This conifer clash cuts deep.
A New Jersey homeowner chopped down 32 of his neighbor’s trees along a hillside in a tiny town to get better Manhattan skyline views — and he could now be forced to pay more than $1.5 million in fines and replacement fees, according to officials and the furious neighbor.
“It breaks my heart. It angers me. These trees take a very long time to grow,” said Samih Shinway, 40, of Kinnelon, who said a quarter acre of his oaks, birches and maples were slashed.
His neighbor, Grant Haber, was hit with an initial fine of $32,000 — $1,000 per axed tree — after clearing part of the leafy, 7-acre property in March, borough forester John Linson told northjersey.com Tuesday.
A town ordinance also requires anyone who illegally removes a tree in Kinnelon to replace it with “another of like or superior species.”
The root of the problem is that restoring the toppled trees will require building a roadway to the site and watering the new ones for two years — a massive undertaking estimated to cost $1.5 million, Shinway said.
Haber will also have to factor in the price of adding soil, removing invasive species and clean-up, Shinway said.
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