Greenwich — Replanting plans for land shared by Gov. Ned Lamont and his neighbors do not match up.

The Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency held a special meeting Wednesday to discuss the illegal tree-cutting that occurred on shared land last year, specifically focusing on plans to rehabilitate the area.

The meeting lasted two hours, but IWWA officials said they need more time to review submitted materials before making a recommendation on how to go about replanting.

At least 180 trees, if not hundreds, were cut down last November in a protected wetland last year without permits, according to Greenwich officials and documents.

Marc Kurzman, an attorney representing the Lamonts, spoke at the outset of the meeting.

"I am not going to speak this afternoon to the circumstances surrounding the work that occurred in the regulated areas, but I want to assure you of the following: The Lamonts recognize and appreciate the need to protect wetlands and wetlands buffers. They will assume full financial responsibility for the performance of the restoration work," he said.

Workers cut down trees on land owned by Lamont, his neighbors the Viks and their neighborhood association, the Ashton Drive Association.

The crew also crossed into abutting land owned by INCT LLC, a company whose owners are upset their trees were damaged, according to documents and testimony presented to the IWWA.

Both of these sides presented their cases to the IWWA Wednesday, but consultants disagreed about the severity of the damage and, as a result, the best course of action to restore the area.

Carrie Vik, owner of the home next to the Lamonts, said previous work by Aquarion and others "denuded" land near her home even before the November cutting.

"Our side of the lake, for the last 10 or 15 years, has really changed dramatically by that work that was done," she said. "I understand that that work has been done and that it was, from what I understand, it was not permitted. ... But for me, it's very difficult to understand the numbers (of cut trees) that are being thrown around and where those numbers come from."

Vik also said she is in full support of the IWWA and its efforts to rehabilitate the area.

Efforts to work together on a new planting plan, however, have not been enough, according to new documents made public this week.

"The failure to embrace the concept of preparing a robust plan as expected, if not outright demanded by the IWWA Director and the Conservation commission chairman, and to listen to/work with the affected neighbors, is a clear indication that the motivation here is not meaningful restoration but the money it will take to do so," INCT's environmental consultant Jay Fain wrote to Lamont's consultant on May 16.

Lamont's consultant, Matthew Popp, told the IWWA in a May 20 letter that he modified his plans after visiting the site, but that he opted against "dense planting of uncommonly large trees."

"The larger sized trees recommended by Jay Fain were not proposed because larger trees are known to have a higher mortality rate than smaller ones," Popp wrote. "A goal of our restoration plan is to create a dense understory, especially bordering the watercourse for shading purposes. The tree spacing used on our plan will allow for this."

Popp reiterated his concern that large trees would not fare well Wednesday. Members of the IWWA complimented him on the thoroughness of his work, but did not comment on the feasibility of either replanting plan.

John Tesei, an attorney for INCT LLC, said it will take "generations" for the new trees to grow to the size of the ones that were cut down.

Fain, in a presentation about his assessment of the damage, said the cutting was an "ecosystem level event" because it disturbed so much of the wetland area. He advocated for a more fulsome replanting plan on behalf of INCT LLC.

"(We are) light-years away from where we started, but I still think the plans can be tweaked," Fain said.

Beth Evans, director of environmental affairs in Greenwich, said her staff has not had enough time to review all the information presented from both sides and that they will present their comments on the plans at a future meeting.

No date was set for the next one but Evans suggested the end of June.

While the IWWA could choose to level fines against the Lamonts, the Viks and/or the Ashton Drive Association, no discussion of that took place during the Wednesday's meeting.