Protocols \u2018must be followed\u2019<\/p>\n
Green said an August 18 letter from Grenfell referred to a single recent limb failure and acknowledged previous arborist reports described the tree as \u201cgenerally healthy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo my untrained arborist\u2019s eye, it appears the branch came down during a storm, not because of rot, disease or root instability,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n
He questioned whether the tree had been regularly maintained and said it was not directly over homes or other structures.<\/p>\n
Removing a protected tree without resource consent or clear evidence it posed an immediate risk to people or property was unjustified, Green said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if there were safety concerns, there are protocols that must be followed through the resource consent process.<\/p>\n
Avenues resident and Tauranga City Council Urban Design Panel member, Phil Green, has challenged the removal of a protected tree in Otumoetai.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to draw a line in the sand and halt this process until there is clear evidence of an immediate danger that cannot be managed through alternative arboricultural measures.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described the removal of a healthy tree listed on the NZ Notable Trees Register as \u201ca serious matter\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tauranga had already lost many mature and notable trees and Green said there was a steady decline in the city\u2019s streetscapes. <\/p>\n
He questioned whether similar trees at historic property The Elms would face the same fate if branches fell in storms.<\/p>\n
In his view, the council should consider alternatives to felling historic trees and be more transparent about decisions affecting them.<\/p>\n
Cadwallader said the emergency RMA powers required an \u201cobjectively reasonable opinion\u201d that immediate action was necessary to prevent or remedy an emergency, and the response must be limited to what was necessary to address the threat.<\/p>\n
A limb off a 150-year-old Bunya Bunya tree limb smashed a fence and fell across a driveway on Grange Rd.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our view, evidence of a single branch failure does not, on its own, justify removing the entire tree, particularly when previous arboricultural assessments found it to be generally healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he had asked for the removal to be halted until the council could demonstrate that removal of the entire tree was \u201cproportionate and necessary\u201d to address the identified risk.<\/p>\n
\u2018The tree has to go\u2019<\/p>\n
Brownless, who was mayor from 2016 to 2019, owns the Category 2 Historic Place property with the Woodhill Trustee Company.<\/p>\n
He said in recent years incidents of the tree\u2019s limbs falling and endangering people had dramatically increased \u2013 not only in storms. <\/p>\n
Several large branches had fallen since January, including on to power lines, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne branch smashed a fence, left a branch rammed into the earth and fell against power lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore importantly than property damage, there have been near-miss incidents this year of people walking up the driveways and even on the adjacent footpath.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless sought the removal of a 150-year-old Bunya Bunya pine tree on his property for safety reasons. <\/p>\n
Brownless said he and two neighbouring property owners had contacted the council several times this year about the tree.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially, the council suggested a resource consent application to remove the tree, but later decided it posed an imminent danger and ordered me to remove it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the issue was not the tree\u2019s health, but the danger it posed to public safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, the tree has to go, but it is demonstrably unsafe. These 9m-long branches do pose a serious threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the wood was \u201cextremely dense and heavy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaintenance has been carried out over the years, usually after a branch falls, but there is no way to predict which branch will fall next.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it was taking time to find a contractor able to remove the tree safely, and he would pay the removal bill.<\/p>\n
\u2018Real and imminent risk\u2019<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s general manager of operations and infrastructure Reneke van Soest confirmed Grenfell authorised the tree removal using emergency RMA powers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil was satisfied there was a real and imminent risk that further limb failure could cause death, serious injury, or serious property damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat assessment took into account a history of repeated large limb failures, recent photographic evidence of a substantial limb falling through a fence and across a driveway, and the tree\u2019s position over entranceways, a public footpath and the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Soest said Brownless raised his safety concerns with the council on April 8, seeking authorisation to remove the tree.<\/p>\n
She said he was responsible for arranging its removal. <\/p>\n
The council will meet on Tuesday to discuss its next steps in responding to the systemic issues raised in a review by former judge Paul Davison, KC, into the landslide tragedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They have asked the council to stay the order while options for retaining the historic tree are explored.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2199,5205,287569,111,43,139,69,1118,90,6848,814,75525,12062,1227,15981],"class_list":["post-584302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-city","tag-council","tag-exmayors","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-on","tag-orders","tag-property","tag-protected","tag-removal","tag-tauranga","tag-tree"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}