[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Camden
4-9-1987 by Ord. No. MC-2289 as Ch. 542 of the 1987 Code. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Amended 8-13-1981 by Ord. No. MC-1766; 4-9-1987 by Ord. No. MC-2289]
This chapter shall implement that the Division of Neighborhood Districts in the Department of Public Works, as established in § 7-42 of the Code of the City of Camden, shall have and exercise power and authority over any and all trees or plants:
A.
Which are now planted and growing or hereafter to be planted and
grown in any park or parking strip in the City, upon any and all of
the public highways of or in the City and upon or in other property
of the City.
B.
Which affect or may affect the lawful use of highways or streets
as provided in this chapter.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise shows
or unless otherwise expressly provided, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
The Division of Neighborhood Districts in the Department
of Public Works.
[Amended 8-13-1981 by Ord. No. MC-1766]
No person shall cut, climb, break, trim, remove or in any way
injure or deface or in any way destroy the trees, shrubs, plants,
tree posts or tree guards in any park, parking strip or any other
property of the City or in or upon any of the public highways of or
within the City without first obtaining a permit as provided in this
chapter.
[Amended 12-11-1997 by Ord. No. MC-3358; 3-12-1998 by Ord. No.
MC-3375; 9-25-2003 by Ord. No. MC-3870]
No person shall cut, break, trim or remove any tree or plant
in or on any public highway without first making application for a
permit therefor to the Director of the City of Camden's Department
of Public Works describing the type of work to be done.
A.
Whenever the limbs or branches of any tree grown on any land in the
City extend over or into any of the public highways or alleys of or
in the City and interfere with the free and uninterrupted use of such
highways for any lawful purpose, the Division shall notify and direct
the owner of the premises on or in front of which said tree may stand,
or the agent of said owner, to trim or detach, on or before a time
to be fixed in such notice, any limbs, branches or parts of a tree
so extending over or into any of the public highways or alleys or
streets of or in the City as aforesaid. If the owner of said tree
or the owner of premises in front of which the same shall stand shall
fail or neglect to comply with the terms of said notice, it shall
be the duty of said Division to trim or detach or cause to be trimmed
or detached any limbs, branches or parts of a tree or trees so extending
into the highways, alleys or streets of the City as aforesaid.
B.
Upon completion of said work, the Division shall certify the cost
thereof and shall cause the cost as shown thereon to be charged against
the lands of the owner. The amount so charged shall forthwith become
a lien upon such lands and shall be added to and become and form part
of the taxes next to be assessed and levied upon such lands, the same
to bear interest at the same rate as taxes, and shall be collected
and enforced by the same officers and in the same manner as taxes.
A.
Whenever the Division believes any tree in or upon any public highway
or street or any tree in or on any private premises to be in danger
of falling in or across any public highway or street or, because of
its decay, disease or lack of proper support, to be endangering public
safety, it shall be the duty of the Division to notify the owner of
the premises on which such tree may stand or the owner of premises
in front of which such tree may be or the agents of said respective
owners of a date, time and place when a hearing will be held to consider
the removal, pruning or cutting down, in whole or in part, of such
tree.
B.
At such hearing, the person aforesaid shall be given an opportunity
to appear, in person or by attorney, and to be heard.
C.
If, upon full hearing and investigation, it shall be determined by
the Division that it is necessary for the public safety that such
tree shall be removed or cut down, in whole or in part, it shall be
the duty of the owner of the premises on or in front of which such
tree shall stand to remove, cut down, prune or trim the same on or
before the time fixed by the Division in accordance with the terms
of the Division's determination. If the owner of such tree or
the owner of premises in front of which the same shall stand shall
not remove, cut down, prune or trim, in whole or in part, such tree
or trees, in compliance with the determination of the Division, then
the Division shall and may immediately do so.
D.
The Division shall certify the cost thereof and shall cause the cost
as shown thereon to be charged against the lands of the owner. The
amount so charged shall forthwith become a lien upon such lands and
shall be added to and become and form part of the taxes next to be
assessed and levied upon such lands, the same to bear interest at
the same rate as taxes, and shall be collected and enforced by the
same officers and in the same manner as taxes.
