JAY – The Board of Appeals voted 3 to 1 Monday, with Chairman Michael Schaedler opposed, to uphold the town’s code enforcement officer’s actions against a landowner for violating the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance.

CEO Shiloh Ring had issued a consent agreement that fined James Crane of Crane Bros. Farm $500 and required him to provide a certified-forester’s restoration plan to accomplish replanting a well-distributed stand of trees within 75 feet of the river.

Ring had received a citizen’s complaint about cutting along the river and investigated it.

Crane of Crane Bros. of Exeter, which has farm properties in Jay and Canton, was cited for cutting 25 or so mature oak trees and cutting greater than 40 percent of the total volume of trees 4 inches or more in diameter within a 10-year period. Both cuttings violate town law.

“The whole issue is we farm the ground. We grow potatoes for Frito Lay,” Crane said.

Many of the trees cut had tipped into the river and when the ice goes out in the spring, it rips the tree right out of the field, he said. It leaves a big hole and erodes the field, which is also a safety issue for his workers when they’re farming the field, he said.

“We are guilty for not getting with Miss Ring” prior to cutting the trees, he said, will do so in the future.

“We were trying to preserve the field,” Crane said.

He feels that they are in a better position now by stabilizing the bank, he said.

Crane said he agreed to replant the trees but felt it could be done without a forester, and asked that the fine be waived.

“It’s not like we cut the trees for profit. We hauled them away to use as firewood,” he said, to heat the farm shop in Canton.

Board Secretary Lillian Sears said that she looked through Crane’s appeal application and he doesn’t deny violating the ordinance but does ask for leniency when it comes to the fine.

“I think I have the right to cut trees on my land within the boundaries of the law,” he said.

Ring said she walked the land with Planning Board Chairman Delance White and got a better understanding of the law prior to issuing a consent agreement.

The ordinance allows for a minimum fine of $100 a day to a maximum of $2,500 a day. The violation period could have warranted an $8,000 fine, Ring said.

As far as the restoration plan, the law lays out exactly how the trees need to be replanted, she added.

Schaedler said that the trees hanging in the river are a safety concern and as far as he was concerned Crane did the town a favor.

Crane said there is a lot of young oak coming back and after looking pictures Ring took, he said he’s not sure he over cut the area.

Ring said if the restoration plan was not certified by a forester she would have to have a licensed forester look at it at a cost to the town.

Sears said she didn’t think the fine was unfair.

After the vote, Crane said that he would be looking into his options with his attorney and if he doesn’t agree with the action, he may pursue it in court.

“I still feel I have the right to cut trees for safety reasons,” Crane said.