Q-Team Refuses To Do Job – Property Owner Fined $10,000+

The June 29th issue of the Bridgton News is reporting on a property owner who, after exceeding the legal shoreland-zone tree-clearing limit, has now paid a fine of $10,000 plus legal fees and will be required to re-plant trees and keep them alive for at least 5 years. Last fall we (Q-Team) were originally hired to do this tree cutting, but when the scope of the cutting suddenly grew beyond the legal limit, we refused to do the job at the requested level, so another contractor was hired and, apparently without regard for the shoreland zoning rules, cut the lot to the owners specifications. Now, nine months later, the property owner has paid a huge fine and the tree-cutter, whoever that may be, has apparently gotten off Scot free. The purpose of this post is to alert property owners that they, not the tree cutter, are liable for tree cutting in the shoreland zone. If you need tree work done in the shoreland zone, please, for your own sake, hire a tree cutting contractor that knows the rules and cares enough about our lakes to abide by them.