Fair Haven Council rejects notice of tree cutting

FAIR HAVEN — The majority of the Borough Council has told borough residents that it’s none of their business if neighbors want to cut down trees on their own property.

A motion to pass an ordinance that would have required notification of those who live within 200 feet of a proposed removal of trees protected under the town’s tree preservation ordinance was withdrawn by Councilman Jon Peters at the council’s Sept. 13 meeting.

Peters acted after three councilmen — Robert Marchese, James Banahan and Benjamin Lucarelli — expressed their opposition to the ordinance, citing property rights and the Constitution.

“What you’re calling for is mob rule,” Lucarelli said.

Before withdrawing the motion to adopt the ordinance, Peters asked Banahan if he would vote for the ordinance if it were revised.

When Banahan indicated he would not support the measure, Peters withdrew his motion.

The Planning Board had reviewed the ordinance and approved it but suggested that the notice to neighbors within 200 feet be done personally, rather than by certified mail, which is costly.

Councilman John Lehnert, who had proposed the original ordinance, suggested that the Planning Board’s change be adopted and the ordinance be voted on with the revision.

After the meeting, Lehnert said he had not made a motion to adopt a revised ordinance with the notification change suggested by the board, because he realized it didn’t have a chance to pass, given the lack of support for the idea by the three council members.

Banahan said after the meeting that he believed the existing ordinance governing tree removal was working well.

“I don’t think the general public has to weigh in” when the council is determining if a property owner’s appeal of the town’s code enforcement officer’s decision to deny a resident request to remove trees would be upheld, he said.

Public input would “color” the procedure, he said.

Presently, the council hears the appeals at its workshop sessions, which have no provision for public comment.

Banahan said the Constitution was the basis of his decision to not support the proposed ordinance.

Borough Administrator Mary Howell said Monday that in 2009 four denials of tree removal were appealed to the council and three were then approved. In 2010, she said, five denials were appealed, three were approved by the council and two were withdrawn.

The tree preservation ordinance, passed in 2007, states that its purpose is “to prevent clear cutting of trees on privately owned properties in the borough and to restrict the removal of other trees, thereby maintaining the beauty and character of the Borough of Fair Haven, preventing erosion and controlling action that would substantially change drainage patterns …”

Under the ordinance, trees of certain diameters and “significant specimen trees,” are protected.

The proposed ordinance calling for neighbors to be notified of tree removal plans came after residents of Poplar Street, which is lined with tall, mature trees, protested the council’s decision to permit a developer, Spencer Foxworth, to remove 10 healthy trees from a lot in order to build houses there.

The minutes of the June 15 council hearing of Foxworth’s appeal stated that Elizabeth Lillestom, the borough’s code enforcement officer, who denied Foxworth’s application, said that two Norway Spruce trees the developer wanted to remove “are larger than the largest recorded trees in Monmouth County and Mr. Foxworth has requested to remove more that the 20 percent allowance by ordinance.”

After the council’s decision, neighbors of the Foxworth property, sparked by the efforts of 13-year-old Zoe Gallagher, called for notification of nearby residents when appeals for applications for tree removal are to be held, so their opinions could be heard