Large pin oak tree to make way for rooftop array
By: Courtney Gross
The controversy has been uprooted.
Going out on a limb, the Princeton Borough Council on Tuesday reversed a decision by the borough’s community forester and decided to allow Christ Congregation Church to cut down a large pin oak tree that was shading the church’s roof where a solar energy panel is to be installed.
As the settlement was finalized and more than 20 parishioners filed out of Borough Hall, elated applause could be heard as the council continued to address borough business.
After weeks of dispute, the Walnut Lane church agreed to plant three trees on its property and give $750 to the borough the equivalent of six additional trees to be planted elsewhere.
In a previously denied tree-removal application, Christ Congregation proposed to plant three trees and give the borough’s tree fund $375.
Since July, according to written correspondence between the church and the borough, the church has been applying to remove the pin oak to make way for its solar panels panels that would be subsidized by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
The application was earlier denied by the borough community forester and opposed by the borough Shade Tree Commission. It also raised objections from neighbors.
When the application first came before the borough, the community forester, Sean Burns, was on vacation, which left the application before only the Shade Tree Commission. Eric Tazelaar, the commission’s chairman, denied the application.
When Mr. Burns returned, he recommended the resubmitted application, which included a tree replacement plan and additional funding for the borough, be approved. But he later bowed to the opposition of the commission and neighbors and reversed his decision.
The church then appealed to the Borough Council.
In response to the council’s decision, Mr. Tazelaar, who could not attend Tuesday’s meeting, said the tree had always been a matter of perspective opinions varied as much as its leaves changed throughout the seasons.
Every environmental voice in the Princeton area, from Princeton’s Environmental Commission to Mercer County’s horticulturist, had an opinion on the towering pin oak. But, Mr. Tazelaar said, the council ended up accepting a resolution that satisfied everyone at least a little.
"It’s like King Solomon trying to decide," Mr. Tazelaar said. "Some things have no perfect solutions, but there are solutions that work for everybody."
Lawrence Wohl, an attorney who represents the church, stressed the congregation is not made up of "tree haters." Its justification for taking down the tree was to install alternative and clean energy, he said.
In response to the lengthy disputes, council members said it is likely the governing body will revisit the borough’s tree-removal ordinance that was revised earlier this year. Incorporating a formula for tree replacement as well as weighing in the use of alternative energy could be among the criteria discussed.
"Sometimes we wade into some thorny, thorny issues," council President Peggy Karcher said Tuesday.
The discussion, the council president added, would continue at both the Environmental Commission and the Shade Tree Commission, as well.

