Council offers HOA limited time to replace trees planted in public right-of-way on Duncan Drive

Borough council members weighed options on a years-old planting along Duncan Drive and agreed to give the homeowners association a short timeline to submit a corrective plan and plant replacements — with borough removal to follow if the HOA does not act.

Members said the row of mature landscape trees and a low stone wall in the public right-of-way near Rochester Road have obscured traffic signage, contributed to sight-line concerns and sit above buried utilities. Council directed staff to send a follow-up letter requiring a written plan by the end of the 60-day notice period and said the borough will remove the right-of-way trees if the HOA does not implement a planting plan within one year.

Why it matters: Council members and staff framed the issue as both a public-safety risk and a code-enforcement matter. Borough rules prohibit private encroachments in the public right-of-way; utilities beneath the route and the obscured signage were cited repeatedly in council discussion as reasons…