The Town of Somers finds and declares that the
preservation of trees within the Town is necessary to protect the
health, safety, and general welfare of the Town of Somers because
trees provide shade, impede soil erosion, aid water absorption and
retention, inhibit excess runoff and flooding, enhance air quality,
offer a barrier to noise, provide a natural habitat for wildlife,
provide screening, enhance property values and add to the aesthetic
quality of the community. It is the purpose of this chapter to prevent
indiscriminate destruction of trees within the Town of Somers while
respecting the rights of residents and owners to maintain and improve
their properties. The Town also recognizes that the forest resource
in the Town is a renewable resource and proper felling of trees improves
the value of landscape and safety of citizens. The proper felling
of trees shall include professional techniques that control soil erosion
and sediment-laden runoff.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meaning indicated:
DEAD TREE
A tree that is lifeless. Evidence of lifelessness may include
unseasonable lack of foliage, brittle dry branches, or lack of any
growth during the growing season.
REGULATED BUFFER ZONE
Areas of vegetative screening measured from each property
line of a residentially zoned property towards the interior of such
property as follows:
A.
R120 Residence District: 40 feet.
B.
R80 Residence District: 30 feet.
C.
R40 Residence District: 20 feet.
D.
R10 Residence District: five feet.
SILVICULTURE
The art and the science of controlling the establishment,
growth, composition, health, and quality of forest to meet diverse
needs and values of the many landowners, societies and cultures.
[Added 9-10-2009 by L.L. No. 8-2009]
TREE
Any self-supporting woody plant of a species which grows
at maturity to an overall height of a minimum of 10 feet, has a single
trunk or multiple trunks which are, in combination, with a sum of
12 inches at dbh (diameter at breast height).
TREE REMOVAL
The partial or complete removal of a tree by digging up,
cutting, pushing, pulling down, or damaging the tree to permanently
alter or destroy it.
Conditions may be imposed upon the granting
of a tree removal permit, including, but not limited to:
A. Days and hours of removal operations, size, and number
of trucks and routes to be followed.
B. Replanting or other mitigation to prevent erosion,
provide screening, preserve ecological systems or remediate effects
on neighboring properties.
C. Reasonable relocation of proposed surface or subsurface
improvements.
D. Marking of trees to be removed in a way that the markings
are visible both before and after tree removal.
E. In case of removal of more than the number of trees specified above in §
156-4A(7), a performance bond to assure compliance with this chapter and the conditions imposed, with such bond, if one of its purposes is to assure replanting, to have a minimum term of two years.
[Amended 10-11-2012 by L.L. No. 6-2012]
F. Such safeguards as are appropriate to mitigate the
environmental impact of removal operations, including but not limited
to a report from an arborist certified by the International Society
of Arboriculture or a professional forester in the New York State
cooperating consultant forester program (retained by the applicant).
G. Tree protection which ensures erosion and sediment
control.
H. The effect of removal on the area as determined by
accepted tree management practices, such as appropriate thinning to
promote woodlot management ensuring the maintenance or improvement
in the mix of age and species of tree. Tree spacing will be determined
by the following example:
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Space between trees can be determined by averaging
their dbh and adding six, the resultant being the advisable space
in feet. For example, a twelve-inch dbh tree and a twenty-two-inch
dbh tree should be 23 feet apart.
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Tree A:
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12 dbh
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Tree B:
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22 dbh
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Sum:
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34
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Average:
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34/2 = 17
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Add:
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+6
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Distance apart:
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23 feet
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A tree removal application shall be accompanied
by a fee to be set in a fee schedule determined by the Town Board.
Should any paragraph, section or portion of
this chapter be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be
invalid or unlawful, the same shall not affect the remainder of this
chapter as a whole or any part thereof other than the part or parts
so declared to be invalid.