[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council
of the Borough of Glassboro 2-9-1971 by Ord. No. 3-71 as Ch. 96 of the 1971 Code. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
For the purposes of this chapter, the terms
used herein are defined as follows:
Every person, firm, association, partnership and corporation.
As applied to public utility companies, shall mean poles,
wires, cables, subsurface conduits, pipes, manholes and appurtenant
facilities of such companies installed in the street.
Refers to a public utility as defined in the Revised Statutes
of the State of New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 48:2-13).
The Park and Recreation Commission of the Borough of Glassboro,
which has assumed the duties of the previous Shade Tree Commission.
[1]Trees and shrubs.
The Shade Tree Commission organized under this
chapter shall have the power to:
A.
Exercise full and exclusive control over the regulation, planting and care of shade trees and ornamental trees and shrubbery now located or which may hereafter be planted in any public highway, park or parkway, except such as are excluded pursuant to § 390-1 of this chapter, including the planting, trimming, spraying, care and protection thereof.
B.
Regulate and control the use of the ground surrounding
the same, so far as may be necessary for their proper growth, care
and protection.
C.
Move to require the removal of any tree or part thereof
dangerous to public safety.
D.
Make, alter, amend and repeal, in the manner prescribed
for the passage, alteration, amendment and repeal of ordinances by
the governing body of this municipality, any and all ordinances necessary
or proper for carrying out the provisions hereof.
E.
Administer treatment to or remove any tree situated
upon private property which is believed to harbor a disease or insects
readily communicable to neighboring healthy trees in the care of this
municipality, and enter upon private property for that purpose, with
the consent of the owner thereof, provided the suspected condition
is first confirmed by certificate issued by or on behalf of the New
Jersey Department of Agriculture.
F.
Encourage arboriculture.
A.
Except as hereinafter provided, the initial costs
of all trees planted by the Commission, the cost of planting the same,
the cost of the posts and boxes or guards used for the protection
thereof, and the cost of the removal of any tree or part thereof dangerous
to public safety shall, if the Commission shall so desire, in accordance
with uniform rules and regulations promulgated for this purpose, be
a charge upon the real estate in front of which such trees or tree
shall be planted or removed as an improvement thereof. Such costs,
if so determined that they are to be paid by the owner, shall, unless
paid directly to the Commission, be certified by it to the Collector
of Taxes of this municipality, shall thereupon become and be a lien
upon said real estate, shall be included in the next tax bill rendered
to the owner or owners thereof, and be collected in the same manner
as other taxes against this property.
No persons shall do any of the following acts
to any tree on the street without the prior permit of the Shade Tree
Commission:
A.
Cut, prune, climb with spikes, break, damage or remove
or kill.
B.
Cut, disturb or interfere in any way with any root.
C.
Spray with any chemical.
D.
Fasten any rope, wire, sign or other device. (Nothing
herein shall prevent any governmental agency from affixing, in a manner
approved by the Shade Tree Commission, a public notice upon a tree
in connection with administering governmental affairs.)
E.
Remove or damage any guard or device placed to protect
any tree or shrub.
F.
Conduct razing, removal or renovation of any structure
if deemed by the Commission to be damaging to neighboring street trees.
G.
Place or distribute chemicals, including, but not
limited to, salt, deleterious to tree health.
H.
Maintain a stationary fire or device which vaporizes
noxious fumes deleterious to tree health.
I.
Remove soil, either for trenching or otherwise.
J.
Construct new sidewalks and/or driveways with any
material whatsoever within five feet of a tree.
K.
Plant tree or shrub.
C.
Each public utility company shall exercise reasonable
diligence in the maintenance of its plant construction so as to avoid
damage to trees under the jurisdiction of the Glassboro Shade Tree
Commission.
D.
Requests for permits required by the provisions of
this chapter for the performance of work should be directed to the
Park and Recreation Commission, Borough of Glassboro, Gloucester County,
New Jersey.
In every case where the property of an abutting
owner will be chargeable with the cost of the planting of any shade
tree or trees, the Commission shall give notice of the meeting at
which it is proposed to consider said planting, by publishing the
notice at least once, not less than 20 days before the meeting, in
a newspaper circulating in the municipality, or by personal service
of a copy of the notice upon the abutting owner at least 10 days before
the meeting. The notice shall specify the street, streets or portions
thereof on which such planting is proposed, and require all persons
who may object thereto to present their objections at the office of
the Commission at or before the meeting. Before final action shall
be taken, all objections so filed shall be considered. The Commission
shall give reasonable notice of its intentions to remove or cause
the removal of a tree dangerous to public safety, unless public safety
requires immediate removal, in which case no notice shall be necessary.
A.
No statute giving any person or state, county or municipal
board, body or official power or authority to lay any sidewalk along,
or to open, construct, curb or pave, any street, or to do any similar
act, shall be construed to permit or authorize any interference with
or injury to a highway shade tree without the consent of the Shade
Tree Commission within whose jurisdiction such tree shall be located.
In all cases, such Commission shall reasonably cooperate with such
persons, board, body or official for the general public good.
B.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be held to
take away or diminish any of the powers or authority of the Gloucester
County Park Commission over the trees or shrubbery in any Gloucester
County park or parkway within its jurisdiction, or to give any other
commission or board any power or authority with respect to such trees
or shrubbery.
A.
During the month of December in each year, the Shade
Tree Commission shall certify to the governing body in this municipality
the estimated sum necessary for the proper conduct of its work during
the ensuing fiscal year, which shall include the sums estimated to
be expended for such of the following items as it is anticipated expenditure
will be ready for, namely:
(1)
Payment of wages and salaries of employees.
(2)
Expenses of Commission members in discharging official
duties, including expenses incident to attendance at professional
meetings.
(3)
Purchase of trees and shrubbery.
(4)
Purchase of necessary equipment and materials and
the cost of services for the prudent promotion of the work.
B.
The governing body of this municipality shall annually
appropriate such sum as it may deem necessary for said purposes.
A.
The Commission may prescribe a fine for violation
of its ordinances in an amount not exceeding $1,500 for each violation,
and the Municipal Court of Glassboro shall have jurisdiction over
actions for the violation of such ordinances of this municipality.
The officers authorized by the law are to serve and execute process
for the Municipal Court for violations of the ordinances of the Commission.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B.
A copy of any ordinance of the Commission, certified
to under the hand of its Secretary or Chairman, shall be received
in any court of this state as full and legal proof of the existence
of the ordinance and that all requirements of the law in relation
to the ordaining, publishing and making of the same, so as to make
it legal and binding, have been complied with, unless the contrary
be shown.
C.
Disposition of penalties. All moneys collected, either
as fines or penalties, for any violation of a rule or regulation of
the Shade Tree Commission enacted by ordinance, or as a charge against
real estate under any provision of this chapter, shall be forthwith
paid over to the custodian of the municipal funds.
All regulations adopted by the Park and Recreation
Commission shall be filed with the Clerk for inspection by the public
during regular business hours.
