Fallen trees were healthy, Chevy Chase group says - Northwest Current, Dec 15th
Posted Trees, Press coverage on Wednesday, December 15th, 2004.

By IAN THOMS
Current Staff Writer

A Chevy Chase task force reported this week that a failure by the Potomac Electric Power Co. and city agencies to coordinate efforts, as well as a loophole in city law, led to the removal of three healthy trees along Barnaby Street.

The findings result from the Barnaby Woods Tree Task Force’s three-month study of a controversy sparked when Pepco began removing trees in late September in an effort to improve the reliability of its electrical service. Pepco, with the aid of Urban Forestry Administration officials, had deemed that the trees were unhealthy and thus a danger to nearby power lines.

But further testing of the trees conducted last month by District Department of Transportation officials and an independent arborist, brought on at the behest of the task force, revealed that the three trees already removed and at least four more slated for removal were healthy.

A Transportation Department 90-day stop-work order soon halted the tree removals by Pepco, allowing for the further testing.

The task force presented its conclusions at Monday’s meeting of the Chevy Chase advisory neighborhood commission.

“I want to say that the task force was formed out of outrage – outrage that has turned into opportunity,” said commissioner Deborah Redmond, a task force member. From the controversy emerged a chance to improve tree-removal processes throughout the city, she said.

Initial steps toward that goal have been undertaken.

In three unanimous votes, the Chevy Chase commission approved three separate letters to be sent to Urban Forestry Administration director Ainsley Caldwell, D.C. Transportation Department director Dan Tangherlini, and Ward 4 Council member Adrian Fenty. The letters outline the task force’s findings and recommendations.

The letter to Caldwell states that the commission “endorses the findings of the Barnaby Tree Task Force and Urban Forestry Administration regarding pruning and/or removal of the 10 trees on Barnaby, Utah and Tennyson Streets.”

A chart of the 10 trees that underwent further testing was attached to the letter. The Urban Forestry Administration found that at least four and possibly as many as six of the 10 trees tested were healthy.

In the letter to Tangherlini, the commission urges the director to “use your authority to promulgate an emergency rule-making to ensure that Pepco and all other regulated utilities acquire the necessary permits from your agency before removing trees from public space.”

The emergency rule would temporarily close a loophole in the Urban Forest Preservation Act of 2002 that exempts public utilities from penalties for unauthorized city tree removal.

“The act is basically a good law. The problem is that Pepco is exempt, and there is no requirement that anyone notify homeowners,” said John Mueller, a Barnaby Street resident and task force member.

As a permanent fix, the task force recommended that the D.C. Council amend the preservation act to repeal the blanket exemptions for public utilities. The letter to Fenty requests such an amendment.

In addition to removing the exemption, the task force suggested that the council require notification of property owners within 150 feet of any major tree work at least 10 days before the work begins.

Redmond and Mueller also presented the task force’s recommendations at at-large Council member Carol Schwartz’s hearing on tree regulations Thursday.

The citywide improvement of tree-removal processes took another step forward when the Public Service Commission ordered the creation of a Tree Trimming and Maintenance Task Force for the entire city. Redmond and representatives from the Office of the People’s Counsel, Pepco, District Department of Transportation and the Public Service Commission will comprise the task force.

“It has been marvelous working with the [Barnaby] task force,” deputy Transportation Department director Michelle Pourciau said at Monday’s commission meeting.

The department hopes to convene the citywide task force in January, Pourciau said.

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