12 12 24 PSEG West Orange BOA ZB 24 06 PSEG 35 Mt Pleasant Ave Condensed

65b96228-b9ab-4f72-9291-fa4a14ff04c8 8 (Pages 29 to 32) Page 29 1 the tree fail. Is it -- is it the trunk that's the 2 problem or is it individual branches or encroaching 3 structure? Is there an insect or disease. 4 A tree that still has a green leaf on 5 it, you've got to go through a tremendous procedure 6 to get approval to remove it. 7 So it's -- there's no doubt, once Walt 8 Kipp receives the application and he has all the 9 background information, you know, only then is he 10 permitted to issue a tree removal permit. 11 And the -- you have two groups of tree 12 contractors. You have the tree removal contractors 13 and you have the full service tree companies. And 14 the tree removal companies, by the New Jersey Board 15 of Tree Experts, there's two categories. There is 16 licensed tree care operators. Now, they're only 17 qualified to remove trees or to prune trees. And 18 then you have licensed tree experts, such as myself. 19 They are the only ones who can actually put in print 20 whether a tree is alive or dead or write a report 21 about a condition of a tree. 22 And so these full service tree 23 companies, most of them have licensed tree experts. 24 So the new ordinance requires a 25 licensed tree expert to declare the tree as dead, or Page 31 1 A. I'm not sure where they got all of 2 this, but about a year ago, DEP came up with a model 3 ordinance that they were requiring -- well, initially 4 requiring municipalities to adopt. 5 And then we found out it was really 6 just a model which could be improvised. 7 But it did -- the emphasis was -- on 8 the DEP ordinance was water preservation, water 9 quality. 10 And it introduced a schedule for 11 replacement of living trees, trees being a source of 12 recharging water -- water reserve. 13 So the West Orange Ordinance far 14 exceeds the minimum requirements that the State had 15 proposed. 16 Q. Okay. And before you started to talk 17 about the different tree sizes. Could you -- is 18 there an impact on the loss of a tree of different 19 sizes? Do the impacts change? 20 A. Well, the intent is to maintain the 21 tree canopy coverage in the town. 22 And, you know, basically when you're 23 losing the canopy coverage of a large, say an oak 24 tree that's 30 inches in diameter and having to 25 replace it with four or five or more trees, those Page 30 1 to define what the defects of the tree may be that 2

y coverage of a large, say an oak 24 tree that's 30 inches in diameter and having to 25 replace it with four or five or more trees, those Page 30 1 to define what the defects of the tree may be that 2 would warrant its removal. 3 And again, if it's still alive or 4 partially alive, there is that requirement of 5 replacing the tree. And it's not a one-to-one 6 replacement, it's a scaled replacement based upon the 7 diameter of the tree. 8 So as I said before, West Orange has 9 probably the strictest tree removal ordinance 10 possibly in the State of New Jersey at this time. 11 Q. And under the prior ordinance or the 12 current ordinance, do they both look to the maximum 13 preservation of trees; before you get into the 14 replacement, to try to preserve as many trees as 15 possible? 16 A. Well, this one -- this one really puts 17 some teeth into it. The other one, the purpose was 18 to try to preserve trees to the greatest extent 19 possible, but there weren't as many hoops to jump 20 through. 21 And you're not going to be able to 22 remove a healthy tree without consequences of -- and 23 requirement to replace. 24 Q. Now, the current ordinance, was there 25 -- what was that based on, if you know? Page 32 1 trees are only going to be, you know, 10, 12-foot 2 tall. 3 And so you don't have the intense shade 4 and cooling effect that a large tree will have. 5 And, you know, a 30-year -- 30-inch 6 diameter tree could be a hundred, 150, 175 years old. 7 So you're losing screening and wind break even by -- 8 the goal of replacing trees is great, but the actual 9 fulfillment and restoration takes years for these 10 replacement trees to grow to the size of the tree 11 that was removed. 12 Q. And the replacement schedule, does it 13 alter based upon the size of the tree at all or is it 14 static schedule? 15 A. Yes. 16 In fact, I have it right in front of me 17 right now. If you're removing trees from 18 2-and-a-half to 6-inches in diameter -- 19 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Excuse me, sir. 20 From what are you reading? From what 21 are you reading? 22 THE WITNESS: I am reading from the 23 West Orange Tree Replacement Table, Table A. 24 CHAIRMAN NEUER: From the ordinance? 25 In the ordinance?