First They Came for the Tree Fines...

[XLFD]

At the Ludington City Council meeting on June 13, 2016, the minutes reflect that the city had the first reading of an ordinance that would create a Tree Advisory Board to 'protect trees' and 'establish an urban forestry program'.  The minutes also reflect that I made a comment warning anybody who was listening that the City would enact future ordinances that will restrict the property owner’s property rights due to the work of this 'advisory' board.

In the two meetings in September of this year, I spoke out against the proposed Tree Ordinance, having been recorded in the 9-10-2018 minutes as saying:  "The property owner should have a say in what tree is planted in the right of way or should not be fined or jailed if they trim the trees in the right of way or if the tree becomes a nuisance on their own property’s easements."   At the meeting two weeks later, I reasoned that keeping property owners out of the decision to choose trees to put on their own property or remove would lead to problems with blight.  

Canton Township in Wayne County is proving my fears and apprehensions have a very real basis from how they are treating two brothers trying to improve their land.  Gary and Matt Percy face $450,000 in fines after they removed trees from their own property without the township's permission.

Township officials claim the brothers violated a local ordinance that requires landowners to get government permission before removing trees.  The township actually hired an arborist to examine the trees on an adjacent property to estimate how many trees and the type of trees which had been removed from the Percy’s private acreage. The township proposed a settlement of fines totaling about $450,000 for the removal of what it says is about 1,500 trees, including 100 landmark or historic trees.

Showing themselves to be reasonable, they will push the fine down to $380,000 if the brothers pay into the township’s tree fund and plant new trees, according to the settlement offer.  The Township's attorney Kristin Kolb said she could not discuss the fines and their amounts due to a confidentiality agreement, that the brothers' attorney asserts does not exist.  Kolb defends the process used to assess the fine by looking at adjacent land in the same forest.

“It is a shockingly high fine for allegedly clearing a retired grazing pasture in an industrial area,” said their lawyer, Michael J. Pattwell.  He contends that many of the plants the Wayne County township is classifying as trees are actually invasive species including phragmites, buckthorn, and autumn olive.  Quite a few were dead ash trees.

 “Nobody argues with the stated goals of local ordinances to protect true heritage trees in communities or promote neighborhood trees to beautify neighborhoods,” Pattwell said. “But in this case, we believe strongly the township has abused its authority in order to punish a landowner unreasonably.”

Pattwell added that the conflict between the brothers and the township is not an isolated problem.  “There are many communities around Michigan that have established local tree removal ordinances that put municipalities in the business of harassing local business and property owners unfairly, certainly."

The Percy brothers hope to start a Christmas tree farm on the land, which would involve planting 2,500 conifers, such as balsams, firs, and spruce trees; they had thought they qualified for an agricultural exemption from the township. 

Quotes and data for this story found here.  Above picture, is stock.

[Willy]

Totally insane. Another idea taken from mentally ill downstate progressives. The Citizens of Ludington had better wake up. This type of boot on the neck legislation is just around the corner here in Ludville.

[XLFD]

When we get that Tree City designation, which Councilor Moonbeam was fantasizing about earlier this evening at the city council meeting as our tree census enumerator went over their $20,000 study of Ludington trees, it will accelerate the inability of property owners to do basic landscaping without our city mommies dictating it.

[Willy]

In case you missed it, this is a video of the first tree advisory board meeting.

[stump]

I wonder if they counted the dead tree in front of my house.

[Freedom Seeker]

Was that Extreme Tree Huggers video link, Willy? John Shay should be forced to join that group for the clear-cut he organized in Copeyon Park.

[XLFD]

These brothers have continued to be harassed by Canton Township, perhaps even more since they filed their original lawsuit.  The new federal lawsuit claims retaliation by the township since the Percy brothers contacted their elected representatives and the media regarding the previous claims.  

According to the lawsuit, the township started targeting the brothers’ other businesses on issues that were not related to the initial tree removal fine. The township brought environmental complaints that were later dismissed, and then repeatedly sent code officers to inspect the brothers’ trucking business, the lawsuit states.
The code officers now claim that three buildings owned by the brothers never received proper occupancy certificates.
According to the lawsuit, the buildings have been in constant use for the past 25 years and they passed every inspection. Additionally, the brothers never were told that the buildings lacked necessary permits. Their company employs about 700 people.
“Usually when you file a civil rights lawsuit, these sorts of bully tactics stop,” Percys' Attorney Chance Weldon said in a statement. “Here, the [t]ownship doubled down and started sending various code enforcement officers to the [Percys’] other businesses, just to hassle the brothers.”
The new lawsuit cites email correspondence with the township’s attorney as evidence the township intended to target the brothers.

"Canton made good on its threat (of putting up a fight)," the lawsuit claims, "by: 1) calling in environmental complaints against the Percy Brothers with state and county agencies (all of which were resolved or dismissed by the agencies); 2) falsely telling reporters that the Percy Brothers had been convicted of stealing water twenty years prior; and 3) repeatedly sending code enforcement officers to the Percy Brothers’ other businesses in search of other possible code violations unrelated to the initial notice of violation under the Tree Ordinance regarding tree removal from the Percy Brothers’ property."
Canton Township officials, declined to comment at this point, claiming they have yet to see the new lawsuit.

“The right to criticize government and the right to file constitutional claims against the government form the very core of the First Amendment’s protections of the freedom of speech and the right to petition,” the lawsuit argues. “Defendants may not attempt to punish plaintiffs for seeking to exercise and defend their core constitutional rights. Relief from this Court is necessary to prevent this pattern and practice of harassment from continuing.”