And what did Dawson's have to say about this?

Well, well, we have ourselves an uproar do we? Wow! Im sure The Lorax is soon to follow. Just fine them 500 bucks, replant the trees, double check the viewing of the signage and move on. For God sakes man. Unemployment, Fiscal cliff, the economy, euro debit crisis, middle east, presidental elections, social security, Medicare just to name a few. Lets focus people....

Neighbors who may pass it once a day or maybe not very often, need something to complain about. If the city would get real and not allow any tree in the City be permittted for pruning or removal, they would be the first to complain that they could not build a deck or repave their driveway. The trees can be replanted and the signs can help Rockiville Town Center grow. By the way these are the same people who have been asking for a local market.
GET OVER IT!

i know, lets have a meeting and tax plastic bags. That's so progressive and really makes us sensible little drones. That way , we can control what people buy and then we can control what they take it home in. Dont we feel so much better?

To put my comment in context, this fan of organic food is very happy to see Dawson's Market opening. Taking down the trees without a permit: that's a mess.

I thinking taking them down without a permit is a problem, but the bigger problem is why they needed to come down at all. I am not sure it would have made everyone feel better if they had a permit. Either way, I still see no comment from Dawson's, which may actually have had little or nothing to do with this yet is being maligned.

Hey, maybe we could get PEPCO to put up a few utility poles. Then all the trees in downtown can be cut down, in favor of the wires. The tree policy is a bit lame to start with in this town.

And WHERE is our $$$ neon sculpture that was taken down to put up the crass signs on the garage face on 355?

I've been wondering if all of the trees bordering the Regal lot will be removed once construction starts on the new Choice Hotels next month.

They are being removed because there will be construction equippment involved and we also lose the curb parking there for the pedestrian tunnel.

I certainly can think of several other "thngs" (human and otherwise) that warrant removal ..... vote the bums out.

Are they building another building in addition to HQ office building that is currently under construction?

Mike: I assume you're talking about the Choice Hotels headquarters. If that's the case, you might be interested in the last two paragraphs of this article:http://rockville.patch.com/articles/residents-ask-what-now-for-rockville-town-center#photo-11438836

I don't understand how Ruppert Landscape is allowed to come in every morning, making loads of noise, block off the majority of the parking for their trucks, (cut down trees and throw them in the back of said trucks) and rope off areas for hours. Every.morning!! People LIVE here too and these trees are their and my backyard. I was once looking at a parking lot with a few trees from my balcony but now I'm looking at a parking lot, Ruppert landscaping trucks and men making noise with load equipment. How much blowing/trimming/watering/scraping/cutting needs to be done?

This project is "tolled" basically "banked" run aground by the building market and may never see the light of day. Ref. File #: USE2006-00699 under the city of Rockville site.

Becky Lakin, marketing director for Dawson's Market, sent the following statement Friday afternoon:

"Dawson’s Market was comfortable with removing the four trees because the plan always included planting seven trees in their place, throughout the square. We are steadfast in our mission to always take the environment into consideration, represented in decisions like seeking out local vendors and growers as well as offsetting our energy usage 100% through wind power."

Robin McBride, vice president and Mid Atlantic region chief operating officer for Federal Realty, in an interview with The Gazette, confirmed that Federal Realty removed the trees without prior approval from the city:
http://www.gazette.net/article/20120927/NEWS/709279818/1007/news&source=RSS&template=gazette?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Federal Realty has not responded to Rockville Patch's request for comment.

Opening weekend festivities for Dawson's Market get underway in about an hour in Rockville Town Square: http://rockville.patch.com/articles/rockville-town-square-grocery-to-open-sept-29

Federal Realty issued the following statement this evening (posted here in two parts):
"On September 26, 2012, four trees in front of Dawson’s Market were removed. The trees that were removed are being replaced with 7 new trees including 5 Crepe Myrtles, 1 Maple and 1 Willow Oak. We are working with the City of Rockville to finalize the location of these trees and plan to install immediately upon the City’s approval of the proposed plan. Additional planters, landscaping and two potted trees were added to the Dawson’s Market parking area as well as three new trees in the plaza area this summer. Upon approval of the plan, there will be a total of twelve new trees planted at Rockville Town Square this year.
"Federal Realty submitted documentation of the tree replacement plan to the City of Rockville. We communicated the desire to complete the work prior to Dawson’s Market grand opening so as not to inconvenience the Rockville customer by disrupting the store’s operations and we prepared a construction schedule around that timing. We anticipated receiving the approval prior to the tree removal. We acknowledge that they were inadvertently removed prematurely based on this construction schedule. We are now working with the city to complete the administrative and approval process of the tree replacement plan. ...

(Part Two of Federal Realty's statement:) "... We are excited about the addition of Dawson's Market and feel they greatly contribute to the successful overall development of Rockville Town Square and commend all the dedicated Dawson’s Market staff that worked so hard to make this grand opening possible."

It's FOUR TREES! Calm yourself. They were on private property and the landowner should be able to do with them what they want. Granted, it impacts some of the locals but very minimally. If someone else can control whether they can do thing like cut down four measly trees, what's the point of private property?

If the government has people who are in charge of trees sitting around that government is over staffed and has way too much power.

"We acknowledge that they were inadvertently removed prematurely based on this construction schedule."

This is what happens when lawyers write press releases. Inadvertently? Please. "Gee, a work crew just happened to walk past the trees and their chain saws just happened to run into each tree. Repeatedly. Whoops."

Hey, it's four trees. Perspective is important. And they deserve credit for fixing up the landscaping the very same day; I think it looks pretty good. But the grocery's entire marketing is centered on being locally and environmentally friendly. When, just before it opens, the landlord chops down trees in violation of the law and previous agreements with the city, that's a slap. It is also utterly blind PR.

I'm still glad to see Dawson's Market join the neighborhood and I hope it succeeds. I happily shopped there yesterday. I also hope the store and FRIT live up to the good words they said before opening.

Looks like FRIT is being fined $4,700:
http://www.gazette.net/article/20121006/NEWS/710069997/1094/rockville-hits-developer-with-4700-fine-for-tree-removal&template=gazette