[HISTORY: 1968 Code Chapter 11 §§ 11-1 — 11-5 as amended through 12-28-2015. Amendments noted where applicable.]
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.