By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES— A March windstorm blew down a 40-foot-tall pine in Naples Village Green.

The incident — which occurred on a Monday afternoon while the town hall was closed to the public but staff were inside working —  led to the discovery that a handful of the pines were dead or dying.

That expert opinion prompted town officials to remove the four most at-risk trees. Then, within a week, all the pines in that corner of the green were cut down, leaving stumps where for decades evergreens had been growing.

“The pine trees were a threat to the public space so we had them all removed,” Naples Town Manager John Hawley said Monday.

“We are going to plant hardwood trees around the perimeter and bring in loam, and seed in the areas left barren by the pine needles,” he said.

People in the community have noticed the absence of the trees.

In fact, during Monday’s meeting, SAD 61 school board member Janice Barter asked what happened to the trees.

“I would like the selectmen to address why all the trees are missing from the green. It is a question that has been asked all over town,” said Barter, who is a Naples resident.

Hawley fielded the inquiry.

“I can tell you we had a tree come down in a windstorm about three weeks ago and when we had the other trees assessed it was determined that other pines were dead or dying,” he

On March 6, a strong wind gust toppled the pine tree, according to Hawley. It was estimated to be about 40 feet tall.

It was a Monday, a day of the week in which the Naples Town Hall is open until 1 p.m. The office was closed when the tree fell. At the time, Hawley was working in the office. He estimated it fell around 3:30 p.m.

“It sounded like a loud truck on a road full of potholes. It shook the ground,” he said. 

“It was very windy that day,” he said.

On March 13, Hawley had initially informed the Naples Board of Selectmen about the dangerous tree situation.

“Following the blow-over of one of the pine trees [on March 6] we have evaluated the remaining trees. There are three that are dead or dying and fourth one that is supported by one of the latter,” he said. “Our concern was the size of the root ball of the tree that came down and its lack of support in the ground.”

The decision was made to remove all the trees.

Q-Team provided the service, and removed a total of eight trees. The total cost was $6,780.

“Q-Team started on our tree removal but had to take a couple days off to work on other storm-damaged trees. They were back to finish the work in a few days,” he said.

Unfortunately, the town’s current Christmas tree is the final evergreen that is being considered for removal. That topic will be discussed at the next selectmen’s meeting, scheduled for April 10.