Pottstown's New Shade Tree Procedure Gets its First Test

Photo by Evan Brandt

A West Second Street resident told borough council Wednesday this Bradford pear tree is dangerous and she should be 

allowed to cut it down. The borough initially denied the request twice.

For the first time since it dissolved the Shade Tree Commission, Pottstown Borough Council is faced with an appeal by a resident who was denied a permit to take down a tree she considers dangerous.

Janice Monger of 5 W. Second St. made her case on behalf of her neighbor at 3 W. Second St., who has actual legal responsibility for the pear tree in front of her property. It is located at the northwest corner of the intersection with Johnston Street.

Monger applied for a permit to take the tree down and was denied. She appealed and was again denied by the body set up to hear such appeals -- the borough manager, public works director and councilman who represents the ward in which the tree is located.

(She complained to council that the meeting at which she was supposed to make her case was cancelled, but her appeal was denied anyway.)

The pear tree on the south side of Second Street lost a
branch that hit a vehicle with people inside, Monger said.

Under the new ordinance, her final appeal goes to a full meeting of borough council, which occurred during Wednesday's work session.

Monger told council that a similar tree across the street lost a branch that fell on a pick-up truck occupied by a man and his infant son. Luckily, neither was hurt although there was damage to the truck.

But it has made Monger fearful of what the tree in front of her neighbor's house might do.

"My neighbors and I live in fear," she said. "I have to tell my family not to park in front of our house. I like trees, but humans are more important than trees," Monger told council.

Monger said her neighbor cannot afford the cost of taking the tree down so Monger offered to undertake the job for her.

But when she applied for the permit, it was denied by Public Works Director Doug Yerger.

Yerger told council it is a healthy tree and has caused no damage to the sidewalk and, under the terms of the ordinance, the tree does not meet the conditions which allow for it to be taken down.

But Monger, a 38-year resident of Pottstown, said the species itself is inherently dangerous. "I did some research on the Internet," she said. "And I found these trees have a very short lifespan of 25 years and these trees are at least 30 years old."

Furthermore, she said, "after 15 years they start to crack and the branches get large and heavy. There are two that are cracked on Second Street."

She said Penn State arborists do not recommend the species as a street tree.

The tree in front of Monger's house has grown up into the power lines,

despite trimming by PECO.

Allentown and Emmaus have both removed all their Bradford pears for that reason, Monger said, adding that this particular tree has also grown up into the power lines in front of her house.

But while Allentown and Emmaus may have eliminated their pear trees, New York City, which has the East Coast's largest urban forest, has continued to plant them.

A 2005 survey of that city's trees showed that of the 93,000 street trees planted in the previous 10 years, callery pear's were the fourth most numerous.

But given the choice to do it over again, Yerger said he would probably not plant pear trees in Pottstown.

"There's no question it's a problem tree and we have a lot of them," Yerger said.

Council Vice President Jeff Chomnuk, who represents the ward where the tree in question is located, is opposed to its removal.

"I travel that street every day, and I know that tree pretty well," Chomnuk said.

He suggested that Monger's concerns could be address by trimming the tree, "which would be half the cost and could eliminate the branch you're worried about."

"I'm not trying to minimize your concern, but it's a healthy tree," Chomnuk said.

Council President Stephen Toroney said he wanted an expert opinion before making a decision. "None of us up here are experts and we're not in the business of taking trees down."

He suggested that Monger get the contractor she intended to hire to take the tree down to give an opinion on the tree's stability.

However Mayor Bonnie Heath noted that given the contractor's interest in making more money by advising that the tree come down, that opinion should be considered carefully.

Toroney also indicated said he might be more inclined to allow the removal if a new tree would be planted to replaced it.

However, Yerger said the tree's proximity to a newly installed handicapped sidewalk ramp makes re-planting problematic under the new planting guidelines, which call for a certain distance from such ramps, as well as water and sewer lines.

Councilmen Mark Gibson, Joe Kirkland, Dan Weand and Travis Gery, all seemed convinced by Monger's argument.

Gibson expressed concerns about the borough's liability, although Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. advised that "negligence" on the borough's part would have to be proven for that to be a problem.

Kirkland, Weand and Gery all agreed that since Monger had produced information indicating pear trees of that age are prone to cracking and losing branches, that it is enough to allow the tree's removal under the provision of the ordinance that allows the removal of trees the borough finds to be "dangerous."

"I don't believe our ordinance makes it necessary to wait until it falls on somebody to be considered dangerous," Gery said.

Garner conceded that because the ordinance does not specifically define "dangerous," that the only definition that applies "is the one in the dictionary."

"We're looking at a responsible property owner," said Weand. "And we have a similar tree that failed across the street and we have residents who feel endangered by the preservation of that tree."

