[Amended 7-24-2018 by Ord. No. 2606]
A.Â
It is the purpose of this chapter to regulate and establish policy
for the control of planting, removal, maintenance and protection of
trees and shrubs in boulevards and all Public Areas of the City; to
eliminate and guard against dangerous conditions which may result
in injury to persons using the streets, alleys, boulevards, sidewalks
or other Public Areas; to promote and enhance the beauty and general
welfare of the City; to prevent damage to any public sewer or water
main, street, sidewalk or other public property; to enhance property
values within the City; to prohibit the undesirable and unsafe planting,
removal, treatment and maintenance of trees and shrubs located in
boulevards and in Public Areas; and to guard all public and private
trees and shrubs within the City against the spread of disease, insects
or pests.
B.Â
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to trees and shrubs growing
or hereafter planted in boulevards or Public Areas and to all trees
and shrubs growing or to be planted in or upon any private property
which threaten the life, health, safety or welfare of persons in Public
Areas.
[Amended 3-12-2019 by Ord. No. 2617]
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed
to impose any liability upon the City, its officers or employees,
nor to relieve the owner of any private property from the duty to
keep any tree, shrub, or plant upon any street area abutting his property
or under his control in such condition as to prevent it from constituting
a hazard or an impediment to travel or vision upon any street, park,
boulevard, alley, or public area within the City.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
The City of New Berlin, Wisconsin.
Includes all platted streets and alleys and other lands dedicated
to or owned by the City of New Berlin.
Includes all operations of trimming, pruning, spraying, injecting,
fertilizing, treating, bracing or cutting above or below the ground.
Removing or pruning more than 20% of the branches or mass
of a tree or shrub.
Person, firm, association, or corporation.
All property not owned or leased by the City of New Berlin.
Private property includes property owned or controlled by Waukesha
County and the State of Wisconsin.
Includes all public streets, roads, boulevards, subdivision
outlots, alleys, sidewalks, parks and other lands owned or leased
by the City of New Berlin.
For purposes of this chapter, exist whenever any tree, woody
shrub, plant or portion thereof, growing or hereafter planted in or
upon private property which:
[Amended 3-12-2019 by Ord. No. 2617[1]]
Harbors insects or diseases which reasonably may be expected
to injure or harm another tree, woody shrub or plant;
Obstructs the free passage of pedestrian or vehicular traffic;
Obstructs the vision triangle or the general view of traffic
at any intersection or two or more public streets or alleys in the
City, or the view of any traffic sign;
Creates a condition which is deemed to be adverse to the interest
of the public health, safety or welfare in any public right-of-way
or Public Areas;
Which may cause damage to sewers, curbs, sidewalks or other
public improvements whether growing upon public or private premises;
Is invasive to the extent that it is a nonnative species that
readily spreads to the detriment of native plant species; or
Any dead or diseased tree, including hedges and shrubs, on public
or private property within the City which constitutes a hazard to
persons or property in any Public Area, or harbors insects or disease
which constitutes a potential threat to other trees, plants or shrubs
within the City.
The severe cutting back of limbs to stubs within the tree's
crown to such a degree as to remove the normal canopy and disfigure
the tree.
Includes all types of woody vegetation.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided for the capitalization
of the terms "Public Areas" and "Public Nuisance."
