New Jersey Man Faces $1.9M In Fines After Sneaking Onto Neighbor's Property To Chop Down Trees For A Better View
Shutterstock Images.Here's the quick explainer version in case you don't have time to read the whole blog and also because I think my bangs look ok in the video:
Anywho, the thirst for NYC views over here in the Jersey 'burbs is REAL. I live in Rutherford and the big-ass houses on top of Ridge Rd. with the immaculate angles of the entirety of Manhattan make me jealous every time I'm driving past. My nearby mini apartment that faces a parking lot and brick walls doesn't have the same "je ne sais quoi". The skyline view is a primo brag for real estate listings, a key 'ooooh, ahhhh' stopping point on hikes, and every few years it's the center of a neighbor dispute. This dispute in particular is shaping up to be a doozy, and potentially to the tune of nearly $2M.
Via NorthJersey.com:
A Morris County homeowner has been fined after officials said he had 32 trees cut down from his neighbor’s property without a permit, a violation that could cost him at least $32,000 – and has already gone viral on social media.
John Linson, the borough forester in Kinnelon, confirmed via an email Tuesday that he had issued the fines. Grant Haber, the Denise Drive property owner who allegedly ordered the work done, could face penalties of up to $1,000 per tree, Linson said
Linson declined to comment on a Twitter thread posted Monday that suggested the cost of undoing the damage could be much greater. The thread by account holder Sam Glickman, who identified himself as a friend of Linson’s, said an estimate for replanting the trees totaled up to $1.5 million and that additional penalties could reach $400,000 because the borough is also fining two contractors said to be hired by Haber to do the tree-cutting.
Folks, altogether that's $1.9M in fines and penalties. Here's Glickman's thread that went viral which broke it all down:
Making matters worse, it turns out the homeowner whose trees were chopped down, Samih Shinway, is a big time tree lover who volunteers with New Jersey’s Woodland Management Program.
The NY Post has photos of how crazy the damage actually is, and the thread above caught so much attention that today's initial court hearing via Zoom got so clogged with viewers the prosecutor couldn't log on. People are INVESTED.
I've got to hope that Shinway gets the W when court resumes because that neighbor - Grant Haber - has got to be an absolute entitled nightmare to live next to. Maybe, just mayyyyybe if there wasn't a fence he could pretend he didn't know where the property line was, but there's no mistaking it was 100% obvious he was on Shinway's property. Who does that??? Haber must have thought he was on a Dan Snyder level (shoutout to that time Snyder clear cut like 130 trees on federal land for a better view of the Potomac and only had to pay $100??) but I don't think it's gonna pan out the same way.