Village Tree??

We have a tree near-ish to the curb and next to our driveway whose roots are doing a number on the driveway. While my guess is that it is too far from the curb to be a town tree, I’d like to verify.

I seem to recall that this is covered in the Village Code but I couldn’t find it.

Does anyone know if there’s an applicable section?

Thanks in advance.

you need to call the town and have them come out and see.  I had one that I thought was on my property and they determined it was their's.  They took down the tree right away but it took about 6 months to get them to remove the stump. 

Thanks Mike. 

(Although I do remember something in the Village code about an easement from the centerline of the street to some distance in which trees are the village’s responsibility)

Not sure if South Orange operates the same as Maplewood with their trees but I can tell you how Maplewood works.

Each road has an easement, they vary by the street but is usually 50'.  You measure the distance between curbs and divide the leftover by 2, and each side of the street gets their half beyond the curb.  So if the street had a 50' easement or right of way, and the distance between the curbs was 30', then each side of the street would have 10' of easement from the curb back.

In Maplewood, if the center of the tree is within that 10' the town would consider it their tree.  They will only remove the tree if dead, but will cut the roots within that 10' if the sidewalk or pavement is removed first.  It was the homeowners responsibility to remove and replace any concrete or asphalt. 

Thanks Eric. I think it works the same way in SO. I placed the call to DPW per Mike’s recommendation. They’re getting back to me tomorrow.

If they determined cutting the roots would kill the tree they would remove the tree, if there was no other way of designing the sidewalk.

Also, the reason for the delay in the stump removal is because of the amount of equipment involved.  So we usually waited to get enough stumps to make a couple days work out of it.

We started using a private contractor to remove dead trees in Maplewood.  When the contractor comes in he usually does the stump the same day or the next day.

Good, I hope it works out for you.

The tree is not dead in our case. It is a silver maple with lots of roots at the surface. Totally destroying our driveway paving. 

If it is ours, I guess I need to get a removal permit.  If it’s the town’s are you saying that they won’t take it down?

Not sure about South Orange but in Maplewood, taking a live tree down is rarely done.  If it is your tree in Maplewood and your permit gets denied you had to apply for a hearing with a sub-committee of the Environmental committee.  

Exceptions are made.  Safety is a major factor.  If the roots are a tripping hazard that can be an exception.

OK thanks. Guess I’ll have to wait.

Initial determination - Village tree.