Borough of Brentwood, PA Trees

The American National Standard for Tree Care Operations - Tree, Shrub and Other Woody Plant Maintenance - Standard Practices. This is a document offering basic performance standards for tree pruning, published in 1995 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or the same as amended from time to time.

BOROUGH

The Borough of Brentwood, Pennsylvania.

DISEASED TREE

A tree or part thereof which has become infected with pathogens or has become significantly diseased.

EMERGENCY

Damage to utility systems, or to a public or private property or an immediate threat to the welfare of persons, due to a storm or other acts of God or other accident, which requires immediate attention to alleviate the condition or complete repairs.

HAZARD

Any tree, public or private, with visibly defined structural defects likely to cause failure of all or part of the tree, and be a danger to public safety.

LICENSEE

A person with a valid contractor's license and/or tree service certification as required by this chapter.

OWNER

The person in whom is vested the ownership, dominion, or title of real property.

PAPER STREET

A road or street that appears on maps but does not exist and was never conveyed to the Borough, i.e., there was never any formal acceptance or use by the Borough. The abutting property owners own the paper street to the center line. The Borough bears no responsibility for the upkeep or the maintenance of the paper street. Thus, trees and other conditions on the paper street are the responsibility of the abutting property owners.

PERSON

Includes any natural person, association, partnership, corporation, company or other legal entity recognized under the laws of Pennsylvania.

PEST

Any insect, disease or other organism harmful to trees.

PLANTING STRIP

That portion of the public right-of-way not covered by a sidewalk or other paving lying between the property line and that portion of the street or highway usually used for vehicular traffic or parking.

PRIVATE PROPERTY

Any property owned by a person, firm, or corporation not meeting the definition of public property and not under the ownership of the state or federal government.

PRIVATE TREE OR SHRUB

A tree or shrub that is not a public tree or shrub.

PRUNING

The practice of cutting tree limbs according to standards contained in ANSI A300 and the NAA Guide.

PUBLIC NUISANCES

The following are hereby declared public nuisances:

(1)

Any tree or part thereof (public or private) which, by reason of location or condition, constitutes a hazard to public safety as determined by the Brentwood Code Enforcement Officer or assignee;

(2)

Any tree or part thereof (on public or private property) which obstructs the free passage of pedestrian or vehicular traffic or which obstructs public street lighting;

(3)

Any tree or alternate host plant or part thereof (on public or private property) which harbors pests that may reasonably be expected to injure or harm public trees.

(4)

Any tree or part thereof (on public or private property) which encroaches onto the adjacent property and has a clearance of less than 10 feet above the surface of the adjacent property or a horizontal clearance of less than four feet from a structure located on the adjacent property.

PUBLIC PROPERTY

Any property owned by, dedicated to, or deeded to the public or for the public's use. Borough parks, public rights-of-way and other publicly owned, controlled, leased or managed properties are included in this definition. This definition excludes any federal- or state-owned properties except where otherwise provided by contract or law.

PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY

Improved or unimproved public property owned by, dedicated to, or deeded to the public or for the public's use, for the purpose of providing vehicular, pedestrian and other public use. Such public property provides circulation and travel to abutting properties and includes, but is not limited to, streets, sidewalks, landscaping, provisions for public utilities, cut and fill slopes, and open public space. For the purposes of this chapter, alleys and paper streets are excluded from this definition.

PUBLIC SAFETY

The condition of being safe from bodily harm and/or property damage resulting from tree conditions and/or failures while using public property.

PUBLIC TREES/SHRUBS

Any tree/shrub (inclusive of roots within the critical root zone) whose trunk is located, partly or in whole, on public property.

PUBLIC UTILITY EASEMENT

The right-of-way acquired by a utility or governmental agency to locate utilities, including all types of pipelines, telephone and electric cables and towers.

REPLACEMENT TREE

A street tree provided to or by the abutting property owner and approved by the Borough for planting by the abutting property owner as a replacement for a street tree removed from a particular location in the public right-of-way.

SHRUB

A multiple-stemmed, woody plant whose height at maturity is between three feet and 15 feet.

STREET

Includes any thoroughfare or area included within the definition or connotation of the term "street" as used and defined under the laws of Pennsylvania, whether intended for public use or private use, and includes but is not limited to the cartway, sidewalk, gutter, right-of-way areas and underground utility easement areas and any part thereof.

TOPPING

Refers to "rounding," "heading back" or any other term that can be described as severe cutting back of limbs as defined in ANSI A300.

TREE

Includes any and all types of trees, bushes, shrubs and any and all other vegetation, whether cultivated or domestically grown or otherwise.

TREE LAWN

That portion of the public right-of-way lying between the street and private property boundary lines which is generally unimproved and planted with grass or other vegetation.

TREE SERVICE

Services provided for trees by a private individual or company, including, but not limited to: planting, removal, topping, pruning or engaging in technical arboriculture.

VANDALISM

The act of damaging, mutilating or destroying any part of the woody structure of trees, that is above or below ground, that affects the short- or longer-term health of the trees.

