ALLENTOWN – Members of the Allentown Borough Council are stepping up their attempts to remove a tree that has been determined to be posing a hazard to the community.
The issue was an item of discussion, and ultimately a resolution, during the council’s April 9 meeting in Borough Hall.
Municipal officials said that in November, the borough’s code enforcement officer sent a letter to KRB Properties, the owner of the property at 54-56 Church St., notifying the owner “of the existence of an imminently hazardous dead tree located upon the property, which needed to be removed in the interests of the health, welfare and safety of the borough’s citizens.”
On March 4, the borough’s Shade Tree Commission conducted an assessment of the dead tree in accordance with the Rutgers University Hazardous Tree Identification Scale, which assessed that the dead tree is a high priority hazardous tree with public utilities, a borough sidewalk, a county road and a private residence within the potential fall radius, according to the resolution.
“We have not received a response to the November letter,” Mayor Greg Westfall said during the April 9 meeting. “The neighbors are continuing to complain.”
The mayor and council members determined the borough has the authority to remove the tree.
A question was raised by council members as to whether a tree professional should be hired to identify the tree as hazardous, rather than relying on the determination that had been made by the Shade Tree Commission.
Borough Attorney Greg Cannon said a tree professional does not have to be hired and said the determination made by the Shade Tree Commission is sufficient to proceed.
Council President Thomas Fritts made a motion, seconded by Councilman Michael Drennan, to give the property owner 30 days notice to remove the tree. If the owner does not remove the tree by the deadline, borough officials will take action to have the tree removed.
Fritts, Drennan, Councilman Rob Schmitt, Councilman Robert Strovinsky and Councilman John A. Elder III voted “yes” on the motion. Councilwoman Angela Anthony was absent.
The resolution states that if the owner fails to remove the dead tree within 30 days of receipt of the borough attorney’s correspondence, the borough attorney “will be authorized to take any and all appropriate legal action to have the tree removed and charge as a lien the expenses against the property.”
