BORDENTOWN CITY – Commissioner John Wehrman expressed his disappointment Monday at how the removal of a Farnsworth Avenue tree had been handled earlier this month.
An old red oak tree was removed on Oct. 5 at the order of Deputy Mayor James Lynch, director of public safety. About 4 inches of stump remains at the site.
By:Vanessa S. Holt
BORDENTOWN CITY – Commissioner John Wehrman expressed his disappointment Monday at how the removal of a Farnsworth Avenue tree had been handled earlier this month.
An old red oak tree was removed on Oct. 5 at the order of Deputy Mayor James Lynch, director of public safety. About 4 inches of stump remains at the site.
"It was not handled in accordance with the 1995 ordinance," said Mr. Wehrman, liaison between the Shade Tree Committee and the City Commission. "There’s a permitting process to remove a tree. That process was bypassed.
"This could have been handled in a more mannerly way."
Mark Antozzeski, a Farnsworth Avenue resident who had requested the tree’s removal, said he felt he had gone through the necessary channels and felt the Shade Tree Committee "didn’t seem to want to listen to reason."
Mr. Antozzeski had said the dead or dying limbs on the tree were a safety hazard to pedestrians.
Mr. Wehrman said a meeting should have taken place between city officials and the Shade Tree Committee before the tree was taken down, but the committee had been waiting for an expert to evaluate the tree’s chance of survival.
Mr. Antozzeski thanked Mr. Lynch and Police Chief Phil Castagna at the meeting for "taking appropriate action" by removing the tree in the interest of public safety.
"The decision I made was not something I haven’t done in the past," said Mr. Lynch. Trees uprooted or almost completely brought down by storms had been removed in the past without going through the permitting process because they were threats to public safety, said Mr. Lynch.
An early October storm had further damaged the Farnsworth Avenue tree, creating a dangerous situation, he said.
Mr. Wehrman disagreed, pointing out dangerous trees were still standing in Second Street park near playground equipment, yet they had not been removed.
"If that is a hazard I’d order that down too," said Mr. Lynch. "I would rather have you mad at me because of taking a tree down, than because a 5- or 6-year-old was hit by a branch."
Removal expenses of the Farnsworth Avenue tree came from the Police Department budget, said Mr. Lynch. The Shade Tree Committee has an annual budget of $9,000 with which they conduct plantings and tree removal or maintenance.
Members of the Shade Tree Committee are scheduled to meet with Mr. Lynch and Chief Castagna on Thursday.
Committee member Rebecca Moslowski, who was not present at Monday night’s City Commission meeting, said she still felt the proper procedure had not been followed in removing the tree.
"We were left out of the final decision," she said. "There are a lot of trees much worse. This branch still had some green to it."
