The city of San Francisco slapped a longtime property owner with a $50,000 fine for trimming the trees right outside his home.
Paul Dennes, a resident of the city’s Panhandle neighborhood, pruned five overgrown trees on the sidewalk in front of his home that he said were touching the building and electrical lines stretching above the street.
Dennes broke out the shears in order to get his home insured.
“I got an email from my broker saying in order for you to qualify for insurance, you need to trim the trees so many feet from the property,” he told ABC 7.
“I wanted to get them out of the power lines. I didn’t want to be responsible for that.”
Dennes said his family has owned the home since 1988 and that he’s never seen the city trim the trees, which he assumed were on his property.
But the city began fining him in December of last year, resulting in a whopping $50,000 in penalties.
San Francisco accused him of “topping” the trees, a practice that can “severely” damage them and shorten their lifespan, according to ABC 7.
The trimming ultimately forced five trees to be removed, the city said, resulting in a fine of $10,000 each.
“I’m like, are you kidding me? It’s just brutal, you know?” he said.
“It feels like bullying,” he added. “I don’t want to start a big war!”
Certified arborist Christopher Campbell told ABC 7 that fines seemed “pretty excessive.”
The city used to mandate that homeowners to trim trees outside their property but took over that duty in 2017, allocating more than $19 million annually towards tree maintenance.
Dennes said he never knew about the changes and accused the city of keeping him in the dark.
Campbell explained that even trees on private property need permits to be trimmed.
“If there’s a tree that’s over 12 inches in trunk diameter, 20 feet in height or 15 feet in spread, that’s considered a ‘significant tree,’ and those are also protected,” he explained.
The city has since lowered Dennes fines, after they brought in a more senior inspector to look at the trees. The fines will be lowered again if the homeowner follows through with a “pruning plan.”
“We will cut the reduced fine in half, to $6,475, if the property owner follows through with a pruning plan, requiring that the property owner brings in a certified arborist to properly prune the impacted trees over the next five years,” SF Public Works told ABC 7. “The goal is to improve the condition of the trees to extend their life,” SF Public Works told ABC 7.
Nevertheless, Dennes believes the fines aren’t fair.
“I didn’t know. It doesn’t feel fair at all,” he said.
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