Denver city council members on Tuesday warned Mayor John Hickenlooper’s administration to proceed carefully in developing rules that could lead to fines as high as $999 for those who neglect trees.
The mayor’s parks and recreation department is developing new rules that could lead to fines for property owners who fail to maintain trees in the public right of way.
Council members agreed that they wanted to protect the city’s tree canopy and get rid of diseased and dead branches, but a few said they feared the new fines could become a hardship on the elderly and the poor.
The proposal is a pruned-back version of a more controversial proposal from last summer that would have allowed city officials to ticket homeowners for failing to prune or water trees even if the trees were in their front yard. The latest version is strictly related to trees in the public right of way, essentially the strip of land between the curb of the street and a sidewalk.
“I think this is a necessity,” said Councilman Paul Lopez. “We absolutely have to do something about some of these trees that are hazardous. I just hope there is some discretion.”
He said the city’s parks and recreation department had ordered an elderly woman early in his tenure to remove a diseased tree. The woman had been confused and worried about how to pay for the tree removal until he directed her to a city agency that helped her secure federal grants to pay for the removal.
Under the tree-care fine program, a first violation would lead to a pentaly of $150, followed by $250 for a second citation, $500 for a third citation and $999 for a fourth citation.
The penalties would be imposed if a property owner ignored notices informing him of a problem with a tree in the right of way, ranging from a lack of pruning to a failure to water a tree.
Jude O’Connor, the city’s forester and director of natural resources, told the council that last year the city ordered nearly 2,000 residents to tackle tree problems. Of those cases, about 800 residents ignored the city’s notification. The city in the past fixed the trees and then billed a property owner. Under the new fine program, the city will continue to bill the property owner for ignoring an order and also impose the additional fines.
O’Connor said the parks and recreation department still is working on developing the new fine structure. She said the city has about $60,000 in federal aid to help poor property owners annually who receive such notices. The city has another $330,000 available to pay contractors to take care of such problems, but when that money is tapped property owners must pay the city back over the next 10 months, O’Connor said.
The council took up the issue of the fines when it granted initial approval to new fees for assessing tree plans of developers and residents in connection with new construction and redevelopment.
The council granted initial approval to those fees on a 11 to 1 vote, with Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz dissenting. Councilman Charlie Brown was absent.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
