RE: Tree Felling & Preservation in Rest Haven CUP Masterplan (CU 95-2)

File Memorandum: References to Tree Felling and Preservation in Rest-Haven CUP (CU 95-2) August 28, 2002 Page 14 of 17 and the southern perimeter will remain untouched by the CUP decision. Rec. 185. One other aspect of the reference to the buffer trees here is that the approval notes that the buffer trees will contribute to the existing wooded character of the area. See also references at Rec. 186, and Rec. 187. The principle of establishing a buffer between the development proposal and adjacent properties was also emphasized in the findings of fact, which found "a buffer of existing vegetation, ranging from 40 feet to 180 feet in width around the periphery of the site." Rec. 182. The conditions of approval also addressed the buffer area trees. Condition 4(f) required that the applicant establish a time line for removing dead and hazardous trees and noxious understory vegetation from the buffer zones. Rec. 177. Condition 5(i) required that the masterplan be revised to indicate that native understory vegetation within the buffer zone on the southern portion of the site be preserved. Rec. 178. Condition 5(f) required that the plans show that the buffer zones on the east, north and west are to remain. Rec, 178. Condition 8 also addressed the buffer zones when it noted that the narrowest portions of the proposed buffer area could be required to have restoration planting of trees or protective widening. Rec. 179. The CUP Agreement notes that all these requirements were fulfilled before it was signed. Last, the revised masterplans submitted as an exhibit to the CUP Agreement indicate the locations of those buffer zones along the perimeter of the proposed development. Because of the frequent references to the buffer zones and the express requirements that notes be placed in the masterplan relating to the buffer zones, it is evident that both the issue and location of buffer trees was before the Hearings Official, was addressed by the Hearings Official, and was resolved by the Hearings Official in the CUP approval. References to which trees were to be felled and which were to remain in the interior of the development are similar to those for the buffer trees. The CUP makes extensive references, both conceptually and individually, to the interior trees, which indicates that not only was the issue of which trees would remain before the Hearings Official, it was addressed by the Hearings Official, and it was resolved by the Hearings Official through the CUP and the Agreement that executed the CUP. Both the findings of fact and the evaluation sections of the CUP recognized the broad concept that, in the interior of the subject property, extensive numbers of trees would be removed to create cemetery lawns and that the lawn area would be have a number of significant trees left standing. See e.g. Rec. 182 (findings of fact), Rec. 185 (addressing livability), and Rec. 186 (discussing the knoll). If those references to the concept of "cemetery lawns with relatively few trees" were all that the CUP contained, the argument might be made that the issue of which trees were to remain was not addressed or resolved by the CUP and the CUP Agreement. However, the CUP approval and the signed Agreement contain much more detailed information than that just mentioned.