Mayor Joins Opposition To Tree Firm Hassell Says Council Vote Threatens Quality Of Life

The City Council should not have allowed Jacobson Tree Service to keep its expanding business in a residential zone, Mayor Al Hassell said in a rare disagreement with city lawmakers.

The council voted 4-2 Tuesday evening to give the tree service a special-use permit that allows it to have non-family employees come to Jacobson’s North 23rd Street home. That was the final hurdle Jacobson needed to clear to keep operating from his back lot - one of the city’s most restrictive residential zones - as he has for a decade.

Only councilwomen Susan Servick and Dixie Reid voted no, but Mayor Hassell also was outspoken in his opposition.

“I just don’t think it’s good policy to start commercial encroachment into residential areas,” Hassell said. “If you don’t, all of a sudden you don’t have any quality of life.”

It’s the sort of thing that has driven people out of other cities, he said. “I think we have something unique that we have to protect.”

The mayor also believes it’s best for other businesses. Zoning exceptions for home businesses are designed for small family operations that are totally contained in the home.

“When they get employees, they are in competition with all of the other commercial enterprises and should have to compete on the same basis, with the same overhead” that locating in a commercial zone requires, Hassell said.

Jacobson didn’t comment. He has said he cannot afford to move to a commercial zone.

In his application to the city, he said employees only come by to pick up equipment or work orders.

But Ida Hawkins, Jacobson’s next door neighbor, said the council’s decision prompts her to go forward with a lawsuit against the city over allowing the tree service. The Jacobsons likely knew they were violating zoning laws when they moved in and brought their business, Hawkins charged. The zoning problem was discovered last fall by city inspectors, who ordered Jacobson to get the right permits or move the firm’s trucks, tree chipper and employees.

, DataTimes