118 , STREET AND HIGHWAY PLANTIXG. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



Laws of Pennsylvania, Session of 1907.] 



An act to provide for the planting and care of shade tree, on highways of townships 

 of the first class, boroughs, and cities of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and 

 providing for the cost thereof. 



SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That in townships of the first class, boroughs, and 

 cities of commonwealth of Pennsylvania there may be appointed, in the manner 

 hereinafter provided, a commission of three freeholders, to be known and designated 

 as the shade-tree commission of said township, borough, or city, who shall serve 

 without compensation, and who shall have exclusive and absolute custody and control 

 of, and power to plant, set out, remove, maintain, protect, and care for shade trees, 

 on any of the public highways of the said townships, boroughs, and cities, the cost 

 thereof to be provided for in the manner hereinafter stated ; provided, that in town- 

 ships, boroughs, or cities in which a commission for the care of public parks shall 

 have been created, said commission shall, upon the acceptance of this act as provided 

 in section two, be charged with the duties of the commission as above provided, and 

 shall, for that purpose, be possessed of all the powers herein mentioned and granted. 



SEC. 2. The commissioners of any township of the first class, or the council of 

 any borough or city, in case of the commissioners, or by joint resolution in the case 

 of the councils, accept the provisions of this act ; and when such majority vote or 

 joint resolution shall have been duly passed and approved, and such shade-tree 

 commissioners appointed, or, in their stead, the duties and powers herein provided 

 have been devolved upon an existing park commission, then, from that time and in 

 that event, this act and all its provisions shall be in full force and application in 

 such township of the first class, borough, or city, so accepting ; and such commis- 

 sioners shall be appointed, for terms of three, four and five years, respectively, and, 

 on the expiration of any term, the new appointment shall be for five years, and any 

 vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term only ; and in townships of the first 

 class the said appointment shall be made by the commissioners thereof ; and in bor- 

 oughs, by the chief burgess, and in cities, by the mayor thereof ; provided, that in 

 cities where a commission exists for the care of public parks, the term and appoint- 

 ment of such commission shall not be changed by this act, but shall be and remain 

 as provided by the act of the assembly, and by the ordinance of councils creating 

 such commission for the care and maintenance of public parks. And such shade- 

 tree commission shall, twice in every year, report in full its transactions and expend- 

 itures for the municipal fiscal year then last ended, to the authority under and by 

 which it was appointed ; provided, that an existing park commission, acting under 

 this enactment, may embody its report in its regular report to the councils, as by 

 law or ordinance provided. 



SEC. 3. That when such shade-tree commissioners, or park commissioners so 

 acting, shall propose the setting out or planting or removing of any shade trees, or 

 the material changing of the same in any highway, they shall give public notice 

 of the time and place appointed for the meeting at which such contemplated work 

 is to be considered, specifying in detail the highways, or portion thereof, upon which 

 trees are proposed to be planted, removed, or changed, in one or more not. exceeding 

 two in all of the newspapers published in said township, borough, or city once each 

 week for at least two weeks prior to the date of said meeting. 



SEC. 4. The cost of planting, transplanting, or removing any trees in any high- 

 way, and of suitable guards, curbing, or grating for the protection thereof when 

 necessary, and of the proper replacing of any pavement or sidewalk necessarily 

 disturbed in the doing of such work, shall be borne by the owner of the real estate in 

 front of which such trees are planted, set out, or removed ; and the cost thereof as 

 to each tract of real estate shall be certified by the commissioners to the township 

 commissioners, or to the presidents of the councils in boroughs and cities, and also 

 to the person having charge of the collection of taxes, for the said township, borough, 

 or city ; and upon the filing of said certificates, the amount of the cost of such 

 improvements, of which notice shall also be given to each property "owner involved, 



