Camden fines another resident for cutting trees on town-owned property
CAMDEN — Convening for a regularly scheduled meeting Feb. 1, the Camden Select Board signed a consent agreement incorporating fines levied on a resident who acknowledged having trees removed on town-owned land in December.
This was the third such signed consent agreement that have been finalized following three separate incidents involving the removal of municipal trees by private property owners since last summer.
The latest concerned trees on Cedar Street, near the intersection with Chestnut Street, where homeowner Martha Rogers took responsibility for cutting nine public shade trees in December. While the town initially assessed a $4,500 fine, at $500 per tree, it later reduced that to $3,000 given that three of the trees were, “in need of removal due to age and infirmity,” the town wrote, in its consent agreement.
Rogers assumed the cost of removing those trees that were all in the town’s right-of-way.
The town discovered the tree removal one day when Public Works Director Dave St Laurent was driving by and saw the equipment on site, according to Town Manager Audra Caler.
“That was after the Cedar Street trees had been taken down and before more trees were removed on both Chestnut and Cedar street,” she said. “ The Rogers went through the process of getting permission to cut the remaining trees down.”
As Camden’s Shade Tree Policy Ordinance stipulates, no trees may be cut within a public right of way without first seeking written permission from the Town Tree Warden.
The two previous consent agreements over the removal of trees in on publicly owned property included:
1) Tree-cutting on public land near the spillway of the Megunticook River and the Town Landing. Camden resident Dan Gabriele acknowledged that he was responsible for a portion of the cutting and pruning close to the end of September. The town initially crafted a consent agreement that was to charge Gabriele approximately $8,000; however, in mid-December, and following a rewrite of the consent agreement, the town ended up fining Gabriele $2,900. (See attached PDF)
The consent agreement said: “Gabriele shall pay $2,900 which is the aggregate representing: (i) reimbursement of the costs associated with the design, installation and oversight of a Restoration Plan dated October 11, 2021 to return the Camden property to the condition that it was in prior to the cutting and trespass; said Plan must be also be satisfactory to the MDEP, (ii) a penalty provided for under the Public Tree Policy Ordinance and the value of the clean-up expended by Town employees related to the actual amount of cutting by Gabriele, (iii) a penalty for violation of the Camden Shoreland Zoning Ordinance as a result of this same cutting, and, (iv) reimbursement of the Town’s reasonable attorney fees.
2) On Atlantic Ave. on land adjacent to property owned by Charles and Laura Lee Hefner, who, in November 2021signed a consent agreement that included completion of a mandatory restoration plan, and imposed financial penalties of $24,230 for violations of the Public Trees Policy Ordinance ($4,000), violations of the town’s Zoning Ordinance ($15,300), and trespass ($5,000).
That incident took place during Summer 2021.
Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657
