[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Altoona
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Shade Tree Commission — See Ch. 134.
Planning Code — See Ch. 535.
[Adopted 1-8-1992 by Ord. No. 5223; amended in its entirety 10-10-2007 by Ord. No.
5572]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Shade Tree
Ordinance of the City of Altoona, Pennsylvania."
For the purpose of this article, the following terms, phrases,
words, and their derivations shall have the meanings given herein.
When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present
tense include the future, words in the plural include the singular,
and words in the singular include the plural. The word "shall" is
mandatory and not merely directory,
The City of Altoona, Pennsylvania, County of Blair.
A document adopted from time to time by the City by resolution,
with the current edition being known as the "1999 Operating Manual,"
a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A,[1] said manual containing the guidelines for maintenance,
pruning, selection, and planting of shade trees.
Includes all public parks.
The legal boundary line located at the extreme limits of
the public right-of-way with private property.
The person owning such property as shown by the County Assessor's
Plan of Blair County, State of Pennsylvania.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, or organization of any kind.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company, or organization of any kind engaged in tree trimming, maintenance
and/or removal for a fee.
Includes all grounds owned by the City of Altoona, County
of Blair, State of Pennsylvania.
Includes all shade and ornamental trees now or hereafter
growing on any street or any public areas otherwise indicated.
The entire width of every public way or right-of-way when
any part thereof is open to the use of the public, as a matter of
right, for purposes of vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
That part of a street or highway not covered by sidewalk
or other paving, lying between the property line and that portion
of the street or highway usually used for vehicular traffic.
The City of Altoona Shade Tree Commission, which has jurisdiction
over all public shade trees, except in those instances when the City
of Altoona, through the proper department, exercises control.
Those certain portions of the City designated by City Council
from time to time by resolution.[2]
[Amended 6-12-2013 by Ord. No. 5639]
The Shade Tree Commission was created by ordinance in 1985,
as amended. Refer to Chapter 134, Shade Tree Commission, of the Code
of the City of Altoona.
The primary responsibility for care and maintenance, including, but not limited to, pruning, trimming, removing, spraying and/or planting of public shade trees, shall rest with the property owner whose property abuts with the property line. Care and maintenance of any and all public shade trees shall be performed in accordance with the most current edition of the operating manual adopted by the City. For trees located in specially designated areas, the additional requirements of § 679-8 apply.
Any person who prunes, trims, removes, sprays, or plants a public
shade tree located on a public place or treelawn not under his or
her primary responsibility must possess a valid arborist license.
Licenses will be issued through the Zoning Officer. Private arborists
shall also adhere to the tree maintenance standards contained in the
Shade Tree Commission's Operating Manual when performing work on a
public shade tree. A license will be valid for one year, from January
1 to December 31, and must be renewed annually. Applicants must comply
with state and local liability insurance requirements, workers' compensation,
and safety codes.
It shall be the duty of any person or persons owning or occupying
real property bordering on any street upon which property there may
be trees, to maintain such trees in such a manner, consistent with
the operating manual, that said trees will not obstruct or shade the
streetlights, obstruct the passage of pedestrians on sidewalks, obstruct
vision of traffic signs, or obstruct view of any street or alley intersection.
The minimum clearance of any overhanging portion thereof shall be
10 feet over the sidewalk and 12 feet over all streets, except truck
thoroughfares, which shall have a clearance of 16 feet.
No person shall intentionally damage a public shade tree in
such a way as to cut or carve, or attach any rope, wire, nail, or
signs to the roots, trunk, or branches of any such public shade tree.
In the event any public shade tree shall be deemed by the Shade Tree
Commission to require pruning, trimming, spraying and/or removing,
said Shade Tree Commission shall notify said property owner, in writing,
of the action required, and said property owner shall, within the
time frame set forth in the notice by the Shade Tree Commission, undertake
and complete the action required at the property owner's expense.
If the property owner fails to undertake and complete the required
action within the time period set forth in the said notice, the City
may undertake to complete the same and may charge the cost thereof
to said property owner, and in default of payment of said cost, the
City may file a municipal lien for such costs against the property
so benefited.
The City has undertaken the planting of public shade trees in
certain areas of the City at great expense to the taxpayers of the
City. The City believes that this investment of public funds requires
additional measures to be taken to protect the investment made. Therefore,
any person owning real estate and/or residing in any specially designated
area of the City shall be required to obtain a permit from the Shade
Tree Commission prior to pruning, trimming, removing, spraying and/or
planting any public shade tree, the same action to be taken in accordance
with the most recent edition of the operating manual adopted by the
City.
[1]
Editor's Note: The current list of specially designated areas
is on file in the City offices.
A.
Any person,
firm, or corporation violating or failing to comply with any of the
provisions of this article shall, upon conviction thereof and in addition
to any other penalty imposed herein, be sentenced to pay for not only
the cost to replace the tree but also a fine of not less than $400
nor more than $1,000 or be imprisoned for not more than 90 days, or
both. A separate offense shall be deemed committed each day during
or on which a violation occurs or continues.
[Amended 6-12-2013 by Ord. No. 5639]
B.
Any City
police officer and/or code enforcement officer is hereby empowered
to enforce this article, including, but not limited to, filing citations
for violation of this article.
[Added 3-8-2017 by Ord. No. 5699]
The City, through those officials empowered in this article, may order the removal, partial removal or treatment of any tree on private property which in such official's opinion is sufficiently diseased, damaged, dead or in such condition as to constitute a potential hazard to the public or to trees on public property. Property owners so ordered shall have 15 days after receipt of the order to appeal the decision to the City Manager. The decision of the City Manager shall be appealable to court as provided by law. Appeals to the City Manager shall include a determination of the facts of the case. Following a determination by the City Manager that a certain action shall be taken with respect to such a tree, the property owner shall have 10 days to comply. Failure to appeal and/or comply within the permitted time frames shall render the property owner subject to the penalties specified in § 679-9. In such a case of failure to comply, the City is authorized to carry out the work, and is also permitted to assess such work to the property owner by any means available, including but not limited to the filing of a municipal lien.
[Added 3-8-2017 by Ord. No. 5699]
When, in the opinion of the City official empowered to enforce this article, a tree on private property constitutes an immediate hazard to the public or to trees on public property, such official will immediately notify the property owner of the hazard and request its elimination. If the hazard is not eliminated within five days, the matter shall be considered by the City Manager. Upon the City Manager's determination that an immediate hazard exists, the said City official may act to eliminate the hazard, no sooner than five days after providing the property owner with written notice of the intended action. Failure to comply within the permitted time frame shall render the property owner subject to the penalties specified in § 679-9. The cost for such work shall also be assessed against the property owner by any means available, including but not limited to the filing of a municipal lien.
