Last updated 10:25 pm 03.09.11. Click read more for additional photos.

In a move that surprised town officials and neighbors Connelly Construction brought in a company to take down the black oak on the Hendries building site.  Connelly construction cited the trees condition as a potential public safety hazard and their liability in explaining why they were removing the tree.

One neighbor driving by was speechless at first, then said, “I’m shocked!” It was a sentiment expressed by a number of people who stopped to watch the firm, Tree Tech, remove the tree.

Connelly is convinced it was the right thing to do. “If that tree had been healthy I would have a problem. That was not a healthy tree and it had to come down.”

The action taken by Connelly comes shortly after a Planning Board meeting in which he asked that member Peter Jackson recuse himself from the deliberations on the special permit for this construction. At that session there were also a number of residents who spoke in favor of preserving the tree.  (Please find a post about that meeting here.) Pete Jackson was out of town today.

Connelly is scheduled to appear before the Planning Board on 3/24 to resume discussion of his special permit to build a mixed use structure on the site.

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