Healthy Tree ‘Causing Havoc’ To Be Cut Down

Thursday, 18 July 2024, 7:31 pm
Article: Max Frethey - Local Democracy Reporter

A lone tree which has been “causing havoc” and described as an “absolute misery” will soon be felled, presumably bringing relief to the residents whose well-being was “severely affected” by it.

The offending golden elm has been assessed as healthy and was planted on road reserve in Mountview Place when the area was being subdivided in the 1990s.

But for residents who moved into a Trewavas Street house immediately south of the tree about five years ago, it has been a nuisance.

Tasman District Council has thinned the tree twice, in 2020 and 2023, after the immediate neighbours told the council they were “unhappy about the impact the tree was having on their lifestyle”.

The two thinnings cost a total of $1505.

However, the Trewavas Street neighbours have since approached the Motueka Community Board with a request to go further than thinning, asking instead that the tree was chopped down.

Chair Terina Graham, seeing the board’s purpose as one that promotes community well-being, was happy to facilitate the discussion.

She thought the tree was “beautiful” but that it belonged in a park rather than adjacent to the affected property.

“In its current position, it’s causing havoc,” she said.

Some board members visited the tree and the affected neighbours, with deputy chair Claire Hutt giving a damning assessment of the tree’s effects on the house.

“It’s absolutely completely in darkness, freezing cold, mouldy, damp, because of the tree.”

Board member Nick Hughes acknowledged the detrimental impact of the tree but was concerned about setting a precedent for other residents with similar arboreal complaints.

“This tree… would cause absolute misery... even with all the leaves off,” he said.

“But my concern is that if we do this, then we’re going to have every man and his dog coming in.”

The concern was echoed by Lynne Hall, the council’s horticultural officer for Motueka and Golden Bay, who said the council often chooses to manage trees rather than removing those which received complaints as that would result in a “pretty denuded landscape”.

“Virtually every one of our reserves has a number of trees and I can assure you most of them, over the course of their lifetime, will bring in some complaints from some of the neighbours.”

However, Graham said if more requests to chop down trees came from other residents, the community board would listen and then investigate on a case-by-case basis.

The board was unanimous in its decision to have the elm cut down, which was quoted to cost $1400.

Not all neighbours were consulted on the possibility of felling the tree.

The elm is expected to be replaced by Mountview Place residents with a kōwhai, a decision which Hutt said had been supported by the Trewavas Street neighbours.

The tree, alongside several others that have since died or been removed, were planted at Mountview Place as a consent condition of the subdivision.

The last tree to be removed from Mountview Place was because its roots were uplifting the pavement.

The council’s current guidance on planting trees adjacent to the road requires the road infrastructure to be protected, for the trees to be set back a certain distance from property boundaries, and for the trees to be deep-rooted.

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