Letters

For a number of years, over three administrations and numerous attempts by the Landscape/Tree Preservation Committee to help enact legislation, Sag Harbor Village has struggled to codify laws to preserve our trees and the natural landscape.

Last week, at a house on Union Street, was the latest example of the clear-cutting of a property — an outrage and an assault on the community that is the regrettable result of inaction on this issue. How was this allowed to happen? Where was oversight from the village?

Yes, some of the trees may have been compromised or diseased, but others were healthy and should have been preserved. The presence of healthy trees was confirmed by a local landscape professional who examined the trees prior to their removal.

The newly elected mayor and Village Board of Trustees have shown a genuine desire to address this issue, including passing proposed legislation. We applaud their effort and encourage them to move expeditiously before our village is further denuded and suburbanized.

Instead of graceful tree-lined streets and properties, we will face ever-spreading rows of arborvitae, Leyland cypress and Bradford pear, sacrificing a natural setting for soulless, formulaic plantings.

If ever there was a time to stop this flagrant clear-clearing and further suburbanization of Sag Harbor, it is now.

Mary Ann Eddy

Landscape/Tree Preservation Committee

Environmental Advisory Committee

Sag Harbor