Can of Worms

jerseywild

jerseywild

I ran across this topic on a old post, thought it was worth a look.
This is a small portion of the Jackson NJ code book on tree removal. (A very long read if you go through the whole ordinance.

It shall be unlawful and considered a violation of this chapter for any person to engage in the business of plant cutting, trimming, removal, spraying or otherwise treating trees, shrubs or vines within the Township and without a certification or license for the designated work. All work to be performed shall be by or under the direction of a professional forester or certified tree expert and in compliance with New Jersey Board of Tree Experts pruning standards for shade trees and ANSI Section Z133.1, Safety Standards, unless otherwise directed by or approved by the Township Forester. Chapter 100 Tree Removal

I did like how they added shrubs and vines in the ordinance, thought while they were covering everything why not add in grass. Oh wait they did the first part was in the business of plant cutting. Is grass a plant? Why would you need to be a certified tree expert to trim bushes.

My question is did Jackson put anybody out of business when they passed this ordinance? Did they give a grace period for a company to comply? Are the customers of tree related services better off after this ordinance was passed?

What is the law in your area and how do you feel about it.

Last note, I think the ordinance in Jackson went to far. I agree with some of the requirements. I am not opposed to the certified tree expert part for tree care but if you read the whole ordinance there are a lot of restrictions on what a homeowner or llandowner can do with trees on their property. As with any ordinance in any township enforcement is subject to interpolation.
 
I'm pretty sure this is the same (excuse me) lunacy discussed somewhere else around here within the past 6 months or so. I had a bit (probably too much) to say about it then...

Glen
 
I'm from Jackson, and the answer is I don't think anyone was put out of business. Maybe Mark could give us a bit more info. This ordinance was meant to stop builders from clear cutting. They dont have enough people to enforce the code.
 
I invite each and every one of you to look at your local township web page and look for the link for the ordinance code book. There are so many listed covering every topic you can think of and the ones they missed, oh here they come.
Sorry if I am bringing up an old topic but being new to the board I wasn't here for that go around.
 
I work in a town that requires you to get a permit to take down a dead tree!! Rediculous. You also must get a permit to remove a Dogwood or Hornbeam if its over 2" DBH. Sounds like the Board member who wrote the specs favors these plants.

Scenario A: you buy a Dogwood from a nusery thats 1 1/2" DBH and plant it. Two years go by and you want to cut down the tree you BOUGHT and PLANTED, you need a permit. Go figure....

This ordinance has been a thorn in my side for a while now.
 
My town has section of it's code that deals with tree and shrub trimming and removal. It requires any one engaged in the trimming or removal to take a written and then a practical test. The practical varies widely from what I can tell. When I did mine I had to prune a fairly large Siberian Elm on city property. At that time I was anxious to get lisenced so I didn't say any thing about giving up a fair amount of time for nuttin.
I have had a little conflict with my city forester about the lisencing process. The first problem that I had was that he was terming it a "certification", so a bunch of these yo-yos that were lisenced were calling themselves "certified. A quick call to the ISA revealed that as long as they weren't calling themselves ISA Certified Arborist there was no course of action they would take. After lobbying pretty hard I got the forester to change the brochure that he handed out to consumers listing Local lisenced people. It originally was called city certified arborists. I got him to change it to lisenced.
The other issue I had was people coming in and taking the test with no intention of becoming lisenced in order to use that as some kind of credential. I felt like that was really over stepping his bounds. It was as though he had taken it upon himself to bestow some bogus certification on these chumps that had no intention of becoming lisenced.
 
skew
I am not sure I understand your complaint.
You stated that you were willing to prune a fairly large Siberian Elm for free because you were anxious to get lisenced.
You had to take a written and then a practical test to be lisenced.
The ISA only requires a written test to become a certified arborist no practical.
I take it your ISA certified.
If the (yo-yos) by the way I think you meant Ya who's take the time and demonstrate the knowledge why would it matter if they were called lisenced or certified.
The last part about the people who just take the test with no intention on becoming lisenced. I thought if you took the test you became lisenced?
Let us know the town so I can look at the code book.
Thanks John
 
Jerseywild- I guess my complaint is that these yahoos are taking the test and then not getting a lisense to practice in the city yet are still holding this up as some type of credential.I am ISA Certified and I think that this other city sponsored process could be confusing to the consumer. I suggested to the city a few years ago that they scrap their process and go to a isa certified qualification to become lisenced as some other towns in Colorado have done. I believe the city is loath to do this since their man is not even Certified.
Here is the difference: Lisencing is a one time mandatory process. As long as you pay to get your bus. Lis. every year you are lisenced for life..
Certification is voluntary. You are required x-amount of ceu to maintain your certification, not to mention the requisite $ to maintain.
I have said to the faces of the ya-whos that if they think certification is nifty and like to advertise it as a credential then why not just do it(get certified).
Does that better explain my position?
The town is Durango- Oh and I guess my complaint with regards to the pruning is that the test trees are very inconsistent as far as size and amount of work that goes into them. This part of the complaint is water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned because I tested so long ago. But the city also is very lax on enforcement. It is a $15.00 fine and they never even enforce unless called.
When I saw one of the urban loggers recently that I knew was not lisenced the city code guy let him go and get a lisence in the middle of the job. I guess my complaints are all paranoia based. It has been hard to become established here and I have tried to go about it as legit as possible. Lately with the fires we have had ever body with a chain saw and a pickup has become a tree guy. Lots of this is really scubby type work but they are crossing over into more technical (climbing) stuff as well. One of the fire mitigation companies that is very agressive in its marketing is really bad.I walked through a patch of woods that they had thinned and the flush cuts on most of the trees were horrendous.
 
Ok its clear now, I see there is a difference between lisenced and the certification. As for the practical part of the test it looks like the guy is trying to get free work done for the town. Not really a bad way to get get some trees pruned for free unless you get the tree butcher taking the test.

As for the enforcement the excuss that we only respond to a complaint tells me alot about that person and the type of work he does. Why would the township put a person that was not certified in that position?

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