However Heath warned that setting a precedent of allowing tree removal permits based solely on a tree's species "would have other people being allowed to cut down trees all over town willy nilly."

"Those trees," she said, "were put in to provide shade and to beautify our town. Have you ever seen a street where all the trees have been removed? It's not a pretty sight."

Council has scheduled a vote on the matter for its meeting Tuesday night.

He's Left His Mark-O

Marko and Mick Markovich at work just before his retirement.
Mercury Photo by John Strickler

Following in the (padded) footsteps of his canine peer, Pottstown Canine Officer Marko was officially recognized for his retired Wednesday night at the borough council work session.

Sgt. Michael (Mick) Markovich received the citation, but Marko couldn't make it.

I would tell you about all about the story of Marko, but I can't improve on the job already done by my peer, Mercury Police Reporter Brandie Kessler.

Her April 27th story tells much of what there is to tell about Marko, including the fact that "Marko was trained to work patrol and sniff out narcotics. He was SWAT level 3 certified, and both Marko and Asztor were on the Ches-Mont Emergency Response Team, or CMERT.

She also quoted Pottstown Police Capt. F. Richard Drumheller as saying that Marko’s ability to detect drugs was so fine-tuned, “he could sniff out a marijuana seed hidden under a mattress inside of a trunk.”

Mayor Bonnie Heath, right, presents Markovich with Marko's
proclamation at Wednesday's borough council meeting.

Marko's retirement comes just a short time after the retirement of Asztor,  A K-9, handled by officer Mike Long, who retired in November and was given similar recognition by Mayor Heath and borough council.

As Brandie reported, the Pottstown Poilce have two newer K-9s, Taz, whose handler is Jeffrey Portock and Jax, whose handler is Pete Yambrick

But there will soon be two more, Pottstown Police Chief Mark Flanders said Wednesday night.

"Asztor will be replaced with funding coming from the district attorney's office and we have two handlers in school right now," Flanders said.

With another funding source paying for the purchase of a fourth K-9, "we'll be right back up to four very shortly."

K-9 officers bring a number of attributes to the job, according to the web site for Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who have used them extensively since 1937.

Not the least of these is the fact that a dog can search a car in approximately three minutes.

Also, they're comparatively inexpensive. Healthy police service dogs cost less than $1,000 annually to maintain.

"The first people to use dogs for guarding included Persians, Greeks, Assyrians and Babylonians, who used dogs for protection or war tactics as early as 5th century B.C", according to the "Fun Dog Facts" web site. "After the fall of Rome, the Spanish Conquistadors resumed the use of dogs as protectors, and by 1610, the British colonists of Jamestown were using dogs in anti-Indian measures

There are some famous police dogs as well.

“Tracker,” a 10-year old German Shepherd working for the Ontario Provincial Police, was awarded for over 500 searches at the time of his retirement. “Lance,” another Ontario Provincial Police dog, tracked down a missing woman in swampland for three hours before leading her home to safety. Known for his work as a rescue dog in the Oklahoma City bombings, the police dog “Pascha” also helped victims after the Earthquake in Kobe, Japan and Hurricane Opal victims in Panama City, Florida.

Here is a video from Wednesday night's meeting in which Heath makes her presentation.

Give the Gift of Learning

Hat's off to Pottstown Mayor Bonnie Heath!

During Monday's borough council meeting, Mayor Heath said something that resonated with me and with which I heartily agree. She articulated something I have been mulling over for quite some time.

I am more than a little mildly disturbed by the ever-increasing materialism associated with the Christmas season (yes, I know this is the only time of the year anyone ever talks about how materialistic our society is, but that doesn't make it any less true).

For several years now, for example, we have been careful to give my son "experiences," or, to be more specific, tickets, for his birthday instead of a pile of video games which hold his interest for only a short time.

I'd be willing to be he does not know when he got half the games he got, but he will always remember seeing Bill Cosby live and the Cirque de soleil.

But there is another way to provide "experiences" as gifts, which brings us back to Mayor Heath.

Always the champion of downtown local businesses, Mayor Heath urged those watching on PCTV (and the handful of us in the audience) to consider giving the gift of knowledge, or, more specifically, lessons this season.

Be they music lessons at High Street Music; singing or acting lessons at TriCounty Performing Arts Center; painting, ceramics or sculpture lessons at Gallery on High, these are things that will stay with people forever.

Heck, consider paying for a class for a community college student you know, karate lessons, hairdressing or other beauty lessons; whatever would float the boat of those on your list.

They can all be found in downtown Pottstown.

And, in addition to fostering creativity and building skills that could last a lifetime, they are another way to support downtown Pottstown businesses.

If we want our downtown to be a reflection of our town, we need to find something there we can support.

That way, you are also giving a gift to your town at the same time.