The Board of Commissioners of the Borough of Wildwood Crest,
County of Cape May and State of New Jersey, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:67-1(a)
hereby provides for required maintenance by private parties of trees,
hedges and shrubs:
A. The owners, tenants or persons in possession of any lands within
the Borough shall keep all brush, hedges and other plant life growing
within 10 feet of any roadway and, where two or more roadways intersect,
25 feet of the edge of the roadway pavement adjacent to the affected
property cut or trimmed to a height of not more than 2 1/2 feet
above the roadway grade, where it shall be determined by the Police
Chief and/or Code Enforcement Official or their designee that such
cutting or trimming is necessary and expedient for the preservation
of the public safety. Said Police Chief and/or Code Enforcement Official
or their designee shall, if he or she makes the determination pursuant
to this subsection, give notice, in the manner hereinafter provided,
that such brush, hedges or other plant life shall be cut or trimmed
within 10 days of receipt of such notice.
B. Tree limbs and branches.
[Amended 2-20-2019 by Ord. No. 1294
(1) The owners, tenants or persons in possession of any lands within
the Borough shall keep all trees and tree limbs, branches, leaves
or other vegetation which overhangs into a right-of-way cut or trimmed
where it shall be determined by the Police Chief and/or Code Enforcement
Official or their designee that such cutting or trimming is necessary
and expedient for the preservation of public safety and whenever there
is an obstruction of the right-of-way, sight distance, traffic control
device, traffic sign, street sign or other sign or marking legally
in said right-of-way, or in the event such overhanging growth impedes
pedestrians, or the safe and efficient operation of any vehicles or
equipment along and through any right-of-way. The Police Chief and/or
Code Enforcement Official or their designee shall, if he or she makes
the determination pursuant to this subsection, give notice, in the
manner hereinafter provided, that such tree or vegetation be cut or
trimmed within 10 days of receipt of such notice.
(2) In the event any tree is removed from the right-of-way for any reason,
including but not limited to natural causes, the tree stump shall
also be immediately removed, and the ground graded to level, seeded
or otherwise restored to its original condition, or condition of the
surrounding area. The Police Chief and/or Code Enforcement Official
or their designee shall give notice, in the manner hereinafter provided,
that such tree stump removal and restoration be completed within 10
days of receipt of such notice.
(3) Written notice; service. No advance written notice shall be required
if it is determined by the Chief of Police or Code Enforcement Official
or their designee that immediate removal is required for public safety
purposes. In all other instances, a notice required hereunder shall
be in writing and may be served either personally or by certified
mail, return receipt requested, upon the owner, tenant or person in
possession of any premises affected by said notice.
All trees, hedges or shrubs standing on private property whose
branches shall extend over any street or sidewalk shall be trimmed
under the supervision of the Department of Public Works so as to prevent
impediment to travel or obstruction to street lights or street signs.
Failure of the owner of the property or of the person in possession
thereof to trim any tree, hedge or shrub within 10 days after notice
from the Police Chief and/or Code Enforcement Official or their designee
to do so shall constitute a violation of this article.
The terms "owner", "tenant" or "persons in possession" shall
include any individual, corporation, association or individuals, firm
or partnership.
The Chief of Police and members of the Wildwood Crest Police
Department and Code Enforcement Official and each of them shall be
hereinafter referred to as enforcement officer.
Anyone who violates, permits or takes part in any violation of this article shall be subject to a penalty as provided for in Chapter
1, General Provisions, §
1-5 of this Code or as provided for by New Jersey Statute, which shall be deemed to supersede any Code penalties in the event of any inconsistency.
[2-10-2021 by Ord. No.
1342]
It is determined that certain types of the bamboo plant, commonly
referred to as "running bamboo," are invasive and often difficult
to control, which causes a nuisance and damage to the properties it
is planted on and to adjoining properties. The purposes of this article
are to preserve and protect private and public property from the damaging
spread of bamboo, to protect indigenous and other plant species from
the invasive spread of bamboo, and to maintain the general welfare
of the residents of the Borough of Wildwood Crest.
[2-10-2021 by Ord. No.
