MILTON, Del. - Homeowners in Milton are facing the imminent removal of trees from their properties mandated by Delmarva Power. Despite initial assurances of tree replacement, homeowners now find themselves with no alternative but to comply with Delmarva Power.
Terri Morris, a resident in the Sussex County's Milton area, expressed dismay as she revealed that Delmarva Power has mandated the removal of several peach trees from her property. According to Morris, there appears to be no alternative at this juncture.
"Initially said that they would replace the trees and put them on the back of the property. And so I was okay with that. And as new findings, as of yesterday, they said, no, no, those trees have to come down and you cannot plant any more trees anywhere on the property," Morris explained.
Delmarva Power, responsible for maintaining the right-of-way in high voltage transmission lines, emphasized the necessity of ensuring clear space around power cables. They communicated this requirement to the homeowners multiple times throughout the months.
Randy Lockowitz, another homeowner affected by the directive, expressed confusion over the sudden imposition. "They just put these lines here up four years ago. Nothing was in the way four years ago. So now they are apparently they're in the way now," Lockowitz stated.
Delmarva Power released a statement, saying, "Delmarva Power performs routine tree and vegetation maintenance on a four-year cycle to help prevent potential outages or safety concerns for our customers. There are guidelines set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for high-voltage transmission lines, which we must follow and applies to this community. It is extremely important to us that any impact to our customers is as minimal as possible. We have offered to replace trees with low-growing shrubs to avoid future growth into our infrastructure for the customers."
The homeowners are awaiting further updates on the situation. Delmarva Power planned to commence the tree removal process Thursday morning at 7 a.m., but has informed the homeowners that they will now be removing the trees another day.