Leave village tree laws alone

To the Editor:

South Corona Avenue resident Tony Iadevaio made a valid point that perhaps some accommodation has to be made for residents in addressing pre-existing conditions before the new local law is passed because the proposed law would hold residents liable for damage to their curbs as well as sidewalks (“Curb law gets curbed,” May 20-26). However, Trustee Vincent Grasso’s proposed amendments are illogical.

Trustee Grasso has proposed to eliminate the requirement for a tree permit from the village to either remove or plant trees in the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb. He stated, “If there’s a tree there and they don’t like it, they can just take it down.” Perhaps that sentiment fits an official from a municipality that does not pride itself on its trees, but certainly not our suburban village. And our hometown has been recognized by organizations such as Tree City USA, which has long held that only certain varieties of trees should be planted curbside. Should a resident plant the wrong variety of tree, we will have many more broken sidewalks and curbs to deal with, no less the problems that would be created with overhead wires. The village should regulate the tree process because there is a future that needs to be addressed, a future that should be “healthy green.”

And again, befitting a representative from a municipality without true tree concern, Trustee Grasso proposes that if a property owner doesn’t want grass in that strip next to the street and wants to cement it over, they should be allowed to do so. Surely the environmental impact of that proposal needs an in-depth analysis, since the more impervious areas we create, the more runoff there is and the less water reaches beneath the ground surface. And that does not even take into account the positive impact of trees and the aesthetics of cement. Living south of Sunrise Highway, as does Trustee Grasso, I can tell you that having represented this area as a village trustee, one of the last things we need in the village is fewer trees and more cement.

Perhaps the words of Bill Vaughn can sum up the importance of keeping a watchful eye on our trees — “Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.”

Edward R. DeLucie Jr.

Former village trustee and former chairman of the village Zoning Board of Appeals