ROYALSTON – One of the cardinal rules for living in New England is “don’t touch a tree if you’re not sure who owns it” – and especially, don’t cut it down.
Amy Putney, a resident of Royalston, will learn that lesson the hard way after cutting down nearly a dozen trees of varying size along Deland Road; trees that stood within the town’s right-of-way. The trees were removed in order for the homeowner to tie into the electric grid. Putney was not present for the hearing.
Tree Warden Larry Siegel told the town’s Selectboard Wednesday night that determining the extent of the town’s right-of-way along the roads is done by ascertaining the number of rods, or feet, along either side of a given road as measured from its center line. He said he was told by Keith Newton, former director of the Department of Public Works, that “everything (in Royalston) is a three-rod road, and that’s the way I’ve been proceeding.”
“If you go to the center line and measure 25 feet one way and 25 feet the other way, that’s the town’s right-of-way,” said Siegel, adding one rod is equal to 16.5 feet.
Going by this measurement, Siegel determined that the trees which were removed were within Royalston’s right-of-way along Deland Road, which is gravel.
“The only thing that got me to Deland Road was a call from National Grid,” Siegel continued. “They didn’t want me to think that they took down the trees.”
Siegel said he visited the site to determine the size of the trees that were cut down, that any tree over three inches is considered protected and several of those cut down were quite large. He added that it was difficult for him to imagine that approval for cutting the trees would have been given, had a hearing been held.
“These are so far away from the power line that, if every tree in town was that far away from the power line, we wouldn’t have a problem,” he said. “Why they cut these trees down, I simply don’t understand. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
The next step was for the Selectboard to determine what sanctions, if any, should be imposed on the owners. Board member Rick Martin said the penalty is $50 per tree. State statutes, said Siegel, allow for fines up to $500 per tree.
“Our bylaws specify $50 per violation, so I think we should go with that for the time being,” said board chair Deb D’Amico. “But the board needs to enforce this violation, and it sounds to me like there are ten trees; $50 per tree, so this is a $500 violation. So, we need to notify the homeowner.”
The Selectboard voted to have D’Amico sign a letter to the homeowner informing them of the fines.
Former Selectboard member Gary Winitzer said the state law could be applied, but the board voted to go with the lesser of the two penalties. D’Amico said she could contact town counsel to ask which of the two options for fines – state or local – should be applied for future violations, but opted to go with what is in Royalston’s bylaws.
“The money means nothing to me,” said Siegel. “I just want them to take responsibility.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.