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The Delaware Department of Transportation has sent out a conservation easement to homeowners around Lake Comegys, but many of those same homeowners are still miffed about the cutting down of trees on the property at 30 Pine Lane.
The often-contentious relationship between the Lake Comegys Homeowners’ Association and Robert and Jane Gibson, owners of 30 Pine Lane, has been going on for over a year and a half.
The Gibsons wish to put three townhouses on the property, but the homeowners lobbied for a conservation easement around the lake in what had been a Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) right of way.
All sides agreed to the conservation easement, but the story took another twist when the Gibsons began cutting down trees in the proposed conservation easement.
The Gibsons said the trees were presenting a safety hazard and were dying, while the homeowners said the trees were healthy and the Gibsons had violated the conservation easement. The Gibsons maintain there was no conservation easement because it had not been signed and recorded. It has taken over a year for DelDOT to actually send the paperwork out to be signed.
Fritz Schranck, deputy attorney general for DelDOT, said until the easement is recorded in Sussex County, the state cannot enforce it. He said until then, the Gibsons own an underlying interest in the property and can cut down the trees. Schranck said DelDOT couldn’t challenge what the Gibsons have already done.
Sallie Forman, founder of Save Our Lakes Alliance3, said 27 trees have come down on the Gibson property, depriving many nesting birds of their habitat. She said DelDOT’s slowness in getting the conservation easement out has given the Gibsons a window to do whatever they want until the easement is signed. Forman said cutting down the trees has left no buffer around the lake and could precipitate erosion of the shoreline.
“It’s very unfortunate,” she said.
Tony Burns, president of the Lake Comegys Homeowners’ Association, said DelDOT dropped the ball by not getting the conservation easement out soon enough.
He said the Gibsons have been unwilling to work with the community to help protect the lake. Burns said fellow property owners were horrified by the loss of the trees.
He said the homeowners’ association would be writing the governor and state legislators to investigate why DelDOT has failed to exercise responsible stewardship over the conservation easement. Burns said the department has ignored phone calls and complaints from homeowners,
Robert Gibson said he has done nothing wrong and was legally maintaining his property by removing dead and diseased trees, branches and trees that had fallen into the lake. He said even if the easement were in place, he still would have the right to remove the trees.
The conservation easement says, “The removal or destruction of trees, shrubs or other vegetation is prohibited except as may be necessary for the maintenance of utilities or other accesses, the prevention or treatment of diseases or other good husbandry practices, including noxious plant control.”
Gibson said the trees represented a hazard and he was not about to let a hazard exist. He said a good bit of what was removed was within five feet of the lake, outside the former DelDOT right-of-way.
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