Pruning raises concern in Ardmore

By: Wesley Young | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: July 29, 2010

Tree-trimming crews are busy in Winston-Salem's Ardmore neighborhood, but some homeowners say that the crews are cutting trees too severely as they work to keep branches away from Duke Energy's power lines.

Asplundh Tree Expert Co. is performing the work for Duke Energy Corp.

"It is unbelievable to me that you can spend the amount of money you do to put vegetation in your yard, and that Duke Energy has the right to cut and destroy a tree where it has no intrinsic value," said Ron Propst, who lives on Parkway Drive.

"Some of these cutbacks are 10 to 15 feet."

Duke Energy is having the work done with "standard industry practices," said Jason Walls, speaking for the power company.

The Ardmore Neighborhood Association issued a statement inviting Duke Energy to "find a more environmentally friendly and attractive way to manage power lines."

James Mitchell, Winston-Salem's director of vegetation management, said that the city has only inspected pruning on city rights of way.

"We look at the circuit maps before the trimming starts," he said. "We evaluate it and see which trees should be removed, which trees need to be pruned, and talk to contractors. We don't have the resources to stand out there with them and say, ‘Leave this branch and take off that branch.'"

Mitchell said he has received two complaints about the work.

One involved a tree on private property -- the city doesn't get involved in that -- and the other was a general comment that "the contractors were overenthusiastic."

Mitchell said he looked at some of the work on Monday and felt that most of it was "pretty standard" and "typical." He said he did ask the workers not to take too many limbs off some city trees.

An underlying problem, Mitchell said, is that in the past inappropriate trees were planted on many streets, including streets in Ardmore.

"The issue is something we are working on now -- putting the right tree in the right place," he said.

"Sugar maples don't belong under power lines. Trees were planted that shouldn't have been put there."

wyoung@wsjournal.com
727-7369