the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Kinnelon NJ, A a former resident of Kinnelon, New Jersey, has agreed to pay fines totaling approximately $13,000 for illegally removing trees from a neighbor’s property last year, according to the town’s municipal prosecutor. Grant Haber, formerly of the Morris County borough, faced charges for unlawfully removing 32 trees, but ultimately pleaded guilty to the removal of 18 trees in an agreement reached on Monday. Prosecutor Kim Kassar revealed that some of the trees cut down did not meet the borough’s criteria for removal. Each removed tree carries a potential fine of up to $1,000 according to Kinnelon’s code. The court imposed fines of $700 and $300 on Haber and the tree service, respectively, for each tree removed, along with additional court fees of just under $600 each. Haber and the tree service, Choco Tree Services, confirmed the guilty plea but offered no further comment. Kinnelon’s tree removal ordinance mandates that violators must replace the removed trees with a comparable or superior species at their own expense and ensure their care for two growing seasons. In a previous hearing, Kassar estimated the cost of replanting and caring for new trees on the neighbor’s property could exceed $1 million. The court has scheduled a restitution hearing for April 19, but Kassar declined to comment further on the proceedings. Haber sold the Kinnelon property in November 2023 for $1.8 million, according to deed records.
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Why does the tree service get blamed ?
Because they should have known better? You don’t just start cutting down trees because some jackass tells you to.
The tree removal company needed to do its due diligence to make sure the trees belonged to their client and not the neighbor. I had a similar situation with a new neighbor who moved into the neighborhood a few years ago. He wanted the fence installation company he hired to remove MY fence which is NOT a common fence and install his fence in place of it. The fence company realized it was not a common fence or his fence for that matter, and told him they couldn’t remove it. Instead they installed his fence several feet in from the property line. If they had removed my fence I would have sued both them and the neighbor.
$13000 for 32 large trees is ridiculously low. it costs at least $2000 to cut a mature tree. He will gladly pay that. I hope the homeowner sues him for millions.
Meanwhile D Wig….s in RW has cut hundreds of trees in his property in RW and continues to level around 2 acres of mature trees while also running a business out of his residence. I doubt he ever got a permit for this. He must have heard from his town official friends that chances are good to convert that large plot into housing apartments.