A circle of dirt shows where a maple tree once stood on the West Haven green.
It was taken down last month after a licensed arborist told the city that the maple was dead and created a hazard on the green.
“The arborist said [he] and his son, who's also a licensed arborist, and the tree warden, inspected this tree and deemed it an immediate public hazard,” said West Haven Mayor Ed O’Brien.
O'Brien said he first learned of the tree's condition when someone filed a report about branches falling on picnic tables. One woman told NBC Connecticut a branch hit her leg while she was visiting the food trucks parked on the green.
“There was a big gaping hole in it. There were no leaves,” explained O’Brien.
The West Haven Tree Commission is upset it wasn't consulted before the tree came down. The commission members are appointed by the mayor to enhance and preserve trees in the city.
In a letter to the mayor and other city officials, the commission said it can't understand why a living 80-year-old tree was removed and why the Tree Commission wasn't contacted in the summer when the tree troubles first occurred.
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"The city has a formal process for tree removals, regardless of where they're located, parks versus street trees, and that process was not followed," said Tree Commission chairwoman Michelle Matteo.
O'Brien said the safety hazard posed by the tree required immediate action.
“I think the Tree Commission should be contacted on a normal course of events, if this tree was not a public hazard, if we weren't having people walk around the green, if it wasn't a hazard to safety. In that case the Tree Commission should be contacted, but the Tree Commission is contacted by the Tree Warden,” said O’Brien.
The Tree Commission also believes the tree was removed to put an amusement ride in its place during the city’s tree lighting ceremony, but O’Brien said that was not the case.
