Selectmen asked for permission to cut down nine large trees in the park at a cost of $2,700.
DIXFIELD – A death sentence for nine large pine trees bordering Harlow Park was handed down by selectmen Monday night.
Acting Public Works Director Tim Hanson asked for and got the board’s permission to cut down and remove nine of the park’s 14 trees at a total cost of $2,700.
“These trees are useless when you’re maintaining the park, because the acid in their pine needles makes it hard to grow grass there,” said Hanson, who is also the park’s grounds keeper.
He also said the trees’ root systems are hazards also for SAD 21 athletes who use the park’s athletic fields.
“Pine trees and grass don’t mix, so if you want grass, you’re going to have to cut them down,” said Selectman Eugene Skibitsky.
Chairman Hugh Daley agreed, saying that the pine trees “are ugly looking things that have been trimmed and beat on, and have served their purpose.”
After the board voted 5-0 in favor of having Hanson hire a crew to fell and remove the trees, Daley told Hanson he could cut them down if he could find the money to do the job.
Town Manager Nanci Allard said that long before she was hired, townspeople had raised more than $10,000 for Harlow Park and there is more than enough money remaining in the account to do the work, but spring cleaning has yet to be done.
Skibitsky asked if the trees could be sold and Hanson said he had been told that no one wanted the wood because the trees have nails in them.
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