An Ocean Grove resident questions township officials about a tree on her property which she believes is invasive.
ByWILLIAM CLARK
Ocean Grove resident Sharon Merics said she has had it with a tree that has been a burden on her property.
The invasive species known as the Tree of Heaven has left sticky mold across her back yard, she said. During the summer she routinely power washes the pavers in the back of her house to remove the black mess from the tree.
Merics has pleaded her case to Neptune as well as Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to no avail. The camp meeting owns her property and most of the property in the historic district.
“Out of the gate I said I would pay to have the tree removed,” she she when she initially brought the issue to the attention of township officials.
This would comply with ordinance 17-15 which requires property owners to take steps to mitigate the spread of native or nonnative plants. Merics said she believes the tree spans the property line of her and her neighbor’s yard.
However, the township disagrees with her assessment nor does her neighbor wish to remove the tree according to Merics.
But Merics doesn’t see this as an issue for her but for the neighborhood. Not destroying the tree risks its proliferation and the damage that could result, she said.
“As these things take root, they are potentially entering pipes and foundations,” she said. “The roots are lifting 125 pound paving blocks I have down all over the place.”
Merics said she has received the runaround from township officials including tree specialists and attorneys. Although she is trying to comply with the ordinance and protect her property she is hitting roadblock after roadblock including from the adjacent property owner who does not wish to remove the tree.
In the township’s opinion, according to an email provided by Merics, the ordinance does not apply to this particular tree as it appears it was planted before 2017 which would require the plant to be contained. Nor does the township believe the tree is intruding on Merics’s property.
The Tree of Heaven is considered an invasive species according to the National Invasive Species Information Center which is provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. Further information from the USDA seems to support Merics’s assessment of the tree, noting it “crowds out native species; damages pavement and building foundations in urban areas.”
Merics continues to push the issue with township officials, insisting that her cause is for the benefit of everyone.
