Proposed Shade Tree Policy: Residents Replace Cleared Trees or Pay Up
Under the new shade tree proposal presented to the council, the village would also discontinue planting trees in public right-of-ways.
If the preliminary plan goes through, Ridgewood will stop planting trees in the right-of-way while requiring residents who remove their own trees to either replace them or pay into a tree fund. Following months of discussion and now under the backdrop of Hurricane Sandy, the Ridgewood Environmental Advisory Committee (REAC) offered their official recommendations to the council, largely modeled by Hanover's shade tree policy. Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh, the REAC liaison, said under the plan Ridgewood would stop planting trees in the public right-of-way, as Sandy exposed key infrastructure shortcomings. Sidewalks and streets sustained considerable damage since there isn't space for the trees to grow. “We’ve got a real big problem,” she …
In this Article:
Melvin Freedenberg
10:26 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013
During superstorm Sandy, a tree in the right of way by my neighbor's property, came down. The Village pushed it to the side of the road and the bulk of the tree was picked up a few weeks later. About six feet of the base of the tree was cut off from the root system and about a 1,000 lb. tree trunk was dragged over to my side of the right of way. There it lays, on the right of way, still two … more ›