Chatham 'Not Doing Enough to Protect Trees,' Residents Say

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the borough was “overwhelmed” by applications to take down trees and “proper procedures were not followed,” Mayor Bruce Harris admitted at Monday’s Borough Council meeting.

Harris’s remarks came after Inwood Road residents Jack and Fran Drew complained about a 100-year-old, 125-foot Norewgian spruce that was taken down by a neighbor on their lot late last month.

Fran Drew, who started Café Beethoven on Main Street with her husband, said the borough “was not doing enough to protect the trees.”

She told the borough about how she was alerted by the sound of a chainsaw at about 9:30 a.m. April 24 and went outside to discover a contractor cutting down the Norwegian spruce, “one of the largest trees in Chatham.

“You could see the tree from both ends of Inwood,” she said.

Drew said she asked the contractor for the permit to take down the tree and when she discovered there was no authorized signature on the permit, she began to call Borough Hall.

But when she did not receive a response, she said she went down to police headquarters to request an officer come out to Inwood Avenue to serve as a witness to what was happening. Apparently, she said, the permit had been written by the contractor.

She said the Norwegian truce was not diseased, nor did it pose a safety hazard.

By early afternoon, the tree had been taken down.

“A 100-year-old tree was gone in five hours,” she said. “I was heartbroken." 

She urged the borough to tighten its regulations and procedures for tree removal. “Otherwise Chatham will become a desert,” Fran Drew said.

Jack Drew said the borough should educate residents about the importance of trees. “These trees belong to all of us,” he said.

Councilman James Lonergan said the borough should pursue some of  the Drews’ suggestions.

Lonergan added that the borough needs more volunteers to serve on the shade tree commission.

“You have to be passionate,” he said. “But we haven’t found a lot of people with that passion.”

Borough Engineer Vincent DeNave said borough employees have been directed to follow the proper procedures at all times and that the employees have signed off on that directive.