Resident heartbroken after dealership cuts down old tree

A resident from Northcliff is very upset with the Hyundai Cresta dealership on the corner of Beyers Naudé Drive and Herder Drive.

Moira Dawson, who has been a Northcliff resident for 56 years, said the car dealership was opened on the corner even though residents had protested against it. She said the Hyundai employees took it too far when they started using the residents’ sidewalks to park their cars.

Dawson explained that the employees used to park right in front of her gate until she put little wooden poles there to stop them. Other residents also took the initiative to erect obstructions on their sidewalks to prevent the dealership from parking on their lawns.

Dawson said she was never asked for permission by the dealership to use her sidewalk. “It was so bad at some point that my neighbour could not get into her driveway because of all the cars,” she said. She added that employees of the dealership even wash the cars on the residents’ properties.

Dawson said that she planted an oak tree on her sidewalk when she moved to Northcliff 56 years ago. On the morning of 18 May, she discovered to her horror that the tree was chopped down. No one from the dealership informed her that the tree will be chopped down.

“I could not believe my eyes when I saw my tree was cut down,” said an upset Dawson. She said that one of the salesmen told her that the tree was cut down because the leaves made the cars dirty.

“They did not even bother to remove some of the branches they cut off,” said Dawson.

In desperation, she contacted the police, City Parks and Metro Police to find a solution to no avail.

City Parks spokesperson Jenny Moodley said that park rangers were immediately deployed after being advised of the contravention. “An investigation will unfold and the transgressor will be held liable for the full value of the tree and will be fined accordingly,” said Moodley.

Moodley said transgressors often plead ignorance or offer to plant new trees. “This, however, does not take away from the loss of an established tree that was more valuable for the health and well-being of a community than new saplings,” she said. City Park’s legal team contacted the dealership to ensure that the compensation for the loss is equivalent to the value of the sizable tree that was felled.

The Hyundai Cresta dealer principal Saul Van Greunen said there seems to be a lot of animosity between the dealership and the residents, yet they have not received any complaints from any of the residents. He said that City Parks contacted the dealership and addressed the issue of the tree that was cut down. “We did not know that there were procedures to follow before cutting down a tree,” said Van Greunen. He said that the tree had some sort of sticky jam that damaged the cars they parked there.

“We have made plans to park our extra vehicles at the Hyundai in Weltevreden Park and we will no longer be parking up the road,” said Van Greunen. He said that City Parks will be sending a list of trees to pick from for the dealership to plant. “We are not here to destroy the neighborhood, we are involved in a lot of charities in our neighborhood,” he added.

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UPDATE: Illegal tree feller to be fined