Page 18 - CooperatorNews New Jersey Spring 2022

18 COOPERATORNEWS NEW JERSEY —SPRING 2022 NJ.COOPERATORNEWS.COM BRINGING COMMUNITY TO NEW JERSEY www.communityservices.com At Associa, we not only have the local expertise that comes with living, working and playing in the communities we serve every day—we have the national resources to provide top-tier property management, robust financial services and more. Community management isn’t what we do - it’s who we are. Contact us to learn more! 55 Lane Road, Suite 440 Fairfield, NJ 07004 973-773-6262 Now providing Non-Stop service daily — from TWO locations: North Jersey Central Jersey Succasunna, NJ 07876 North Brunswick, NJ 08902 please contact: Chip Hoever CMCA, AMS, PCAM Vice President—Operations 732-228-8200 ext.1001 VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.matrixpmgroup.com Matrix provides full service property Management — yes, we do it all • Maintaining homeowner accounts • Full service bookkeeping incl. posting fees—bank reconciliations • Answering homeowner calls—issuing work order if necessary • Supervising maintenance projects • Watching over contractors working on the site • Periodic site inspections, including nights and weekends planted, monitor and apply only the needed York and other big cities, a street tree and its amount of water to get the most out of your two-by-two-foot bed might be the closest one plants and design.” Keep the Dirt Clean According ot certifi ed landscape designer roads can’t be pruned by just anyone, and Maria von Brincken of Sudbury, Massachu- setts, if a resident of a homeowners associ- ation—a complex of attached townhouses where each unit has a little plot in front, for on a tree unless they are employed by the example—wants to undertake a project to Parks Department, are under a pruning or install planters or some shrubs on their plot, removal contract with Parks, or possess an the fi rst step is to review the association’s gov- erning documents and check with the board sent from our Forestry Division,” says arborist and/or property manager to make sure the Sam Bishop, Director of Education for Trees proposed landscaping plan comports with the New York. “It is illegal and punishable by law procedural and aesthetic parameters of the as- sociation. Aft er that, in order to really maximize the tally.” space while staying within the rules and regs, it’s usually best to work with a professional. “Everybody has a wish list,” says von do light pruning on small tree branches that Brincken, “but a professional experienced can be reached from the ground. Anastasio with HOAs will be able to work within the and the rest of the Seward Park Cooperative parameters of the association’s rules. Even if board the space is not large, there are ways to create private areas for diff erent functions—for din- ing, for relaxing, or a place for the grandchil- dren to play.” She notes that a patch of lawn co-op’s 13-acre property. Th ey already have or a small patio can be turned into an invit- ing, intimate environment through the use of and other suitable bulbs (i.e., those that won’t attractive containers, furniture, and paving interfere with the soil, compete for the tree’s materials. New Jersey attorney Anne Ward of law the tree pits each spring, which brings togeth- fi rm Ehrlich, Petriello, Gudin, Plaza & Reed er the community’s multigenerational demo- in Newark reinforces the importance of re- viewing your governing docs before shovel- ing any dirt. “All unit owners are subject to the rules and regulations governing the con- dominium property, and they are assumed cently commissioned arbor services company to have knowledge of those rules,” she says. Bartlett Tree Experts to tag and catalog them Th ese may include limits on the height, color, according to their type, age, size, condition, or number of plantings in public-facing areas and care needs—something that had never of units, or restrictions on making any struc- tural changes to limited common elements at was probably the fi rst time that there has ever all. Additionally, says Ward, “Under the New living infrastructure is,” she says. “So by do- Jersey Condominium Act, …\[w\]hile all own- ers are entitled to ‘use’ common elements, the health of every single tree on the property they are not entitled to unilaterally exert con- trol over a common interest to the exclusion be assessed as to—do they need special kinds of other owners of the association. In fact,” of pruning? Do they need nutrients? Do they she continues, “... unit owners are specifi cally have enough space around their root collar, prohibited from altering a common element.” Laws in various municipalities may also there any diseases or pests that are attacking limit one’s choices in terms of landscaping. the tree? What’s the pH and other soil con- Carol Anastasio, a licensed horticulturist and ditions? And is a tree dangerous?—which landscape designer who also serves on her is always the number one thing—such as: Is co-op board in Manhattan, explains that in it dying? Is it tilting? Is it growing into your New York City, a tree is not allowed to touch foundation? Does it need to be removed?, et a residential building at any point. Th erefore, cetera.” she says, the types of trees and where they are planted must take into consideration the size tle brass tag on every tree and assigns a num- of the tree at its full maturity, and also the “de- velopmental pruning—that’s in order to get it And so you have a map of every tree on your to grow the right way—and the maintenance property, and they get rated for various condi- pruning—which is to help reduce the likeli- hood of \[limb\] failure or confl ict with the in- frastructure. A lot of money is spent on just making sure trees don’t hit buildings.” A Tree Grows in Manhattan For many multifamily buildings in New gets to “landscaping” in front of their home. But trees in parks or on public sidewalks or messing with or injuring a tree or its bed can have severe consequences in the city. “No one is allowed to perform any work offi cial Tree Work Permit with expressed con- for citizens to remove, kill, or damage a street or park tree, whether intentionally or acciden- Trees New York has a Certifi ed Citizen Pruners program that trains lay arborists to \[full disclosure: this author is also a di- rector there\] recently brought this initiative to their shareholders to get them involved in the care of the 280 trees on or adjacent to the shareholder-led groups that plant daff odils nutrients, or grow too close to the trunk) in graphic and adds color and texture to their Lower East Side neighborhood. Anastasio can cite the number of trees on her co-op’s property because she also re- been done in the co-op’s 65-year history. “It been an intensive understanding of what our ing the tree inventory, we have a snapshot of at this moment in time. And then they could which is that fl are at the base of a tree? Are Anastasio explains that Bartlett “puts a lit- ber to it, which then gets geolocated on a map. tions, so you can then work out a long-term plan. We’re unique, because we’re 13 acres CREATIVE... continued from page 1