South Union residents push to save tree
During the 18 years that Gigi and David Patrignani have lived in their Hague Street home, they have had a bird’s eye view of the development that has taken place in South Union Township. They have watched as the former Work Farm property was transformed into a conglomeration of retailers and restaurants, looked down the hillside to see medical buildings and other facilities spring up all along Cherry Tree Lane, and have seen many new homes and subdivisions spring up from Dixon Boulevard, Hague Lane and Wiggins Lane.
At the end of the quiet street the Patrignanis share with a handful of other neighbors sits 11 acres of land that local developer Stephen Cehula has designs on turning into a subdivision of eight homes. His new home is under construction and is days away from completion.
And where the pavement along Hague Street ends sits a 200-year-old white oak tree that is in jeopardy of coming down, much to the chagrin of the Patrignanis and their neighbors.
“It would be a crime against nature to tear this tree down for no reason,” Gigi Patrignani said about rumors that Cehula has intentions of removing the tree to give the people who will live in his new subdivision a more secluded access rather than from Dixon Boulevard, where an access point already exists and has since 1939.
The Patrignanis hired a surveyor to review the property and his survey clearly shows that the tree is located in the street right of way and is almost 30 feet away from Cehula’s property, they said.
“We’re not trying to stop this development, and we’re not trying to reduce the income to the township,” Gigi Patrignani said. “We knew that land would be developed; it’s valuable real estate. Our request is very benign. We’re just trying to maintain the quiet and integrity of our neighborhood.”
The Patrignanis also joined their neighbors along Hague Street, Margaret Street and the entire Jefferis Plan in signing a petition expressing their desire to vacate a “paper alley” so it would never be in jeopardy of being opened.
The “paper alley” that connects Hague Street and nearby Margaret Street, both of which are dead end streets because the alley was not opened and have remained that way for 50 years.
The petition’s progress was stunted after two of the homes in the plan were sold and two out-of-state children of people who live in the plan have yet to sign the petition, Patrignani said.
Further clouding the issue, the Patrignanis said, is the lack of information provided by the South Union Township supervisors about the exact location of the tree and conflicting accounts about whether Cehula will cut down the tree.
“Everyone who lives in the Jefferis Plan is opposed to opening the alley, and the tree is on public property,” Gigi Patrignani said. “Therefore, why aren’t the supervisors listening to the collective voice of all the people who have lived in this neighborhood, some for upwards of 50 years?”
What upsets the Patrignanis the most is what they perceive as the lack of interest by the township supervisors in listening to the collective voice of the neighborhood, in which many people have resided for decades.
“All of the other homeowners made their wishes clear and they live here,” Gigi Patrignani said. “The number of years these homeowners have lived here and the hundreds of thousands of dollars these properties have generated since this plan was laid out should give us some group voice to be heard and considered and respected.”
Tom Frankhouser, South Union supervisors chairman, said the township has no jurisdiction on the matter because the paper alley has never been opened and the dispute is among property owners and not with the township.
“We can’t intervene when it’s between neighbors,” he said. “We wouldn’t open the alley unless it was improved to our specifications.”
Frankhouser also said it is unclear as to where the alley starts and ends, and noted he won’t spend township money on a survey for an issue that the supervisors have no authority over.
“It’s a beautiful tree, and I hope this gets worked out,” he said. “If they can agree to allow the road to be built around the tree, I think it would be beautiful.”
Cehula said he needs access to his home, and is willing to keep the tree if an adjoining property owner will allow him to build a cul-de-sac around the tree. He said he has waited for six months, but cannot afford to wait any longer and has decided that the tree must be removed.
“That tree is in the middle of a township right of way,” he said. “I’ll go along with any suggestions, but it has to be one or the other. Either the tree comes down, or I should be allowed to build a road around it.”
Because the tree sits in the right of way, Cehula claims he has as much right to access as the people who live along Hague Street. He said he has no interest in opening the paper alley, saying it has no benefit to him.
The remaining lots in the development will go on sale Jan. 1, and most of the homes that will be constructed will be accessed by Dixon Boulevard and not from the quieter streets. Along with his new home, which he will access from Hague Street, one other home will have access from Margaret Street.
“These two homes mean at most, four more vehicles on the road daily,” he said. “Their property values will be kept intact. In every way, I have kept the neighborhood the way it was when I found it.”
Cehula said he could have picked up three additional lots for development and tied Hague Street directly into Dixon Boulevard, but that option would have “changed the complexion of the neighborhood.”
Ironically, Cehula lived in the Patrignanis home when he was a child.
“I grew up there and I climbed that tree, and that’s why I chose to do it the way that I did,” he said. “This is the least invasive development that could have been built there.”
He said removing the tree and extending the road would cost him more than $5,000 and he has no intention of removing the tree as long as adjoining property owners donate enough space for the cul-de-sac to be completed.
“I can’t see anything but good about this,” Cehula said. “But the tree could come down at any time.”