Updated 7/15/2015
Protect Street/Roadside Trees
in your Neighborhood, Town, City or Borough
Local and State Actions You Can Take
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CRITICAL LOCAL ACTIONS --
IF TREE REMOVAL AND PRUNING IS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN YOUR COMMUNITY:
Immediately see 3 below if you've received a notice that a utility wants to prune or remove a tree abutting your property or on your private property outside of the public right-of-way.
NOTE: Depending on your town/city, you may want to start with Item 3 below. You could also arrange a joint meeting with the tree warden and the chief elected officials. Also see Diagram of Local Action (a schematic illustration of the following text)
IF TREE REMOVAL AND PRUNING IS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN YOUR COMMUNITY:
Immediately see 3 below if you've received a notice that a utility wants to prune or remove a tree abutting your property or on your private property outside of the public right-of-way.
NOTE: Depending on your town/city, you may want to start with Item 3 below. You could also arrange a joint meeting with the tree warden and the chief elected officials. Also see Diagram of Local Action (a schematic illustration of the following text)
1. Communicate with and/or arrange a meeting with your municipal tree warden and ask him or her to ensure that no healthy non-hazardous trees or shrubs are removed and that they are pruned in accordance with professional pruning standards to preserve their health and structural integrity. All pruning and removal must be necessary for utility service reliability. (Form a group to do so, if possible. See 1 under Other Local Actions below.) A permit is required from a tree warden or DOT before any pruning or removal takes place. The tree warden has the power to refuse a permit to prune or remove any tree within the public right-of-way, to limit the pruning, and place conditions on the pruning and removal, subject to appeal by the utility to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). The application for the permit and the permit issued for pruning and removal should be in writing and should specify the work to be done. (DOT permits are required on state highways, and it is uncertain whether local officials or residents can influence the DOT permit process.) See 3 below for the process abutting property owners must follow promptly after notice of proposed pruning or removal in the public right-of-way. Find your tree warden: Call or city or town hall or consult the following:
List of Tree Wardens in Every CT City, Town or Borough
2. Communicate with and/or arrange a meeting with your chief elected official (mayor, first selectman, borough warden), and other elected and appointed officials in your municipality to express your positions, individually, as part of a group or as a coalition of groups, on utility tree pruning and removal plans. (See Diagram for Local Action.) Request that the chief elected official ask for a public meeting with the utility regarding its plans. If there is a public meeting, make sure it is well attended by concerned citizens and groups.
3. Exercise your rights when you receive a notice (1) to object or request a modification within ten (10) business days of receiving the notice for proposed pruning or removal within the public right-of-way; and (2) to refuse consent for removal or pruning of trees solely on your private land, if you disagree with the utility's planned action. Except for hazardous trees, the utility cannot prune or remove a tree on private property without the affirmative written consent of the property owner. Do not allow any pruning or removal for which the utility does not have a permit from the municipal tree warden or DOT. For additional information, see Protect Trees On or Abutting Your Property and for detail about legal requirements, including hearings, see Flow Chart of Legal Requirements.
4. Insist that any agreement on a modification to the planned work be in writing in sufficient detail and preferably with an illustration of the agreed upon work. Take photos before the work begins!
5. Take photos of your roadside/street trees NOW as evidence in the event that your trees are pruned or removed without a permit, without notice and an opportunity to object or request a modification, or contrary to an agreement reached not to remove a tree or to prune it in a particular way. (See 4 above.) See also, Damages and Penalties for Unauthorized Pruning and Removal of Trees and Shrubs.
List of Tree Wardens in Every CT City, Town or Borough
- Ensure that the tree warden posts all trees, including hazardous trees, scheduled for removal or substantial pruning, and holds a public meeting on such plans. Any person may appeal a decision by the tree warden to PURA following such a hearing. The tree warden has 3 days to decide and an appeal from the decision must be filed within ten calendar days of the decision. This is a different appeal process than that described in 4. below.
- Hazardous Trees: If a tree warden or DOT determines that a tree or branch in the public right-of-way is hazardous ("dead, extensively decayed or structurally weak"), the utility is not required to provide notice to a property owner. Before removing a hazardous tree or branch outside of the public right-of-way, the utility must make a reasonable attempt to notify the property owner of its plans three days in advance.
- State highways: The tree warden knows who should be contacted at the Department of Transportation regarding trees on state highways, and can help persuade the DOT to protect trees and shrubs in the DOT right-of-way.
2. Communicate with and/or arrange a meeting with your chief elected official (mayor, first selectman, borough warden), and other elected and appointed officials in your municipality to express your positions, individually, as part of a group or as a coalition of groups, on utility tree pruning and removal plans. (See Diagram for Local Action.) Request that the chief elected official ask for a public meeting with the utility regarding its plans. If there is a public meeting, make sure it is well attended by concerned citizens and groups.
