BERLIN– Three months after the Mayor and Council debated a precariously perched tree, the offending evergreen finally came down.
Electric Department crews cut down and hauled away the tree, which threatened power lines at the corner of Main and Tripoli streets, on Thursday, July 31. Several councilmembers and Electric Utility Director Tim Lawrence had expressed concerns over the tree.
“We had good cooperation from the homeowner, Rene Schoellkopf,” said Town Administrator Laura Allen. “We spent some time talking to her about the need for the tree to come down. We did some outreach after the council meeting, and every indication I got from Ms. Schoellkopf was that she understood the need to do something with the tree.
“My sense of her concern was that it was such a big part of her front yard and her property that she needed to think about what would happen with the tree gone,” Allen continued.
Town employees directed traffic in front of Schoellkopf’s residence on 101 S. Main Street while work on the removal was ongoing.
“We had control of traffic on a couple of different points on Main Street, making sure people drove by safely, so even though it rained a little bit the tree was safely taken down,” Allen said.
In exchange for allowing the town to cut down the tree, Berlin will replace the tree.
“She’ll be planting a replacement in the fall,” Allen said. “We also agreed to do some root grinding so there won’t be that big lump of a tree stump in her front yard. My understanding is she was onsite (when the tree came down) and she was happy with the way things went.”
The homeowner will incur no cost for the removal, and the town will pick up the tab for the replacement tree.
“We think the efforts were worth it because of the risk to our power lines,” Allen said. “We had Ms. Schoellkopf’s support and cooperation.”
Allen estimated the replacement tree would cost a few hundred dollars.
“We’ll plant that for her when she’s ready,” she said. “We don’t think now’s a good time to plant it, and she understands that. We’ll do it in September or October in some kind of frame where it works for her.”
The delay in removing the tree was largely due to scheduling conflicts.
“Ms. Schoellkopf is a very busy person,” Allen said. “We had some challenges connecting with her and her schedule, but every indication I got from her was that she was receptive to make a change; it was just a matter of coordinating her schedule with ours. Honestly, I think this is a happy ending. From our standpoint this was a great thing to get taken care of, especially before we get any severe summer storms. It’s certainly one less thing we have to worry about with regard to the Electric Utility.”
Electric Department crews cut down and hauled away the tree, which threatened power lines at the corner of Main and Tripoli streets, on Thursday, July 31. Several councilmembers and Electric Utility Director Tim Lawrence had expressed concerns over the tree.
“We had good cooperation from the homeowner, Rene Schoellkopf,” said Town Administrator Laura Allen. “We spent some time talking to her about the need for the tree to come down. We did some outreach after the council meeting, and every indication I got from Ms. Schoellkopf was that she understood the need to do something with the tree.
“My sense of her concern was that it was such a big part of her front yard and her property that she needed to think about what would happen with the tree gone,” Allen continued.
Town employees directed traffic in front of Schoellkopf’s residence on 101 S. Main Street while work on the removal was ongoing.
“We had control of traffic on a couple of different points on Main Street, making sure people drove by safely, so even though it rained a little bit the tree was safely taken down,” Allen said.
In exchange for allowing the town to cut down the tree, Berlin will replace the tree.
“She’ll be planting a replacement in the fall,” Allen said. “We also agreed to do some root grinding so there won’t be that big lump of a tree stump in her front yard. My understanding is she was onsite (when the tree came down) and she was happy with the way things went.”
The homeowner will incur no cost for the removal, and the town will pick up the tab for the replacement tree.
“We think the efforts were worth it because of the risk to our power lines,” Allen said. “We had Ms. Schoellkopf’s support and cooperation.”
Allen estimated the replacement tree would cost a few hundred dollars.
“We’ll plant that for her when she’s ready,” she said. “We don’t think now’s a good time to plant it, and she understands that. We’ll do it in September or October in some kind of frame where it works for her.”
The delay in removing the tree was largely due to scheduling conflicts.
“Ms. Schoellkopf is a very busy person,” Allen said. “We had some challenges connecting with her and her schedule, but every indication I got from her was that she was receptive to make a change; it was just a matter of coordinating her schedule with ours. Honestly, I think this is a happy ending. From our standpoint this was a great thing to get taken care of, especially before we get any severe summer storms. It’s certainly one less thing we have to worry about with regard to the Electric Utility.”