Denuding Cherry Hill: Community alarmed, urges action, over number of trees falling to development.

The destruction of 591 trees on a wooded Evesham Road property in Cherry Hill would be allowed if utility PSE&G gets Township approval to build an electrical substation to handle the demands of commercial development.

At the same time, the New Jersey Department of Transportation plans to cut down at least 28 large and mature trees along the 6.7 miles of Route 70 in Cherry Hill to make way for improvements to the busy highway.

The large-scale clearing of mature trees comes as Cherry Hill is under siege from developers denuding individual lots, utilities butchering large trees growing into utility lines, and disease and insects claiming their share of victims.

"The thing with cutting down trees, you cannot replace them," community activist Martha Wright of Munn Lane told 70and73.com. "You cannot replace a mature tree."

Dawn Higgins, president of the Erlton North Windsor Civic Association and facilitator for the Council of Cherry Hill Civic Associations, called for a townwide strategy to preserve trees.

"Too many trees are coming down and it’s got to stop," she said in a 70and73.com interview.

PSE&G proposes to clear-cut trees on about two of nearly 11 acres to be sold to the utility by Congregation M'kor Shalom synagogue. The application was scheduled to be heard by the Planning Board on Thursday, but on Wednesday afternoon the application was postponed to March 17, according to the Township.

Higgins, who is not opposed to the substation, called for a swap.

"If you're taking down 591, then we need to plant 591 elsewhere," she said of the PSE&G plan.

PSE&G says it will protect many trees

PSE&G maintains the removal is necessary for the project. In a statement provided to 70and73.com on January 19, the utility pledged to protect the rest of the acreage.

"PSE&G has agreed to a deed restriction on the majority of the undeveloped property we intend to purchase, which will preserve those portions of the property from development in the future," Anthony M. Garrihy, PSE&G's communications senior consultant, said in the statement. "This includes approximately three heavily wooded acres of uplands that have old growth trees, and several acres of environmentally sensitive wetlands."  

Clear-cutting trees, of course, is not unique to Cherry Hill. 

In the early days of South Jersey development, many new residential and commercial properties were built on open fields, often part of farms. But as open land became scarce, developers fired up the chainsaws and cleared trees from land to build.

That is the case in Evesham, less than half a mile from the proposed PSE&G substation. A Washington, D.C.-based real estate developer now is building a three-story, 87-unit senior assisted-living facility, Arbor Terrace at Marlton, on what was wooded land abutting the Route 73 jughandle connecting to Evesham Road.

And in Medford, one of the leafiest South Jersey suburbs, the Planning Board in November approved a 30-townhouse development on a heavily wooded parcel on Mill Street near Himmelein Road.

Regulating large-scale tree removal

In Cherry Hill, the Township Council is drawing up an ordinance that provides tighter oversight on trees removed for development.

A permit now is required in Cherry Hill to remove any tree that is 15 inches or larger in circumference. Residents can remove up to three live trees in a 12-month period, according to the Township website. If a property owner wants to remove more than three live trees, zoning board approval is required, the website notes.

"We're going to ensure that there's a strong tree ordinance that protects open space," Council President David Fleisher told 70and73.com in an interview. "We also want to focus on reforestation."

Fleisher suggested a more organized approach to large-scale tree removal, when necessary, in the Township. "There are ways to ensure that, if trees have to be removed, that there's a clear plan in place," he said.

Those ways could, under a new local law, tightly regulate which trees are to be removed and, when they are cut, to include in the developer's commitment a promise to replant trees on the site or in another part of town, he said.

"Really everything is on the table right now," said Fleisher, who noted that setting up a Township-directed tree fund to pay for new trees, with contributions from developers, is a possibility.

Unfortunately, he said, the Township does not have any control over utilities liberally trimming trees to make sure they do not grow into power lines. On Route 70 near the Erlton section, formerly large sycamores have been hacked by utilities to the point of looking like tornado victims. Those trees now will be removed by the DOT project.

"It's a point of frustration for us," Fleisher said of the lack of control over utility trimming. "We're focused on controlling the areas where we can control."

Councilwoman Jennifer Apell has been working with the Township Environmental Board and expects board members to provide direction in the regulation of tree removal.

"A substantial amount of trees are being removed and it has to be scrutinized," she said in an interview. "We take these issues very seriously."

Apell said one of her greatest concerns beyond development is the infestation of the Spotted Laternfly, an invasive species that is harmless to humans but can kill trees and plants. She urged residents to kill the bug when they see one. 

DOT's plan for trees, shrubs along Route 70

Fleisher said the Township continues to work with the DOT on the Route 70 project and advocate for reforestation in Cherry Hill.

"We want to push for something that exceeds their minimum standards," he said.

The DOT's plan for Route 70 in Cherry Hill calls for the removal of 28 mature trees. They are at least one foot in diameter and two are larger than three feet in diameter, according to the plan.

A DOT landscape design for Route 70 shows that 128 large deciduous trees — ones that lose their leaves in the fall — and 84 small ones would be planted. The DOT also would plant 50 evergreen trees and more than 600 shrubs.

The Erlton area along Route 70 would benefit most from the plantings, with 84 small deciduous planted on either side of the road from Curtis Avenue to Maine Avenue.

Large deciduous trees and evergreen trees are reserved for drainage basins along Route 70: one at the Pennsauken border, one at Cuthbert Boulevard and three near ramps for Route 295.

Shrubs would be used for hedges elsewhere on Route 70 in the median or along the sides, according to the plans.

Sometimes, it is only one tree

In the campaign to save trees, at times the battle can come down to focusing on a single tree and not the forest.

In Mount Laurel, a developer of a 600-unit townhome and apartment project between Route 38 and Fostertown Road agreed that as it was clearing the largely open field it would preserve a large, iconic tree. Plans for the development show the tree in a small field at the development's main entrance near the clubhouse.

Last fall, a Cooper Health System application to expand a parking lot at a Brace Road office in Cherry Hill was delayed by the Planning Board after community activist Rena Margulis of School Lane said Cooper broke a promise to preserve two large trees on South Union Avenue in a parking expansion for its Route 70 facility.

Township Community Development Supervisor Natalie Shafiroff said the Township found that Cooper did not update its demolition plan after agreeing to save the tree and that the demolition company razing a house on the street removed the two trees by accident. Cooper has since told the Township it would plant four oak and four magnolia trees where the larger trees were cut down.