The police arrived but said they could do nothing to stop the cutting until documents
proving that the destruction of trees was illegal could be delivered, which took over an
hour. Later, local TV stations took video and interviewed NBCA's Sally Silver and
Gordon Certain and the Tree Conservation Commission Chairman, Shelly Schlegman.
Also, an article was published in the 2/13 Constitution.
Even if the developer was not adequately notified of the appeal, the cutting of these
trees violated the requirement of the site's permit which states: "No tree removal or
grading shall start within 15 days of the issuance of this [permit]." Since the
permit was issued on 1/28/99, the cutting violated the permit. [2/12 was the 15th day
after the permit was issued and thus the cutting violated the permit.]
Additional restrictions had been placed on the developer that were to have been met
before trees could be legally cut:
1.) All trees to be preserved were to be clearly marked,
2.) A pre-cutting conference, involving the City Arborist, the developer, and developer's
arborist, would be held to verify that all trees were properly marked to ensure that only
approved trees would be removed.
These two additional restrictions were also ignored.
The Tree Replacement Ordinance Appeal Hearing, previously scheduled for 6:00 PM on 3/17
in City Hall, has been cancelled, since the permit was revoked.
