A Tree Falls in Maplewood - Who Pays?

I think I know the answer:  I pay.  

But, just in case, here's the question:  A town tree (planted on the berm in front of my house) blew over during the storm this weekend and buckled up the sidewalk.  Do I pay for the sidewalk repair, or does the town pay for the sidewalk repair?

I've called town hall and they said to call public works.  I called public works and they said to call town hall.  I haven't had a chance to continue calling around this morning, but will later.  Just out of curiosity, does anyone here know the procedure in this situation? 

TIA!

In South Orange, the town fixed it, but it took...a while. I'd enter a 311 ticket thingee instead of beating yourself to death on someone's voicemail.

I'd be curious to hear the answer too.  There is a town tree on my neighbor's property.  The tree is right next to my property line.  When the roots picked up the sidewalk in front of my house, I got a notice to fix the sidewalk or I would get a fine.  Hence, fixed the sidewalk.  I don't understand why we as home owners, have to take care of the problems with the town trees.

I think the Town pays for only the portion that was damaged by the falling tree.

However, if you had a portion of sidewalk that had been buckled over time by growing roots, then you would pay to fix it after the Town took care of the roots.

Thank Rob and EllenLynn.   I'm going to head to Town Hall at lunchtime and see if I can get an answer.  A 311 ticket thingee -- that sounds promising.  I didn't know we had that.  

@yahooyahoo ~ What would the town do with the roots?  If I pay someone to come and fix the sidewalk, they lift/break the cement on the damaged sidewalk, then they chop the roots before pouring new cement.  Isn't that part of me fixing the problem?  Would the town come and chop/lift the bad part of the sidewalk to get to the roots and do their thing and then I would just have to refill with cement?

Thanks yahooyahoo.  When the tree fell, it pushed up two sidewalk slabs. 

@Ellenlynn - The Town will come and shave down the roots.  It's up to the homeowner to have the broken pieces of sidewalk removed prior to that. I wouldn't recommend having a sidewalk company decide how to handle a tree.

@angelak - I'm not 100% sure so please don't blame me if they make you pay for the damaged slabs. I am 100% sure about the second scenario (unless the rules have been changed).

Thanks @yahooyahoo.   Good thing to know.  I had this done about 10 years ago.  It will be coming down the pike again in a few years as I see it happening slowly again.  

One positive note: the tree fell on the power lines, but didn't snap them.  PSE&G was on site within an hour from calling the emergency number, cut the tree and took it away.  The tree fell away from my house and the power lines stopped it from falling on my neighbor's house.

angelak said:

One positive note: the tree fell on the power lines, but didn't snap them.  PSE&G was on site within an hour from calling the emergency number, cut the tree and took it away.  The tree fell away from my house and the power lines stopped it from falling on my neighbor's house.

Extremely positive ~ glad the tree didn't hit your house or your neighbors ~ Good Luck !  Hope it all goes smoothly with the town !

We had the same thing happen during that microburst storm several years ago and the town took care of the whole thing - they removed the tree and fixed the sidewalk.

Ok -- I spoke with some nice helpful people in Town Hall and they are going to send Public Works over to my place to check it out.  I'm hoping the town will at least remove the stump and roots (as indicated they might by yahooyahoo).   It would be great if they took care of the whole thing.  Thanks, Eliz.

Update:  The town checked promptly on the tree and sidewalk this afternoon.  They called me around 4:30 and explained that the stump removal/sidewalk repair in this case is the responsibility of the township.

I feel a little sheepish about my initial cynicism.  PSEG and Maplewood both responded rapidly and in a highly professional manner.  Really impressive.

I will add that I have had to deal with PSE&G a few times, and always had good experiences.

angelak said:

Update:  The town checked promptly on the tree and sidewalk this afternoon.  They called me around 4:30 and explained that the stump removal/sidewalk repair in this case is the responsibility of the township.

I feel a little sheepish about my initial cynicism.  PSEG and Maplewood both responded rapidly and in a highly professional manner.  Really impressive.

YEAH ~ You win !  Don't feel sheepish about your original post because I had to pay for my own sidewalk repair years ago.  So it does happen.  

It seems the town acted quickly too.  I really like that.  Gives you a good feeling and one thing off your shoulders ~

Thanks, EllenLynn.  Are you a native French speaker?  Your punctuation seems French.  I'm taking advanced beginner French at the SOMA adult school and I seem to notice a similarity.

No I am not a French speaker.  I use the punctuation because I think it ends a sentence better than a period.  Just a phase I am going through LOL  I am actually Polish.    It is wonderful to learn a second language.  In school I took Latin.  I think it helps me sometimes when I hear a similar word and actually know what it means.

Interesting.  Yes, I am enjoying trying to really learn how to speak another language.  

