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RINGWOOD - Council to forego license fee for tree removal
(by Teresa Edmond - Staff Writer - July 30, 2008)
RINGWOOD - The Borough Council decided to forego charging tree removal businesses a controversial $200 licensing fee when it adopted the modified tree removal ordinance at its July 17 meeting.
What’s more, the Borough Council adopted just one change in the tree removal ordinance because it anticipates the Highlands Council will have its own version for the municipality to adopt. The Highlands Council is the entity that carries out the Highlands Act, which is meant to protect the Highlands Region and its valuable water resources.
The sole ordinance change the Borough Council adopted is that residents must bring their tree removal appeals to the borough manager instead of the council.
Councilman Ted Taukus said that it’s not the Borough Council’s place to deal with homeowners’ tree removal appeals and for the entity to do so would be “ridiculous.”
This modification is one of a few suggested modifications that cropped up at recent Borough Council meetings. Another proposed change that was shelved would have required contractors to have at least $1 million in insurance coverage.
The Borough Council had originally recommended that tree contractors must chalk up a $200 licensing fee. This fee is to confirm that the businesses know the municipality’s tree ordinance, according to Councilman John Speer.
Eventually, the borough decided to chuck both the licensing fee and insurance requirements because it wants to see the tree ordinance the Highlands Council will come up with.
“That’s the only change adopted at the moment,” Speer said. “We’ll have to put in a whole new set of compliance (in accordance with) the Highlands Council’s.”
Speer said the Highlands Council could unveil its tree removal ordinance for the municipality’s adoption this fall.
The council introduced the proposed changes last May and had planned to adopt them at last June’s council meeting. However, the council moved the adoption from June to the July 17 meeting because residents questioned the suggested $200 annual licensing fee for tree-removal companies.
Residents said this $200 proposed fee would trickle down to homeowners in increased costs for tree removal. Residents also said the $200 could prevent homeowners from nailing good deals because the fee would scare businesses away.
During a July 28 phone interview, resident Robin Canetti said the $200 licensing fee would “discourage free trade and competitive bidding,” and that she’s “glad” the borough didn’t incorporate the licensing fee into the adopted tree removal ordinance.
Although the Highlands Council green lighted the Highlands Regional Master Plan on July 17 in an attempt to preserve the Highlands Region from over-development, it’s not certain whether the Highlands Council’s suggested tree ordinance is part of that plan, according to Taukus.
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