Oakdene resident cries foul over unfair R1 000 fine
‘Some of the trees that were cut down were thorn trees and it wouldn’t be safe for me to keep them in my yard.’
WHEN one is felling trees in your yard, some small branches can easily fall into other people’s properties or on the sidewalk.
However, Oakdene resident Jenny Bekker feels one cannot be crucified for such a matter especially if the tree felling company is still in the process of cleaning up everything.
Jenny has been fined R1 000 for leaving some logs and branches on the pavement in front of her house as her hired tree felling company was still in the process of clearing the pavement in front of her house.
She raised her concerns over the R1 000 fine saying it was not fair as the tree felling company was still clearing its mess.
She hired a tree felling company last week Wednesday to clear up her yard of the growing number of thorn trees that were not safe for the upbringing of a toddler and some dogs in her yard.
“The organisation was very strategic in the trees they chose to cut off as they had to maintain some of the trees in an environmentally friendly step to ensure birds still had a safe space to inhabit,” she said.
After two days of tree felling, the organisation spent the better part of Friday clearing off some of the mess from the tree leaves and branches with the intention of completing the work the Monday as they do not work over weekends.
“The company spent the whole day clearing the branches and leaves and only left Friday at around 4.30pm with intentions to finish off everything on Monday. Later that Friday, at around 6pm, JMPD officers came with a complaint that some tree branches fell into the stormwater drain leading to the fine,” Jenny said.
She said she tried explaining her situation to the officers giving them assurance that the logs would be moved on Monday as it was work in progress since the company doesn’t work over the weekends but in an unfortunate turn of events, Jenny got fined.
“Some of the trees that were cut down were thorn trees and it wouldn’t be safe for me to keep them inside my yard. I have a grandchild who is still a toddler and several dogs, hence the logs had to be temporarily placed on the pavement which I was fined for,” Jenny added.
Jenny said she was very disappointed at the fine which is not fair considering she never left the logs unattended to for several days.
The Chronicle visited her house and found the pavement clean after the tree felling company completed their job on Monday as she had tried to explain to the police officers earlier on.
Ward 56 Councillor Michael Crichton responds:
I am aware that a resident received a fine from the JMPD on Friday, June 1 due to the resident storing the tree branches she had cut on the pavement outside her house and in the stormwater drain behind her property. It is in contravention of the city’s by-laws to place the branches in these places.
Another DA PR Councillor, who resides in one of the properties behind this resident’s property, made a complaint with JMPD. According to him the resident in Riversberg Drive often dumps branches and other items in the stormwater drain between the two properties which causes his property to get flooded when it rains.
“Apparently, my colleague’s mother has engaged the other resident about this on a number of occasions in an attempt to deal with this issue cordially, with little result. My colleague assured me that he laid this complaint purely in his capacity as a resident of Oakdene.”
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