Keene residents attempt to stop cutting more than 2,000 trees at Dillant-Hopkins Airport (KEEN)

KEENE — A group of Edgewood neighborhood residents filed a lawsuit against the city Thursday in an attempt to stop a Dillant-Hopkins Airport tree-cutting project.

“Essentially it’s our position that the original restrictions which prevent cutting trees in the 12-acre parcel runs for the benefit of every property owner in the Edgewood neighborhood,” said Manchester attorney Roy W. Tilsley Jr., who is representing the group of 10 residents.

A request for an injunction to halt the city’s plans to cut more than 2,000 trees was filed in Cheshire Superior Court.

The tree cutting is part of a safety plan that is aimed at improving the sight lines for pilots landing at the airport.

Some residents of the neighborhood, which abuts the airport, have long expressed concerns that the removal of the trees would lead to a significant increase in noise.

The injunction asks that an approximately 12.3-acre woodland parcel abutting the airport be left alone.

The parcel was deeded to the city from the Edgewood Civic Association in 1969 with a restriction prohibiting tree-cutting on the parcel.

Tilsley said Thursday that while the Edgewood Civic Association lifted that restriction, the residents of the neighborhood never did, so the restriction should remain in place.

“A controversy also exists regarding the validity of the Amendment, which was signed and recorded in 1983, given that the Association was administratively dissolved in 1977,” the request for an injunction said. “In seeking to cut trees on the Buffer Parcel, the City will violate the Deed’s restriction that such land be maintained in a natural and wooded state substantially in the same condition in which it was as of 1969.

“The Plaintiffs are entitled to Declaratory Judgement that the City’s proposed tree cutting on the Buffer Parcel would violate the restrictions contained within the Deed.”

According to the court document, the airport’s manager Jack Wozmak has said tree cutting is to begin on Tuesday. 

- Source: http://www.unionleader.com