As Cherry Hill works to more strictly regulate tree removal, some natural areas of town already have been preserved. This is a view from the Croft Farm Nature Trail near Bortons Mill Road.
Cherry Hill Township Council on Monday night began addressing deforestation in the community by moving forward with what could become the "harshest" tree replacement ordinance in the state.
Members of Township Council were given a draft version of an amendment to the law that is "drastic and significant in terms of its protection of the environment," Township Solicitor Howard Long told Council at a pre-meeting caucus.
As it stands, the ordinance could be the "harshest" such ordinance in New Jersey, but "we're just going back and forth with ideas at this point," said Long, of Wade, Long, Wood & Long of Gloucester Township.
Township Council President David Fleisher said members would work on the ordinance this week and share it with the Planning Board and Environmental Board. Council voted unanimously to move the law to the next step, which includes a second reading and public hearing at the Council meeting on April 11. The proposed ordinance will be publicly available after the Council edits it.
The Council's actions come in the same week that Public Service Electric and Gas Co. is scheduled to appear before the zoning board with a proposal that would clear-cut 591 trees on Congregation M'kor Shalom's Evesham Road property to make way for an electrical substation. In other parts of Cherry Hill, residents have complained about clear-cutting by developers and, in some cases, trees cut down that specifically were ordered to be retained.
» READ MORE: Denuding Cherry Hill: Community alarmed, urges action, over number of trees falling to development.
» READ MORE: PSE&G this week seeks Cherry Hill zoning approval to clear 591 trees, build substation.
"We think this is an important step, based on very productive and robust input from the public and Council's commitment to clean up our tree ordinance and ensure even greater accountability and reforestation of the town," Fleisher said at the meeting.
The crackdown on destroying mature trees or replacing them when they have to be cut drew praise from the public at the meeting.
"This new ordinance will go miles, if not light-years, forward to give us the tools we need to better manage trees,"Â Lewis Gorman III, of Garfield Avenue, told the Council during the public comment part of the meeting. Gorman, who chairs the Township Environmental Board, said both he and the board are excited by the ordinance.
Martha Wright of Munn Lane said the Council should work as fast as possible to get the law in place.
"I sure hope this ordinance for tree protection is not too little," she said. "I know it's too late."
Wright said it was unfortunate that the law was not in place before the PSE&G proposal to clear-cut 591 trees.
Resident Alexander Esposito of Warren Avenue commended the Council's actions.
"This shows Cherry Hill's leadership as a community in the state of New Jersey to try to tackle something this extraordinary and to make a real effort," Esposito said.
