Tree Cutting Permit

[brisawyer]

Does anyone here work where you have to get a permit to do pruning/removals? The city here has a proposed permit it will cost $100 to do any work. I think there has to be a better alternitive,technicnically I will have to get this permit to remove 1 broken limb. So a $50 job just went to $150 and that dosent include my time to get the permit.This permit will have to be obtained for every property/job you work on.
I do tree work on the side im legal have my ins pay taxes liscense ect. The city is doing this to stop the guys that are hired to do tree work and pile brush at the street. I have lost several jobs to one guy that does this he recently cut 12 20" pines and piled at the curb. I spoke with codes enforcement and they said they could do nothing unless they caught the guy in the act.
I understand the city is trying to cut down on brush collection. last year thet took in 700 tons of brush this year to date is 2000 tons. It seems everyone here with a saw is cutting and piling at the street.
Any ideas/suggestions I have voiced my concerns to council members and have informed other tree services. It would probably be cheaper in the long run to not get the permit every time take a chance on getting caught and just pay the fine.

 

[newsawtooth]

Why don't they just stop collecting brush?

Here, we are supposed to get permits for certain trees that the city owns but homeowners are responsible for. But there is no cost, just administrative. Your little regulatory hurdle sounds like a nightmare. Put the heat on the council by describing their plan as covertly raising taxes in a letter to the editor. Tree services will have to pass the cost on to the customer. Be vocal and maybe they will reconsider, or not.

 

[derwoodii]

Yes and I don't care for them and have proposed another way that has fallen on deaf ears follow the link.

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=152747

In your case it seems like the City tryin to sort the problem at the wrong end of the dog.

Finding the balance between do as you like and saving urban forest will always be vexed. Blending of US kiwi Canada and OZ ideas in tree protection may work. Or as I hope let the profession do its job to save em when worthy n sox em when not. Sure many may say, uncontrolled and open to poor operators. Hmm yes maybe I dream of a better future with good tree blokes makin good choices. Anyhoo the slowly disappearing bad operators and owners will always be bad and no LG or state tree control gonna do jack. Most tree controls just penalize the good citizen while the bad guys laugh sox n poison n profit away. My last sad case was highly protected trees of great value cut down. The judge could of fined up $120.000 but issued just $2000 & no conviction. The owner in full knowledge of his actions made a profit of $400,000 by selling the now sea views block clear of any tree encumbrances. So he wins the trees loose and the good honest joe public get screwed by a crap system that fails them and the professional tree industry.

 

[TreeAce]

No permits around here so far. Givem time I suppose. The city I live in still lets people put brush on the curb . It's a privelage that may soon be ruined by side jobers n homeowners who get carried away . It's really nice for someone to be able to just put those couple branches on curb after a windy night. Many of the neighboring cities by me have stopped doing it and I think it's a shame . ALTHOUGH...this reminds me of a time just recently..watching FOUR city "workers" chip a brush "pile" and it was a joke. My guys coulda dragged that much brush from the back yard,chipped it, raked up the back yard and out to street, and blown off street in HALF the time. Just 2 of my guys. prolly even faster than that. Kinda gets me fired up . Anyway...maybe they should spend alittle more effort in finding the side jobers abusing the city service and do....well...somethin. Certianly a tree service has to be regesterd in your city so start there and get rid of these guys .

 

[Cutler tree]

In Akron they will haul away all brush as long as it's 4' or less and bundled with twine. I would think this is a great compromise. A homeowner could put out the few branches that they wanted to but for a tree service it would be easier to just chip and haul themselves. If they made me get a permit I'd sell the chipper and drag all my brush to the curb on every job

 

[treeseer]

Towns here will not pick up brush made by contractors. In the past I have advised clients if asked to say they did the cutting. Not ethical!
Better to be up front and ask the town how much they charge. It can be as low as $35/'pile"

Put the heat on the council by describing their plan as covertly raising taxes in a letter to the editor. Tree services will have to pass the cost on to the customer. Be vocal and maybe they will reconsider, or not.

This is a very good idea!

In Raleigh there is a permit fee on the books but they only charge it when the tree owner has already screwed up. When I do city-ordered crown restoration on topped trees, I pay and pass it on. For other trees, the fee is waived.

Like many laws, the city keeps it like an ace up their sleeve.

 

[imagineero]

In most places in australia we have this system.

Some areas do it for free, others charge. In some ways it has benefits - at least theoretically it stops people just chopping down every tree they can find. I'm not going to get into the issue of private trees vs. public, I believe in stewardship as being a good model.

Read through the permit system and I think you'll find it's fairly generous. They are intended to protect legitimate trees, but not to hinder removal or pruning where required. Most permit systems allow (without a permit); pruning up to 30%, pruning branches overhanging houses, pruning branches extending into your yard from neighbours, complete removal of most 'weed species' of trees up to any height, removal of all species up to a certain height/crown spread regardless of species, pruning around power lines etc etc...

Shaun

 

[ThePruner]

Another source of income for them. They don't realize that if they keep levying taxes on everything, we'll just start having trees falling of old age left and right because noone can afford to cut them down anymore.

 

[brisawyer]

The permit has nothing to do with proper pruning or technique its just to stop the huge amount of brush left by hacks and make money. The city will haul away 1 load per month generated by the homeowner for free and $150 per load after that. All brush generated by a contractor is $150 per load.
I have talked with 2 councilmembers and a couple influential citizens idk what will happen its politics. I suggested that you have to have a liscense registerd in the city to work inside the city and call in to report where you are working for the day/week so that they can spot check.
In reality it is only gonna be a burden on legit guys and the hacks are still gonna hack away.

 

[lxt]

There are a couple towns in my area where you need permits to trim/remove, the one town has a tree commision which enforces this ordinance.

the permit is $35.00 & the tree care company must be registered with the town, I like it!!!! keeps all the hacks out also they require the work to be done to A300 standards........funny, at the meetings some of the new companies trying to get registered dont even know what the A300 is or BMP`s




LXT......................

 

[brisawyer]

The permit got tabled at meeting Tuesday night. Some of the counci lmembers decided the price of the permit was too much and feared that homeowners would attempt work that they should not/would not. We recently had a fatal tree accident inside the city. A Homeowner was trimming off a ladder got knocked off and suffered a fatal head injury.
The council is looking at other methods to slow the flow of brush. They say they are going to get serious on the piling at the street issue and they are going to go after the guys working without business liscense.

 

[newsawtooth]

Sorry to hear about the fatality. I hadn't considered that aspect of charging for permits. But it sounds like the outcome will be more favorable for you. Out of curiosity, do they use a grapple truck or a chipper and chip truck? It seems like an expensive program that they don't really need. Why are they so set on keeping it?

 

[brisawyer]

Grapple truck. Idk when it started I remember them doing it as a boy. On trash day if the garbage truck operator sees brush he radios the brush guy to come get it. The problem is brush collection has tripled. They took in 700 tons last year and they are already over 2000 this year. The 700 figure is easily doable 2-3 tons a day and is covered in your garbage collection fees. The 2000 is way too much and its because of hacks undercutting and piling at the street.
We havent had major tree destruction from storms and the city has not grown. Hopefully enforcement will fix this and the permit idea will go away.

 

[mic687]

I don't know of any permits needed here and the city hauls away brush under 8' once a month. I don't like the way it looks to leave brush so I normally chip or haul it away I think it sells more work to surronding neighbors when the job site is cleaned up. I often find if people want to save money by you leaving the brush they don't want to pay my price any way but that being said I am not opposed to the quick and dirty drop it and leave once and a while, quick easy money.