Who's Cutting Down Main Street Trees In Toms River?

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Main Street in Toms River long has had the look of the iconic tree-lined lane you see in movies, with a leafy canopy shading the road.

So the sight on Wednesday of crews cutting down several trees along the street set off concerns among some residents.

"Why is the state taking down all the old trees along Main Street?" a reader asked Patch on Wednesday. At the Toms River Township Council meeting Wednesday evening, other residents asked town officials if they knew what was happening.

"We think it's JCP&L," Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill said at the meeting.

That wasn't the case, however.

"These tree removals were NOT done at the direction of JCP&L," said Chris Hoenig, spokesman for the electric company. "Our district forester went out to investigate – the removals are on the opposite side of the street from our infrastructure."

Hill on Thursday said township officials checked to see if permits for tree removal were requested by a private contractor, and found there was nothing on file.

State officials didn't have ready answers, either.

"DEP is not at all involved in this," spokeswoman Caryn Shinske said, after checking within the DEP to see if there was an invasive species or infestation issue.

The answer?

"We called the state DOT," said Patrick Piccoli at Carmona-Bolen Home for Funerals. "Our tree was dead. It had no leaves on it."

The concern, Piccoli said, was the tree might fall at any time and take out power lines, or potentially injure someone, with the upcoming Halloween parade and its crowds or the Veterans Day parade in November, or hit a passing vehicle.

The large tree sat in the state Department of Transportation's right-of-way along the street, which is a state-controlled road, Piccoli said, so they called the NJDOT.

Hill said there were eight trees removed in all.

"NJDOT removed dead or dying trees on Route 166/Main Street in Toms River this week, and there may be additional trees that will need to be removed in the near future," said Stephen Schapiro, a department spokesman.

Take a look at the before-and-after images to see the differences.