[Amended 12-11-1997 by Ord. No. MC-3358]
No person shall plant or set out any tree or plant or cause
or procure any person to set out or plant any tree or plant in or
on any part of any public highway of the City without first having
obtained a written permit therefor from the Division, setting forth
the conditions under which trees or plants may be set out or planted
and the kind thereof. The person obtaining such permit shall comply
with all the terms and conditions thereof.
A.
No person shall, without the written permit of the Division, place
or maintain or cause to be placed or maintained in or upon the ground
of a public highway in the City any stone, cement or other sidewalk
or any stone, cement or other substance which shall impede or prevent
the free access of water or air to the roots of any tree or plant
in any such highway.
B.
Unless otherwise provided for in the written permit referred to in Subsection A of this section, there must be maintained about the base of the trunk of each tree or plant in the streets of the City four square feet of open ground for each tree of six inches diameter, and for every three inches of increase of such diameter, there must be an increase of at least one square foot of open ground.
C.
Where any tree in or upon any public highway of or within the City
may now or hereafter be surrounded at the base of its trunk by ground
which is not open or by open ground of less quantity or measurement
than that required by this section, it shall be the duty of the Division
to notify the owner of the property on or in front of which any such
tree may be to remove, within a time fixed in said notice, so much
of the cement, brick or other covering as may be necessary to give
the space of open ground required by this section. If the person so
notified shall not so remove the covering by the time so fixed, the
Division may do so or cause to have it done.
D.
The Division shall certify the cost thereof and shall cause the cost
as shown thereon to be charged against the lands of the owner. The
amount so charged shall forthwith become a lien upon such lands and
shall be added to and become and form part of the taxes next to be
assessed and levied upon such lands, the same to bear interest at
the same rate as taxes, and shall be collected and enforced by the
same officers and in the same manner as taxes.
A.
No person owning and using or having control or charge of gas or
other substances deleterious to tree life shall allow such gas or
other substances to come in contact with the soil surrounding the
roots of any tree in any public highway or street or of any tree or
plant in any City park or parking strip in the City in such manner
as may injure, kill or destroy such tree or plants.
B.
No person shall cause, authorize or procure any brine water, oil,
liquid dye or other substance deleterious to tree life to lie, leak,
pour, flow or drip on or into the soil about the base of a tree in
any public highway or City park or parking strip in the City or onto
a sidewalk, road or pavement therein at a point whence such substance
may, by lying on or by flowing, dripping or seeping into such soil
or in any other manner whatsoever, injure such tree, nor cause or
procure such lying, leaking, flowing, dripping, seeping or injuring.
Every person in charge of erection, repair, alteration or removal
of any building or structure within the City shall place such good
and sufficient guards or protectors as shall prevent injury to all
nearby trees arising out of or by reason of such erection, repair,
alteration or removal.
A.
Every person having any wire charged with electricity running through
a public highway in the City shall securely fasten such wire so that
it shall not come in contact with any tree or plant therein.
B.
No person shall, without the written permit of the Division, attach
any electric wire or insulator or any device for the holding of any
electrical wire or for bracing the poles which carry the same to any
tree growing or planted in any park or parking strip or upon any public
highway in the City.
No person shall tie any horse or other animal to any tree in
any public highway or City park within the City nor, having charge
of such horse or other animal, allow or cause or procure it to injure
any such tree. No person in charge of such horse or other animal shall
cause or allow it to stand so that it can injure such tree.
[Amended 12-11-1997 by Ord. No. MC-3358]
No person shall, without the written permit of the Division,
attach or keep attached to a tree or plant in a public highway or
to the guard or stake intended for the protection of such tree or
plant any rope, sign, placard or any other device, thing or object.
The charge for each and every permit for the attaching of any rope,
sign, placard or any other device, thing or object to a tree or plant
in a public highway or the guard or stake intended for the protection
of such tree or plant shall be $1 per rope, sign, placard or any other
device, thing or object.
No person shall in any way interfere or cause or permit any
person to interfere with the Division or its employees in and about
the planting, mulching, pruning, spraying, treating or removing of
any tree or plant in the public highways of the City or in the removing
of stone, cement or other sidewalk or stone, cement or other substance
about the trunk of any tree or plant in the public highways in the
City.
[Amended 4-9-1987 by Ord. No. MC-2289; 10-12-2006 by Ord. No.
MC-4234]
Unless otherwise provided in the chapter, penalties against persons violating the provisions of this chapter shall be imposed in accordance with the provisions of § 1-15.
