Wallingford Residents Sue Town Over Pear Tree Removal

A group of Wallingford residents is suing the town and its Public Works Director over his decision to remove 29 pear trees along North Main Street.

The New Haven Register reports the lawsuit comes a little more than a week after Henry McCully held a public hearing to detail his plans to remove the trees. McCully said they have grown too big to remain in their street-side spaces.

Jared Liu, a spokesman for the plaintiffs, said McCully ignored state laws regarding tree removal.
“It’s pretty downtown right now. I think it would be a real shame to start all over with some of those mature trees,” Liu said.

Town Council Chairman Vinny Cervoni said he isn't convinced the group's claim has legal merit, while Liu said the group doesn't expect their lawsuit will be successful.

Town officials were served with legal papers notifying them of the lawsuit Monday. No court date has been set.

NBC Connecticut reached out to the Wallingford Department of Public Works and we were told the town’s tree warden is not available for comment on the suit this week.

“If individual trees need to be replaced, fine, cut them, replace them, that’s not a problem. I just don’t want to see this look like surface of the moon again,” Alan Dul, of Wallingford, said.

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