3. Exercise your rights when you receive a notice (1) to object or request a modification within ten (10) business days of receiving the notice for proposed pruning or removal within the public right-of-way; and (2) to refuse consent for removal or pruning of trees solely on your private land, if you disagree with the utility's planned action. Except for hazardous trees, the utility cannot prune or remove a tree on private property without the affirmative written consent of the property owner. Do not allow any pruning or removal for which the utility does not have a permit from the municipal tree warden or DOT. For additional information, see Protect Trees On or Abutting Your Property and for detail about legal requirements, including hearings, see Flow Chart of Legal Requirements.
- Notice of utility pruning and removal. If the notice is delivered to you in person by a utility work planner, ask for a detailed explanation of the work to be done while looking at the tree or shrub and ask for that explanation in writing. If there is no in person delivery, you can phone or e-mail the utility to ask about the proposed work, but be careful not to miss a deadline while waiting for a response. The notice may be mailed to you in an envelope or placed on your door in a "door hanger." By law, it can be delivered by e-mail or text, but, for now, the utilities are not using that method. NOTE: PURA is also requiring utilities to provide notice by e-mail, fax, personal contact, or, it those fail, certified mail with return receipt prior to beginning pruning or removal. It is currently unclear when such notice is to take place. Records of the contact are to be retained for 24 months. In addition, UI has been sending a letter notifying everyone along a street/road where it will be pruning or removing trees and shrubs, before it provides the legally required notice. It is an alert that one should be looking for a notice and inquiring if one isn't received.
- Read the notice immediately and be sure to meet the deadlines set forth in the notice. You must receive it fifteen (15) business days prior to commencement of utility pruning or removal. Consider sending your written objection or request for modification by certified mail, return receipt requested, even if you use the option of e-mailing your objection or request for modification to the utility. The notice should provide the address of the tree warden or DOT to which you must mail the objection or request for modification. If you are going to be away on vacation, have someone alert you to a notice from your utility and also check your house for a "door hanger" notice. It is possible that notice will not be mailed.
- If the tree warden decides in favor of the utility with regard to your objection or modification, you have a right to appeal to PURA and the option of having a mediation within thirty days. If the mediation fails to reach a resolution, you may then have a hearing before PURA within another thirty days, or you can skip mediation and go directly to a hearing before PURA within sixty days. The burden is on the utility to prove that its proposed pruning and/or removal is necessary for utility reliability.
- State law prohibits the utility from billing a person who refused to give consent for removal of a tree on private land or objected to pruning or removal of a tree within the public right-of-way if the tree falls and the utility infrastructure is damaged.
- Let your friends and neighbors know about their rights.
4. Insist that any agreement on a modification to the planned work be in writing in sufficient detail and preferably with an illustration of the agreed upon work. Take photos before the work begins!
5. Take photos of your roadside/street trees NOW as evidence in the event that your trees are pruned or removed without a permit, without notice and an opportunity to object or request a modification, or contrary to an agreement reached not to remove a tree or to prune it in a particular way. (See 4 above.) See also, Damages and Penalties for Unauthorized Pruning and Removal of Trees and Shrubs.
OTHER LOCAL ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE FOR THE FUTURE:
- Let your neighbors and friends know about planned or possible tree pruning and removal by a utility, and about their right to object or request a modification (see above). Inform neighborhood groups and existing community organizations, or form new groups, to explore the issues and decide on a course of action.
- Arrange meetings with the utility to learn about their plans and ask them questions.
- Consider asking for an ordinance to govern utility
tree pruning and removal and/or the establishment of tree commissions. An ordinance can be based on tree
warden regulations and also can govern pruning and removal of trees by
the municipality, apart from utility tree pruning and removal. Some towns and cities also have tree commissions. For examples of tree ordinances, commissions and related documents, click Tree Ordinances and Commissions.
- Even if pruning and removal is not yet scheduled, TAKE PHOTOS NOW of your roadside/street trees as
evidence in the event that your trees are pruned or removed without a
permit, without notice and an opportunity to object, or contrary to an
agreement reached not to remove a tree or to prune it in a particular
way. (Such an agreement should be in writing.) See also, Damages and Penalties for Unauthorized Pruning and Removal of Trees and Shrubs.
STATE ACTIONS:
For PURA decisions, see Recent Information, Notices and News.
If you are concerned about tree removal and pruning on state highways, you may make your concerns known to Governor Malloy by e-mailing him at governor.malloy@ct.gov.
For PURA decisions, see Recent Information, Notices and News.
If you are concerned about tree removal and pruning on state highways, you may make your concerns known to Governor Malloy by e-mailing him at governor.malloy@ct.gov.