1342]
No owner or person in possession of any property within the
Borough shall plant, install or cause or permit the planting or installation
of plant species commonly classified as running bamboo upon any property
located within the Borough.
[2-10-2021 by Ord. No.
1342]
A. In the event any species commonly classified as running bamboo is
located upon any property within the Borough, prior to the effective
date of this article, the owner or person in possession of such property
shall jointly and severally be required to confine such species to
prevent the encroachment of same onto any other private or public
property or public right-of-way. In lieu of confining the running
bamboo, the owner or person in possession of such property may remove
the running bamboo from the property and all affected properties.
Failure to properly confine such bamboo shall require removal as set
forth below. The cost of said removal shall be at the property owner's
or person in possession's expense from which the running bamboo
first originated.
B. The duty to confine shall not apply if the bamboo which is on the
property at the time of the adoption of this article originated on
another property; the duty to confine shall apply to the owner or
person in possession of the land from which the bamboo first originates.
[2-10-2021 by Ord. No.
1342]
A. In the event running bamboo is present on the effective date of this article
and a complaint is received by the Borough regarding an encroachment
of any bamboo plant or root, and the Code Enforcement Officer determines
that there is an encroachment onto any adjoining/neighboring private
or public property or public right-of-way (hereinafter the "affected
property"), the Borough shall serve notice to the property owner,
or person in possession of such property from which the bamboo first
originates, in writing, that the bamboo has encroached onto other
private or public property or public right-of-way and demand remediation
of the encroachment of the bamboo from the affected property, and
demand appropriate confinement against future encroachment. Notice
shall be provided to the bamboo property owner, or person in possession
of the property, as well as to the owner of the affected property,
by certified, return-receipt-requested mail and regular mail. Within
45 days of receipt of such notice, the bamboo property owner or person
in possession of the land shall submit to the Code Enforcement Officer,
with a copy to the owner of the affected property, a plan for the
remediation of the encroachment of the bamboo from the affected property,
which plan shall include restoration of the affected property after
remediation of the encroachment. Within 120 days of receipt of the
Code Enforcement Officer's approval of the plan of remediation
and restoration, the remediation and restoration shall be completed
to the satisfaction of the Code Enforcement Officer.
B. If the bamboo property owner or person in possession of the property
fails to remediate the encroachment from such other private or public
property or public right-of-way in accordance herewith, the Code Enforcement
Officer shall cause a citation to be issued with a penalty up to $100
for each day the violation continues.
C. Nothing herein shall be interpreted as limiting the rights of a private
property owner to seek civil relief through a court of proper jurisdiction.
D. When an encroachment is upon public property or public right-of-way
and the owner or person in possession of the property from which the
bamboo first originated fails to comply with the written notice provided
as set forth above, the Borough, at its discretion, may remove or
contract for the removal of such bamboo from the Borough property
or public right-of-way. The cost of such removal shall be the responsibility
of the owner or person in possession of the property and shall be
paid or assessed as a lien against the property on which the bamboo
growth originated. The cost of said removal from the Borough-owned
property and/or public right-of-way shall include the installation
of an appropriate barrier to prevent future bamboo invasion.
[2-10-2021 by Ord. No.
1342]
In the event the property owner, or person in possession of
such property, from which the running bamboo first originates complies
with the provisions of this article, including the confinement and
removal of bamboo on and from their property, and an affected property
owner refuses or fails to permit the confinement or removal of the
running bamboo on their property by the originating property owner,
that effected property owner shall be deemed, for the purposes of
this article, to be the property owner, or person in possession of
such property from which the bamboo first originates, and the provisions
of this article shall apply to the affected property owner.
[2-10-2021 by Ord. No.
1342]
Any running bamboo existing on the effective date of this article
shall not be replanted or replaced after such bamboo has died, been
destroyed, uprooted, or otherwise removed.
[2-10-2021 by Ord. No.
1342]
Except as provided for in §
11-9B above, any person who violates any of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a penalty of not more than $2,000 and/or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 90 days, and/or a period of community service not to exceed 90 days. Any repetition of any act herein prohibited shall be deemed a new and separate offense, and upon convection thereof be subject to the penalties herein.