Shade tree ordinance may be strengthened
Action is prompted
for Old Noah Hunt Rd.
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
MILLSTONE — After discussing improvements to an Old Noah Hunt Road intersection for many weeks, the Township Committee is about to move forward. But first, it has to purchase an 800-foot corner piece of private land for an additional right of way to improve the curvature there.
In a related discussion, the committee talked about drawing up a new shade tree ordinance before it’s too late and too many trees are cut down by home owners.
The section of Old Noah Hunt Road is between Route 526 and Ivanhoe Brook. During last week’s meeting, Township Engineer Gordon Milnes said he had prepared a parcel map to take approximately 800 feet to realign the road, but he added, he had not negotiated an agreement with the property owner.
Committeeman Charles Abate, who lives near the property and knows the owner, offered to discuss it with him.
Milnes said the assessed value of the small parcel was in the $400 range. The committee agreed that an offer of $500 was fair. Abate was authorized to make the offer.
Deputy Mayor Cory Wingerter mentioned a decision by the committee to save trees on Old Noah Hunt Road. "We had transportation money for Old Noah Hunt Road, but we wanted to preserve the beautiful trees," he said.
Committeeman William Kastning explained after the meeting that the township had money to widen a length of Noah Hunt Road, but the committee decided to do only part of the roadway in order to protect the trees.
"Engineers always like to widen roads with the grant money that we get. In general we like that idea, but in this case, to widen Noah Hunt Road all the way to Pine Drive would have required cutting down all of trees along that section of the road. So the decision was made to only do part of the road."
But since the trees on that part of the road are on private property, the new homeowners can cut them down. Wingerter said for that reason he was anxious to see that a strong shade tree ordinance was in place.
"The township rejected the transportation money to save the trees. But now new homeowners can cut them down," he said.
Wingerter held up a copy of Freehold Township’s Shade Tree Ordinance written by Millstone Township Attorney Duane Davison about eight years ago. Davison is also the attorney for Freehold Township.
Wingerter said, after having read the ordinance about 10 times, he was very impressed with it.
Kastning later agreed. He said that as far as he knows, it has never been challenged and has worked well for Freehold Township.
"It’s a very good ordinance. The township should think about adopting it. It walks the fine line between trying to save a natural resource in town and not coming down too hard on homeowners," he said.
Mayor Evan Maltz said later in the week that the existing Shade Tree ordinance is a good one and if anything it should be strengthened, instead of writing a new ordinance.
"Personally, I am against big government, and I don’t think a homeowner should have to ask the local government for permission to cut a tree [on his property] for firewood.
"We all love to see the trees, and I think most of them are being lost to development, not to the private homeowner. The Planning Board has done outstanding work recently, creating environmental easements on proposed new developments strictly to protect woodland areas."
The Township Committee asked Wingerter to put together an ad hoc committee to look into the proposed ordinance. It was agreed that two members of the Environmental Commission and the Shade Tree Commission, as well as two members of the Township Committee, should meet to discuss putting together a new shade tree ordinance.