Silver maple in Rehoboth safe, for now
Story Location:
318 Country Club Drive
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
United States
Two days after the Rehoboth Beach Parks and Shade Tree Commission voted to allow property owners at 318 Country Club Drive to remove a towering silver maple tree from their back yard, two other Rehoboth property owners filed a notice of appeal and requested a stop order prohibiting the removal of the tree until the city rules on the appeal.
John and Winifred McKenna and Mary Ann Satain, property owners of 318 Country Club Drive, submitted a request to remove the tree in July, citing the tree is a nuisance to existing structures and a safety and health hazard to pedestrians as the reasons for cutting down the tree.
City Arborist Liz Lingo denied the request Aug. 15, prompting the McKennas and Satain to file an appeal to the parks and shade tree commission Sept. 10.
In an Oct. 12 report prepared for the commission’s Oct. 22 hearing, Lingo said the tree is approximately 150 years old with a 56-inch caliper, defined by city code as the diameter of a tree trunk measured 1 foot above the ground.
Lingo said she inspected the tree onsite and determined the maple tree is in good health. Additionally, she said, there is no visible damage to the home’s foundation.
Prior to the commission’s vote, John McKenna argued Lingo’s report for the hearing should be stricken from the record because it wasn’t submitted within the code-defined time limit of 15 days. During the hearing, he told the commission he didn’t find out about the report until he read an Oct. 19 article in the Cape Gazette.
At the suggestion of city solicitor Glenn Mandalas, the commission convened an executive session to discuss.
The commission then reconvened and struck Lingo’s report; it also approved allowing the tree to come down, stipulating the tree must be replaced with another medium-sized, native shade tree and the homeowners pay a $3,500 fee toward of mitigation. The city will use those funds to plant trees elsewhere.
Property owners Julie Davis and John Metz filed the appeal and stop work order with the city Oct. 24.
The two cite city code allowing the Rehoboth Beach Board of Commissioners to review any decisions made by the parks and shade tree commission.
The appeal says a memorandum of points and authorities in support of the appeal will be filed after the record of the commission’s decision is available. As of press deadline Oct. 25, the record was not available.
The Rehoboth Board of Commissioners have scheduled an appeal hearing for 10 a.m., Friday, Nov. 2, in the commissioners rooms of city hall, 229 Rehoboth Ave.
