Marriott Close tree removal requested over sidewalk damage

EAGLE STAFF

The town has received another request to remove a tree causing damage on Marriott Close.

Councillors recently gave permission to a couple who live on the short street to remove two aging but healthy poplar trees, whose branches regularly fell on their car, at the residents’ expense.

The request involved a tree whose roots had cracked the sidewalk, according to a message with photos that the town received shortly before the Oct. 6 council meeting.

Public works superintendent Bob Bors hadn’t seen the offending tree but promised a report for the Oct. 20 council meeting. Bors outlined the reasons, based on the town’s current policy, that the town would pay to remove a tree. Damage to sidewalks, buildings, and/or driveways caused by tree roots was among them.

He’s usually the town officer identified in the policy who decides whether the tree actually caused any damage, Bors told Councillor Kimiko Otterspoor.

“The photos show cracks in the driveway near the tree,” he said. A large poplar was removed from the front yard this past summer for safety reasons during the replacement of a sewer line to the home, Bors added.

He thought the residents intend to widen the driveway, and either poplar could have caused damage, he said.

“There isn’t room to replace the tree if the new driveway reaches the edge of the property,” he said, answering a question from Mayor Trevor Hay, who noted that tree replacement is typically required in such cases.

When someone has a tree or trees removed to move a ready-to-move home onto a property, the town and property owner usually reach an agreement in which, “You’ve got to add trees back to your landscaping plan,” Bors said.

Councillors Otterspoor and Art Garrett agreed that it appears the tree should be removed.

“Depending on the size and the direction the tree is leaning, town staff could remove it,” Bors said, although in the case of the large ones recently removed by a private contractor, “You worry about the damage to the pavement when they come crashing down.”

Councillor Jadwiga Dolega-Cieszkowski called for quicker work to revise the town’s urban tree policy, noting that it doesn’t include the newest version pertaining to roots in sewers and that a form isn’t clearly worded.

Due to the town’s “shifting soil,” noted Jan Coffey-Olson, cracks in roads and driveways can be caused by “something other than trees.”