By the way, we could all be excused for assuming that the town is responsible for trees only in the strip between the sidewalk and the street.  Not true.  It is responsible for some trees, or damage from them, on the opposite side (house side) of the sidewalk, too, if within a certain distance from the street, I guess being defined as within the legal "right-of-way."  Two or three years ago a huge ("yuuuge"?) windstorm took down or decimated several trees on my sister's property in Maplewood that all then had to be removed.  Two of them were on the lawn in front of the house, fairly close together and not too far in from the sidewalk.  One of them was within a certain mandated distance from the street, although on the other side of the sidewalk, and therefore the town was responsible for paying for its removal, while the other was just slightly beyond the demarcated line, and therefore was my sister's responsibility.  I don't know what the distance from the street was that was specified by the town, but it should be possible to find this out.

chopin said:

By the way, we could all be excused for assuming that the town is responsible for trees only in the strip between the sidewalk and the street.  Not true.  It is responsible for some trees, or damage from them, on the opposite side (house side) of the sidewalk, too, if within a certain distance from the street, I guess being defined as within the legal "right-of-way."  Two or three years ago a huge ("yuuuge"?) windstorm took down or decimated several trees on my sister's property in Maplewood that all then had to be removed.  Two of them were on the lawn in front of the house, fairly close together and not too far in from the sidewalk.  One of them was within a certain mandated distance from the street, although on the other side of the sidewalk, and therefore the town was responsible for paying for its removal, while the other was just slightly beyond the demarcated line, and therefore was my sister's responsibility.  I don't know what the distance from the street was that was specified by the town, but it should be possible to find this out.

it is 10' from the curb to the centerline of the tree

Every street has a different Township right of way but the average distance is 10ft.

quercus said:

Every street has a different Township right of way but the average distance is 10ft.

It should be shown on your survey.

angelak said:

Ok -- I spoke with some nice helpful people in Town Hall and they are going to send Public Works over to my place to check it out.  I'm hoping the town will at least remove the stump and roots (as indicated they might by yahooyahoo).   It would be great if they took care of the whole thing.  Thanks, Eliz.

Very cool to hear.

When I bought my Maplewood house there was one tree on the berm and it was seriously listing toward my house.  I called DPW, they came and looked at it and determined that it was still alive, but needed pruning, which they did.  They did such an ugly chop job on the tree that by 2 years later it was almost dead.  I started calling again and threatened that if they didn't take it down and it fell on my house, they could count on a lawsuit.  The tree was down and the stump was ground 2 weeks later.  However, I could never get them to replace the tree, even if I donated the tree and the cost.  Oh well, someone else's problem now!  LOL!

Mum

Don't feel bad about not getting a replacement tree.  On 90% of Maplewood's properties there is not enough of a berm to grow any tree.  Years ago the town replaced my berm trees and now the sidewalk is lifted up again.  There is less than 3 feet between the curb and sidewalk, so you can bet that any tree they plant will be a problem in the future.  I know that the town is proud to have a Shade Tree Commission, but really when this town was planned out, the trees were an afterthought.  The ones in front of my house are depressing to look at because of the way PSEG has butchered them to benefit the power lines.  Clearly the tree planting has been a dismal failure because of these problems.  In my opinion, the town should consider encouraging citizens to plant trees in their yards, not on the berm.

I think it is a Shade Tree Division in name only now.  They didn't replace the last guy when he retired. 

mrmaplewood said:

Mum

Don't feel bad about not getting a replacement tree.  On 90% of Maplewood's properties there is not enough of a berm to grow any tree.  Years ago the town replaced my berm trees and now the sidewalk is lifted up again.  There is less than 3 feet between the curb and sidewalk, so you can bet that any tree they plant will be a problem in the future.  I know that the town is proud to have a Shade Tree Commission, but really when this town was planned out, the trees were an afterthought.  The ones in front of my house are depressing to look at because of the way PSEG has butchered them to benefit the power lines.  Clearly the tree planting has been a dismal failure because of these problems.  In my opinion, the town should consider encouraging citizens to plant trees in their yards, not on the berm.

yahooyahoo said:

I think it is a Shade Tree Division in name only now.  They didn't replace the last guy when he retired. 

mrmaplewood said:

Mum

Don't feel bad about not getting a replacement tree.  On 90% of Maplewood's properties there is not enough of a berm to grow any tree.  Years ago the town replaced my berm trees and now the sidewalk is lifted up again.  There is less than 3 feet between the curb and sidewalk, so you can bet that any tree they plant will be a problem in the future.  I know that the town is proud to have a Shade Tree Commission, but really when this town was planned out, the trees were an afterthought.  The ones in front of my house are depressing to look at because of the way PSEG has butchered them to benefit the power lines.  Clearly the tree planting has been a dismal failure because of these problems.  In my opinion, the town should consider encouraging citizens to plant trees in their yards, not on the berm.

I had even wanted to plant rose of sharon trees (my own) which would have been a perfect size and would not have affected the sidewalk, but they told me I was not allowed to plant anything there myself.  As I said, I sold the house and now have a very nice dwarf maple tree and weeping cherry tree in front of my house!