Officials seeking to balance personal liberty, environmental protection.
By: Scott Morgan
MILLSTONE The four-year process toward formalizing a tree ordinance in the township took another step forward last week. But not everyone is happy with how things are shaping up.
At a special workshop meeting April 30, the Township Committee discussed how to guard against large-scale tree removal on private property. While there is no immediate problem with deforestation (save one or two examples that have resulted in bad neighbor relations over the years), the idea is to keep a situation from becoming a problem.
During the meeting, Gary Lovallo, forester for Manalapan and Jackson townships, presented a summarized version of those two municipalities’ tree ordinances, which protect trees from vandalism and overcutting. Also, the summary stated, efforts should be in place to save trees from falling victim to debris or construction that chokes off air and water sources.
After the presentation, the committee agreed to look more deeply into the Manalapan/Jackson ordinances, particularly, Committeeman Cory Wingerter said, at the provisions for firewood limits and tree loss.
Committeeman John Pfefferkorn explained in a later interview that the committee is measuring its direction against the specifics of these two areas. In Manalapan, for example, owners of 1 acre or less of property are exempt from tree-cutting limits; in Jackson, owners of up to 3 acres are exempt.
Mr. Pfefferkorn said nonexempt property owners are limited to cutting 10 trees per year and enough trees to comprise up to five cords (about 128 cubic feet) of firewood per year.
But for Mr. Pfefferkorn, the effort to save the trees is misguided. For one thing, he said, there are other, more pressing issues (such as the still-under-consideration gun discharge ordinance, based on a stray bullet that pierced a Scotto Drive residence last summer) that need to be considered first. The reason the tree ordinance can wait, Mr. Pfefferkorn said, is because there is no widespread deforestation happening at the moment.
More important, though, Mr. Pfefferkorn said he believes the proposed tree ordinance is too restrictive. Given that there is a general feeling that trees are good for the environment, he said, imposing strict rules as to who can cut what down is overkill.
"We need to back off from the intensity (of this proposal)," Mr. Pfefferkorn said. He added that rather than "punishing" the homeowner with laws, it would be better to target developers who are most likely to remove large amounts of trees.
"Don’t go after the little guy," he said. "Go after the developers."
In justifying his lenient position, Mr. Pfefferkorn said, "That’s the impact you have when you live in a free society."
Environmental Commission Chairman John Finley countered Mr. Pfefferkorn’s argument by saying that opposition to the proposed ordinance is based on "a lack of understanding on what we (environmental commissioners) are trying to accomplish. What we are trying to do is not stop people from cutting trees, but trying to have mechanisms to review tree cutting and educate the public."
A little over a year ago, the Environmental Commission hosted a forum explaining what it was trying to do essentially what Mr. Finley has said. According to then-Commissioner (and current Republican Township Committee candidate) Nancy Grbelja, the forum proved an overwhelming success.
The tree ordinance, however, remains in discussion limbo. The Environmental Commission has, periodically over the past four years, offered semi-formalized ordinance drafts to the Township Committee for discussion, but each time, the suggestions have been returned for retooling.
This is what will happen again. Mr. Wingerter said the committee, which largely supported moving forward with Mr. Lovallo’s suggestions, will continue to look for the right balance of personal liberty and environmental protection.

