About 600 Utility Customers to Benefit From Tree Trimming

The Salem Planning Board approved tree trimming on Zion Hill Road this week that will benefit about 600 Liberty Utilities customers.

According to Liberty Utilities Vegitation Supervisor Jeff Carney, the company is working to trim the lines on about 25 scenic roads.

He said one of the issues on Zion Hill Road is very tight line clearances, those of which he recently discovered while twice walking the entire length of the road with a pair of binoculars before last year's hurricane.

The normal tree trimming cycle for the company is every five years, but Carney said that he expects he will have to revisit Zion Hill Road every two to three years.

"Our challenge is to do our work in a way that does not significantly alter the rural or scenic character of a scenic road," he said.

Statutes require Liberty Utilities to both receive town approval and approval from every property owner on the street before any trees are trimmed.

Customers impacted by the trimming will include those from the inner section of Bluff Street and Zion Hill Road all the way out beyond North Salem Elementary School and around East Broadway.

The only trees that the company plans to cut down are about halfway up the road.

"There are a number of small, dead elm trees on the opposite side of the road near the stone wall," said Carney.

He said they could probably be left, but he doesn't want to assume that the trees will fall down short of a conductor. Plus, he said cutting those trees down will keep the road safer for motorists.

While speaking to the residents, Carney said that Liberty Utilities will entertain other trimming requests if they are in line with the work being done.

"We're small, we're local and we're responsive so we don't mind helping folks out once in a while," he said.

Trees will also be trimmed away from the lines belonging to Fairpoint Communications.