Public voices frustration over aggressive pruning as city says it has limited authority over utility’s vegetation management program
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
As Dominion Energy’s neighborhood tree trimming program gets underway in Beaufort, residents are continuing to voice concerns over the utility’s aggressive pruning practices after a lengthy discussion during the Beaufort City Council’s July 7 meeting highlighted growing frustration with both the work itself and the lack of communication surrounding it.
Distribution line trimming began Monday, July 13, in the Pigeon Point neighborhood as part of Dominion’s ongoing Vegetation Management Program, which trims trees around power lines on a five-year cycle to improve electric reliability and reduce outages during severe weather.
The discussion followed weeks of public concern over the utility’s transmission line trimming, with residents questioning the extent of the pruning, the impact on Beaufort’s tree canopy and whether more could be done to protect the city’s natural character.
Residents voice frustration
Robin Capronace, who lives on Pigeon Point Road, told council the recent trimming has dramatically altered one of Beaufort’s signature neighborhoods.
“I’m here to talk about the current tree trimming being done by Dominion … and how disappointed I am about what’s going on,” Capronace said. “Going down Pigeon Point Road, what used to be a lovely canopy is now like solid heat and sunshine all the way down. The trees have been butchered. There’s no other way to describe it.”
Capronace said residents were promised in 2006 that when transmission lines were installed through Pigeon Point, older utility poles would eventually be removed so the neighborhood’s tree canopy could grow back around the remaining infrastructure.
“The only reason that we agreed” to the transmission line project, she said, was because of those assurances. Instead, she said the old poles remain in place while recent trimming has made them even more visible.
Speaking remotely, Graham Trask argued city leaders have more authority than they acknowledge.
“City council and the city manager are not powerless in the Dominion tree cutting,” Trask said. “They say they are, but they don’t want to take the issue on.” He later accused council members of “cowardice,” saying they “won’t stand up for the citizens and residents of Beaufort.”
Trask said residents in his neighborhood stopped Dominion crews from cutting trees several years ago by standing in front of their trucks, arguing city officials should take a more active role in challenging the utility.
“I assert that you do have power,” Trask said. “But you choose not to use it.”
Felice LaMarca, another Pigeon Point resident, echoed concerns about the impact the trimming has had on the neighborhood.
“Pigeon Point Road is decimated,” LaMarca said. “I just spent thousands of dollars on my trees behind my house … So to see what happened in the name of power …”
LaMarca questioned whether residents truly lacked options, noting Dominion operates under a state-granted monopoly and suggesting the Public Service Commission could be pressured to address residents’ concerns.
“I have not gotten notified,” she said. “I did not get notified that the trees were being cut.”
City: Our authority is limited
The public comments prompted City Manager Scott Marshall to present an overview of Dominion’s Vegetation Management Program. He noted the city invited Dominion representatives to attend the meeting and answer questions from council members and residents, but the company declined, citing a corporate policy against participating in public forums.
“I come to you tonight as the messenger, not the message giver,” Marshall said. “This information is presented in hopes that we better inform the public about what is going to happen.”
Marshall acknowledged many residents are unhappy with the appearance of trees after they are trimmed but said the city has little authority over work performed within utility rights-of-way.
“There is very little the city can do about this,” Marshall said. “These are utility rights-of-way. I have fought this battle in other jurisdictions before and lost.”
He said the work is intended to improve the reliability of the electrical system by reducing outages during storms, even though the results can be difficult for residents to accept.
“There’s a lot of shock value involved when trees are in full bloom and they’re beautiful and you leave your house to go to work in the morning,” Marshall said. “You come home in the evening, all the green’s gone and the branches are hacked back and it looks horrible. There’s no getting around that.”
Marshall told council Dominion’s transmission line trimming was nearing completion and distribution line trimming was expected to begin July 13 in the Pigeon Point area. He said city staff would continue coordinating with Dominion and sharing updates with residents as work progresses.
According to Dominion, customers are notified approximately two weeks before scheduled trimming using the same method they receive their monthly electric bills. However, LaMarca disputed that process, saying she never received notice before work began in her neighborhood. Marshall responded that, according to Dominion, notifications are sent to property owners whose trees are scheduled for trimming, not necessarily entire neighborhoods. He added that the city has asked Dominion to resume providing information to neighborhood associations so it can be shared more broadly.
Council calls for better communication
Although council members acknowledged the city’s limited authority, several said Dominion should do more to communicate directly with residents.
Mayor Phil Cromer said he would like the utility to attend neighborhood association meetings to explain its vegetation management program, discuss why certain trees require more aggressive pruning and educate residents about planting tree species that are less likely to conflict with overhead power lines.
“I don’t want us to be in the middle,” Cromer said. “There is very little we can do because they own the right-of-way. But at least we can work with them to get better information out and notification of what’s going to happen.”
Council members also discussed another long-standing concern — older wooden utility poles that remain standing beside newly installed Dominion poles after replacement projects are completed.
Marshall said the city recently asked Dominion to identify which telecommunications and utility companies still have equipment attached to the old poles. Once that information is provided, the city plans to contact those companies and enforce its ordinance requiring abandoned poles to be removed. Councilman Josh Scallate also suggested the city explore strengthening its ordinance to require Dominion to notify Beaufort when companies fail to remove equipment from old poles within the required timeframe.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.