While the Town of Oyster was once again lauded for its tree conservation effort by the National Arbor Day Foundation, earning the Tree City USA designation for the 10th straight year, Kitty and Mel Kessler, for the 10th straight year, were waiting for the town to replace trees alongside their Woodbury property that were wrongfully demolished by a strip mall developer.

More than a full year after they took their problem directly to Town Hall, the Kesslers attended the April 21 board meeting to ask the members of the Oyster Bay Town Board just what happened to the trees they have been promised. "We are back again."

With several hearings on the schedule that evening, it wasn't until 11:30 p.m. that the Kesslers had the forum to express their dissatisfaction over the town's lack of progress, and their concern over potentially missing yet another planting season, which ends in late May.

It was actually nine and a half years ago when the developer of Woodbury Junction Plaza took out over 200 trees to extend a parking lot near the Kesslers' property. The number of trees cut down on the strip mall property exceeded what the town had permitted. Furthermore, trees belonging to the Kesslers were also destroyed.

"They took down my trees with a bulldozer. They opened up our home to winds from the west. It has cost us $800 to $900 a year to heat the house. This year, it cost less," Kitty said. "The weather has been warmer this year."

Years later, ownership of the strip mall changed hands. The new owners, with urging from the town, offered an act of temporary amelioration, which did little good. Kitty explained, "Last year the new owners of the shopping strip planted 10 weeping willow trees, but [did so] at the end of the growing season. Five died."

Last spring, the town's major stumbling block in giving the Kesslers their trees back was acquiring bond money from the new owner, in compensation for the previous owner's error. That was primarily the responsibility of Town Attorney John Paider. Kitty said the town and the owner finally agreed to $8,500 in bond money in December 1997.

The other obstacle was the instability of the hillside upon which the Kesslers wanted the trees planted. However, Kitty said that the town's Department of Planning and Development informed her that plans for a stabilization wall were finalized.

But while these two obstacles have been seemingly eliminated, very little action has been taken.

"In March, I called Commissioner of Planning and Development Patricia McGuire and asked what was happening. She said they released the bond on March 4. They were waiting for a trust fund number," said Kitty.

But the wait has already become interminable, and now, to complicate the issue, ownership has apparently changed hands again at the strip mall.

Therefore, the Kesslers decided to confront the town board."We want weeping willows on the north side to replace the ones the town allowed the developer to remove, by lack of action," Kitty demanded. Weeping willows are known to grow quickly.

Mel Kessler said, "We are almost missing another planting season...It should be done this month!"

Kitty said she called Sam's Nursery in Commack. "He sells weeping willows for $90 each." she said. "With $8,500 you can plant a lot of trees," she later added.

Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto, whose seat was occupied by Lew Yevoli last year, said, "We'd rather not talk about this again. I'd like to take care of it."

"Hopefully the next time you come you will be able to say 'It's over,'" continued Venditto.

But the Kesslers remain skeptical, with a decade of disappointment behind them. They currently await word from Town Attorney John Budnick on the status of the project.

Kitty Kessler suspects that she will have to remain vocal throughout this ordeal. "If I had not gone to that town board meeting, nobody would have done anything about it."