This article shall be known as the "Hazardous or Dangerous Tree
and Shrub Ordinance of 2013."
This article is ordained and enacted pursuant to the power of
the Board of Supervisors to prohibit nuisances as per Section 1529,
Nuisances, of the Second Class Township Code, as amended (53 P.S.
§ 66529, as amended), Section 2326, Obstructions and Nuisances,
of the Second Class Township Code (53 P.S. § 67326), Section
2325, Saving Trees and Shrubbery, of the Second Class Township Code
(53 P.S. § 67325) and the general powers of the Township
to make or adopt ordinances necessary for the proper management, care
and control of the Township and the maintenance of peace, good government,
health and welfare of the Township and of its citizens per Section
1506 of the Second Class Township Code, as amended (53 P.S. § 66506,
as amended), and otherwise per law.
The purpose of this article is to require the removal of dead,
dying and hazardous or dangerous trees or shrubs in the public right-of-way
found by the Supervisors to constitute a hazardous or dangerous condition
to the use of a public street, road or highway or which impairs the
use or maintenance of a public street, road or highway in the Township
all so as to protect the public health, safety and welfare and to
eliminate a potential menace to public travel.
The Supervisors of the Township of Derry hereby find and declare
that dead, dying and hazardous or dangerous trees or shrubs within
the public right-of-way constitute a hazardous or dangerous condition
to the use of public streets, roads or highways and/or impair the
use or maintenance of public streets, roads or highways in the Township
of Derry and are hereby declared to be a public nuisance.
It is the intent of this article that for a violation hereof
to be a public nuisance, there must be a nuisance in fact.
From and after the passage and approval of this article, no
person, firm or corporation shall permit any dead, dying and hazardous
or dangerous tree or shrub to remain on a Township right-of-way abutting
real property of that person, firm or corporation which is owned,
leased or occupied by said person, firm or corporation.
Any person who violates or permits a violation of this article
shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before a Magisterial
District Judge under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure,
be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable by a fine of
not more than $1,000, plus costs of prosecution. In default of payment
thereof, the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding 90 days. Each day or portion thereof that such violation
continues or is permitted to continue shall constitute a separate
offense, and each section of this article that is violated shall also
constitute a separate offense.
The Township, by means of a complaint in equity, may compel
the owner and, if applicable, the occupant of the premises to comply
with the terms of any notice of violation, or otherwise may seek any
such other relief as any court of competent jurisdiction is empowered
to afford.
Nothing in this article shall prevent the Board of Supervisors
or the Roadmaster or other persons in their employ from removing roadside
trees which may be thrown down by wind or lodged in a position to
be a menace to public travel or which by reason of any other cause
may become a source of danger to the public. Upon doing so, the Township
may bill the abutting property owner for the actual cost thereof and
on default of payment thereof may collect the same by the filing of
a municipal claim in the manner provided by law for the filing and
collection of Municipal Claims, 53 P.S. § 7101 et seq.,
as such may be amended from time to time, and/or by an action in assumpsit
(a civil action).