[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of New Kensington:
Art. I, 8-9-1977 by Ord. No. 5-77 as Part 9, Art. 917 of the 1977 Code; Art.
II, 5-29-1985 as Ord. No. 1-85. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 8-9-1977 by Ord.
No. 5-77 as Part 9, Art. 917 of the 1977 Code]
No person, partnership, association, firm or corporation shall plant
or allow any willow tree or poplar tree to be planted along any street or
alley abutting his property.
Upon notice from Council to any property owner in the city, such property
owner shall remove or cause to be removed any and every poplar tree and/or
willow tree now or hereafter growing or planted along any street or alley
abutting his or its property. Upon failure of such property owner to obey
such notice within the time limit specified therein, Council may cause such
tree or trees to be removed, and the city shall collect the cost of such removal
from the property owner.
Any person, partnership, association, firm or corporation violating any of the provisions of this Article shall be fined not more than six hundred dollars ($600.) and costs of prosecution and, in default of payment, shall be imprisoned for not more than ninety (90) days. Such fine and costs may be in addition to charges made under § 211-2 for the removal of any tree or trees.
[Adopted 5-29-1985 as Ord.
No. 1-85]
A Shade Tree Commission is hereby established for the City of New Kensington
in accordance with the provisions of Article 38 of the Act of June 23, 1931,
P.L. 932, §§ 3801 to 3810, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 38801 et seq.
The Commission shall be composed of three (3) residents of the City
of New Kensington who shall be appointed by the Mayor and shall serve without
compensation. One (1) Commissioner shall serve for a term of three (3) years,
one (1) for a term of four (4) years and one (1) for a term of five (5) years.
On the expiration of the term of any Commissioner, his successor shall be
appointed by the Mayor to serve for a term of five (5) years. Vacancies in
the office of the Commissioner shall be filled by the Mayor for the unexpired
term.
For the purpose of this Article, the following terms shall have the
meanings ascribed to them in this section:
The City of New Kensington.
The Shade Tree Commission of the City of New Kensington.
The City Engineer of New Kensington.
A permit, in writing, as issued by the city on forms furnished by
the city.
Any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company
or organization of any kind, and includes the plural of each.
Any public street, alley, park, easement or other public area under
control of the city.
Any tree, shrub or other plant, living or dead, in, upon or over
any public area or that part or any tree which extends within the lines of
any public area.
The application for any permit required hereunder shall be made in writing
to the Engineer upon forms furnished by the city and shall specify the particular
kind of work or operation the applicant desires to perform thereunder and
shall state the exact location and species of any shade tree or trees affected.
It shall be the duty of the Engineer to submit every such application promptly
to the Commission, if such exists, for approval or disapproval. Permits shall
be effective for such length of time as the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission,
if such exists, shall determine in each case, which shall be indicated on
the permit, and such permit may be revoked at any time at the direction of
the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, upon proof satisfactory
to the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, that the terms
and conditions upon which the permit had been issued are, or have been, violated.
The City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, may, in its discretion,
as a condition precedent to the issuance of the permit, require the applicant
to file a bond satisfactory to the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission,
if such exists, or to deposit security satisfactory to the City Engineer or
Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, to guarantee the compliance by the
applicant with the terms and conditions upon which the permit is issued.
It shall be unlawful for any person, without first obtaining a permit
from the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, to cut, plant,
transplant, remove or damage any shade tree; to cut down or interfere in any
way with the main roots of any shade tree; to spray with any chemicals or
insecticide any shade tree; to place any rope, guy wire, cable, sign, poster
or other fixture on a shade tree; or to injure or misuse or remove any device
placed to protect such shade tree except in case of immediate necessity for
protection of life and property.
This Article shall be administered by the City Engineer.
The City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, may, with
the approval of Council, employ and pay, or make contract for, such personnel
and professional services as may be required in the proper performance of
the duties devolving upon it and may make, publish and enforce regulations
for the planting, care and protection of the shade trees of the city. No such
regulation shall be enforced until approved by Council and until it has been
published at least twice as prescribed by law.
The City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, shall annually
report in full to the Council at Council's first stated meeting in January
its transactions and expenses for the last calendar year of the city.
Whenever the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists,
proposes to plant, transplant or remove shade trees, notice of the time and
place of the meeting at which the work is to be considered shall be given
by publication in a newspaper published in the city once a week for two (2)
weeks immediately preceding the time of the meeting, as prescribed by law.
The notice shall specify in detail the hour and place of the meeting and the
streets or sidewalks or portions thereof upon which trees are proposed to
be so planted, replanted or removed.
The cost of furnishing, planting, transplanting or removing any shade
trees, of the necessary curbing or grading for the protection thereof and
of the replacing of any pavement or sidewalk necessarily disturbed in the
execution of such work or of the erection of necessary and suitable guards
shall be paid by the owner of the real estate in front of whose property the
work is done. The amount each owner is to pay shall be ascertained and certified
by the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, to the Council
and to the City Treasurer. Upon the filing of the certificate with the Council,
the Engineer shall cause thirty (30) days' written notice to be given by mail
to the person against whose property an assessment has been made. The notice
shall state the amount of the assessment and the time and place of payment
and shall be accompanied with a copy of the certificate. The amount assessed
against the real estate shall be a lien from the time of the filing of the
certificate with the City Council, and, if not paid within the time designated
in the notice, a claim may be filed and collected in the same manner as municipal
claims are filed and collected.
Costs and expenses in caring for shade trees after they have been planted
shall be paid by the city. The needed amount shall each year be certified
by the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, in time for
inclusion in the proposed budget of said City Council, and funds appropriated
in the budget shall be drawn against by the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission,
if such exists, in the same manner as funds appropriated for other city purposes.
In connection with any building operation or the performance of any
work whatsoever in the city in the vicinity of any shade trees, before any
such work shall be commenced, guards shall be placed at all shade trees which
may be affected by such work so as to effectively prevent injury.
Any person who shall violate or fail to comply with any of the regulations
of the City Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, or of this
Article shall, on conviction thereof, pay a fine or penalty not exceeding
six hundred dollars ($600.) and, in default of payment thereof, be sentenced
to a term of imprisonment for not more than ninety (90) days for each and
every offense, and whenever such person shall have been notified by the City
Engineer or Shade Tree Commission, if such exists, or by service of a summons
or prosecution or in any other way that he is committing any such violation,
each day in which he shall continue such violation after such notification
shall constitute a separate offense punishable by a like fine or penalty.
All penalties or assessments imposed under this Article shall be paid to the
City Treasurer to be placed in the general fund of the City of New Kensington.
