A Front Street resident is unhappy with how Nelson Hydro trimmed five trees on her property around a power line last week.
Judi Ross, who lives behind Safeway, says she came home last Friday just as crews finished cutting branches from the trees’ midsections.
“There was no notice. They didn’t contact us at all,” she says. “I just think we pay our taxes and should have in the very least received a courtesy call.”
Ross says she would have cooperated, but at least wanted to be there when it happened. She adds she isn’t disputing that trees close to power lines need to be cropped, but feels the work went far beyond what was necessary.
“You just can’t go pushing your way in there. If you want to do something as extensive as with my property, you need to make that one minute phone call and explain what you’re doing. This isn’t the usual trim job.”
She was also unhappy with what was left behind. “The response I got was ‘The wind will carry the mess away.’ Not only did they chop the trees, they left a pile of [debris] on the sidewalk and on our property.”
Nelson Hydro general manager Alex Love says he apologized to Ross, but they aren’t required to provide notice before trimming.
“The bylaw has a provision that when the customer requests service, they grant a right-of-way for the city to maintain, construct, and install the line,” he says.
Although the trees are on Ross’ property, the line ran through branches growing over the street. It was a secondary line, so a one-meter clearance was ordered. (Up to three meters can be cut around higher voltage lines.)
“However, between the line and trunk of the tree you might cut off half of the branch and leave a stump sticking out,” Love says. “According to the tree pruning guys, it’s healthier to take it right off, otherwise it has a chance of getting rot and disease.”
But lopping the branches at the trunk left a clearance at least twice as big, which further infuriated Ross. She also questions whether the work was necessary, since the line is insulated.
Love says they trim around lines regardless, “because branches contacting can still bring down the line and wear through the insulation.”
He adds tree-trimming is contentious for a variety of reasons, and they get a few complaints every year. Usually they can resolve them, “but people are not happy about a tree on their property or in their viewscape being modified.”
Whenever they trim, they do it to last at least a few years, he says.
As for the debris, Love and his line manager found needles and twigs on the ground, along with some larger branches. They offered to do “a little more cleaning,” even though they didn’t think it was necessary.