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PRINTER'S NO. 944
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
784
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY WOZNIAK, EICHELBERGER, HUTCHINSON, McGARRIGLE AND
BLAKE, MAY 15, 2015
REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, MAY 15, 2015
AN ACT
Amending Title 8 (Boroughs and Incorporated Towns) of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in recreation places,
shade trees and forests, further providing for care, custody
and control, for notice of work and for shade tree
commission.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 2720(b) and 2720.3 of Title 8 of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
§ 2720. Care, custody and control.
* * *
(b) Planting, transplanting or removal.--
(1) Council may, by ordinance, and with or without the
petition of a majority of the property owners, upon any
public street in the borough, plant, transplant or remove
shade trees. Council may, with or without petition, require
the planting and replanting of suitable shade trees along and
upon the sides of the streets, upon alignment and at points
as may be designated by ordinance, by the owners of property
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abutting the street at the points designated. Any ordinance,
rule or regulation enacted under this chapter may establish
or reference an inventory of existing shade trees in the
borough and a list of shade tree species suitable for
planting or transplanting.
(2) Before the enactment of any ordinance requiring the
planting, replanting, transplant or removal of shade trees,
council may consider the following factors:
(i) The effect the action proposed by the ordinance,
or maintenance related to the ordinance, may have on the
environment.
(ii) The long-term effects and short-term effects
the ordinance may have on public and private property,
including the benefits provided to property, the
replacement and maintenance costs for private and public
improvements and potential interference with utility
rights-of-way or service.
(iii) The effect the action proposed by the
ordinance may have on pedestrian and traffic safety,
including impairment of any clear sighting at
intersections and other rights-of-way.
§ 2720.3. Notice of work.
If council proposes to plant, transplant or remove shade
trees on any street, notice of the time and place of the meeting
at which the work is to be considered shall be given in one
newspaper of general circulation once a week for two weeks
immediately preceding the time of the meeting. The notice shall
specify in detail the streets or portions upon which trees are
proposed to be planted, transplanted or removed. In the event
that a shade tree commission is to undertake the work, the
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commission shall provide the notice. During the meeting at which
the work is to be considered, council or the commission shall
address the factors set forth in section 2720(b)(2) (relating to
care, custody and control).
Section 2. Section 2721 of Title 8 is amended by adding a
subsection to read:
§ 2721. Shade tree commission.
* * *
(b.1) Regulations of commission.--Before the approval and
enactment of any regulation in accordance with this section, the
commission shall present to council information on the factors
set forth in section 2720(b)(2) (relating to care, custody and
control).
* * *
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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