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City: Unhealthy trees unwanted

It’s fall and the annual foilage is a bright spot on the city’s forested landscape.

But not all is well on tree-lined city streets.

Some 40 warning letters are headed out soon to residents who are living on properties with hazardous trees, said Dave Myers, a Streets and Parks Department employee who recently shared the statistics with the Brandon Park and Shade Tree Commission.

A strong squall brought down many trees May 1, followed by a repeated series of thunderstorms, many packing bursts of gusting winds of 60 miles per hour.

These are trees that are potentially dangerous to those walking beneath them, driving around them or property owners living beside them and they are identified by Chad Eckert, the city forester, he said.

The property owner is informed about the need for the removal, he said.

A hazardous tree removal program is available that can reduce the potential cost of removing a hazardous tree by half, Myers said. However, should the homeowner or property owner ignore the warning, codes enforcement officers will visit, and that’s not what the department wants to see happen.

Streets and Parks employees have a stump grinder machine and have taken out 15 stumps, planting grass and adding straw at these locations, Myers said.

After the storm in May, Mayor Gabriel J. Campana toured Brandon Park and received a survey of dangerous trees around the city. After that, Campana said it would be a priority to have them cleared away so as not to endanger people.

Since the hazardous tree program began operating in 1996, 875 trees have been removed because they were hazardous, Myers said.

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