Longmeadow Select Board OKs oak removal, backs fiber broadband response

LONGMEADOW -- April 16, 2026, Longmeadow Select Board unanimously approved removal of two oak trees and adopted a formal rebuttal to Finance Committee concerns about the town's $8.6 million fiber broadband proposal. Meeting via Zoom on April 16, the four-member board, with Andrew Lamb absent, voted 4-0 to allow removal of a 35-inch black oak and a 26-inch white oak at 458 William Street, clearing the final tree-hearing hurdle for a planned roadway widening tied to the new Longmeadow Middle School. Engineer Gene Christie of Tyan Bond presented graphics showing the widening would narrow the trunk-to-curb distance to as little as two feet, and the town's tree warden had flagged both trees as potential safety hazards near a new student drop-off area. The board then voted 4-0 to adopt a seven-point written response to the Finance Committee's position statement, which will be mailed to every household with the town warrant, arguing that the proposed $90-per-month fiber rate undercuts Comcast, that the 20-year debt term suits a 50-plus-year infrastructure asset, and that the financial model was independently vetted by both the town's finance director and Fiber Spring's finance director. The Select Board's rebuttal will be posted to longmeadowma.gov ahead of the May 12 Town Meeting vote on the borrowing.