Contractor completes tree removal near Sussex County airport
A contractor worked through the hottest days of summer, dealing with the peak of the tick season and other environmental challenges, to wrap up a project to remove trees from nearly 30 acres near Delaware Coastal Airport.
The project was required by the Federal Aviation Administration to comply with regulations to ensure safe airspace around the county-owned airport near Georgetown.
Wilmington-based Strobert Tree Services Inc. received a $705,387 contract in June to remove about 1,250 trees in the approach to runway R4, extending in some cases in the direction of Park Avenue.
Assistant County Engineer Mark Parker said at the Aug. 12 Sussex County Council meeting that the work was completed in about 30 days, despite the challenges.
Parker said the county will have to develop a management plan for the property to ensure that trees there do not grow tall enough to pose a risk to planes using the airport. Working with the Sussex Conservation District, the county will plant some vegetation in the areas that were clear-cut, he said.
“Quite frankly, it does look, in a couple of areas, like a bomb went off,” Parker said. “But that will come back. So we want some level of vegetation to come back, but we want to control the height of it.”
The contractor sold a small number of the trees, which brought the final project total to just under the bid amount, he said.
Council voted 4-0 to reduce the project contract amount by $870, in part to account for the small amount of revenue from tree sales, and to close out the project.
Work was substantially completed by June 30, and final site restoration work has been done in the last few weeks, Parker said at the Aug. 12 meeting.
“I do want to acknowledge that this initiative ended up being pretty challenging for us,” Parker said. “We ended up with almost 29 acres of treestand removed in just over 30 days to meet the county’s fiscal budget requirements.”
Environmental conditions were difficult, he said.
“Most of the work was done in temperatures that often reached the mid-90s,” he said. “We were in the middle of peak tick season, and they were really thick out there. I can attest to that because I got some myself. Of course, we had some significant environmental constraints to dance around.”
Council Vice President John Rieley asked if any of the land could be converted to agricultural uses.
Parker said some portions were environmentally sensitive, which limits options for future use. Also, the site would need extensive preparation work, as tree stumps a foot tall cover the area.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
