished are now being chopped down at their “ankles” (I saw one in the water play area and one in the grassy cove next to playgrounds). Additionally there are dozens of new trees and plants looking like they’re ready to be planted.
Is the city just wasting massive amounts of money cutting down trees and replanting new ones simply because of neglect?! If there were major problems with Emanouil (the landscaping contractors from construction) as I was told by Cambridge DPW employees, then why are they the ones here continuing to work on this gorgeous, but poorly maintained area?? Come on Cambridge, do better
Closed Cambridge Public Schools (Verified Official)