VISION CLEARANCE TRIANGLE

A method of providing adequate visual clearance for vehicular and pedestrian traffic approaching a street intersection.

Word gender and number. As used herein, the singular of any word shall include the plural and the plural shall include the singular. The masculine form of any word shall include the feminine and the neuter.

§ 197-2 Certain trees prohibited.

It shall be unlawful for any person to plant, maintain or allow to grow any Willow, Locust, Poplar, Silver Maple or similar types of water-seeking trees within the lines of any street, alley or sidewalk in the Borough of Brentwood.

§ 197-3 Clearance above street and sidewalk.

Every owner of property in the Borough of Brentwood shall be required to keep limbs and branches of all trees growing upon such property or along the street, sidewalk, curb or alley abutting upon such property trimmed so that no part of such limbs or branches or of the foliage growing thereon shall have a clearance of less than eight feet above the surface of the sidewalk or of less than 14 feet above the surface of the roadway or cartway of any street or alley. All dead limbs must be removed.

§ 197-4 Traffic hazards.

It shall be the responsibility of property owners in the Borough of Brentwood to remove from their property any tree or other similar obstruction, or part thereof, which, by obstructing the view of any vehicle driver, constitutes a traffic hazard.

§ 197-5 Removal and trimming of trees.

[Amended 9-28-2015 by Ord. No. 1242]

It shall be the responsibility of property owners in the Borough of Brentwood to conform to the requirements of this chapter applicable to trees upon property owned by them or along streets, alleys and sidewalks abutting upon such property and, upon receipt of notice from the Borough, to remove any tree growing or existing in violation of the provisions of this chapter and to trim or cut the branches or limbs of trees as required by §§ 197-3, 197-4 and 197-7 set forth herein. Any person failing to comply with any such notice within the time limit stated therein will be deemed to be in violation of this chapter and will be liable to prosecution before a District Justice for such violations. In addition, the Borough may cause the work required by such notice to be done by a Borough representative or contractor and may collect, from the person owning or responsible for said tree, the cost of such work, plus an additional amount of 10% of the total cost of said work, plus attorney's fees and court costs.

§ 197-6 Selective trimming and removal by borough.

The Borough of Brentwood hereby reserves the right to trim, cut and/or remove any trees or other vegetation within the legal right-of-way of any Borough street and to trim and cut any trees, grasses, shrubs or vegetation growing on adjacent property, to the extent that they over-hang or encroach upon the right-of-way of, or airspace above, any Borough street or alley.

§ 197-7 Adjoining property.

[Amended 9-28-2015 by Ord. No. 1242]

Every owner of property in the Borough of Brentwood shall be required to prune limbs and branches of all trees growing upon such property or along the street, sidewalk, curb or alley abutting upon such property. All dead limbs must be removed. All debris (wood, branches, and leaves) shall be removed from public/private property by sunset of the day on which any tree work is performed.

The owner of any real property containing a tree or alternate host plant that harbors pests shall, upon determination by the Code Enforcement Officer or assignee that said pests pose a threat to public trees, cause the pests to be removed.

Any tree or alternate host plant or part thereof (public or private) declared to be a public nuisance as set forth in this chapter shall be pruned, removed or otherwise treated in accordance with the requirements of this chapter. Except for removal of trees from public rights-of-way, all costs for nuisance abatement are the responsibility of the property owner from which the nuisance occurs.

It shall be the responsibility of the property owners in the Borough of Brentwood to repair any damage caused by trees or portions of trees on their property which fall onto adjoining property or tree roots which grow onto adjoining property and to remove all associated debris, excluding leaves, fruit and seeds from or caused by the tree. In addition, it shall be the right of all property owners in the Borough of Brentwood to trim or remove any portion of a tree or vegetation which encroaches upon their property from adjoining property.

In the case of an emergency as defined in this chapter, any tree that falls onto a portion of the public right-of-way will be removed by the Borough of Brentwood Department of Public Works as soon as possible with or without first giving notice to the property owner from which the hazard originated. The Borough assumes such cases to be a matter of public safety and shall not charge the person owning or responsible for said tree the cost of such work to remove the hazard.

§ 197-8 Roots endangering public sewer.

If it is determined by a Brentwood Borough representative that the roots of any tree are damaging or endangering any public sewer in Brentwood, the owner of land upon which said tree, shrub or bush is growing will be notified, in writing, to remove the same within a period of 30 days. If the said land owner, after having received such notice to remove the offending tree, fails or refuses to do the same within said thirty-day period, the Borough of Brentwood, in addition to the other remedies stated herein, may remove the same and file a municipal claim and lien against the land and said land owner for the costs involved in said removal, plus a surcharge of 10% of the total cost of removal, plus attorney's fees and court costs.

§ 197-9 Violations and penalties. [1]

Any person who violates the provisions of this chapter, upon conviction before a District Justice serving the Borough of Brentwood, shall be subject to pay a fine of not more than $600, plus costs of prosecution and, in default of payment of such fine and costs, to imprisonment for not more than 30 days. Each day a violation exists shall be considered a separate violation of this chapter.

[1]

Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I.