NORTHAMPTON — Sleepless nights, panic attacks and weight loss are among symptoms Ronald Karakula claims he has been suffering over the past 2½ years as he worries about being injured or killed by a large pine tree that looms over his Damon Road home and driveway.

But the eastern white pine, on city property and pruned by a tree crew two years ago after limbs dropped from it, is a healthy tree, according to Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra’s office, and there is no cause for its removal, despite Karakula’s repeated appeals to City Hall and the Department of Public Works, and the filing of a Hampshire Superior Court lawsuit that on Tuesday was dismissed by Judge Richard Carey.

Karakula said he is not ready to relent in his fight to have the tree, about 70 feet tall and with multiple trunks, cut down, even though he has no legal recourse to pursue, as Chapter 87 of the Massachusetts General Laws gives specific protection to trees on municipal property.

“I can’t really see why the tree has to stay there when it’s a threat to life and home,” Karakula said as he stood below it this week.

“It’s still a tremendous hazard,” Karakula said. “They’ve completely ignored me.”

The tree’s branches that fell in October 2020 first caused Karakula to grow fearful of the tree, though none caused any property damage or personal injuries. A city tree crew then examined it, finding that the tree needed to be pruned, with that work done on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8, 2021.

Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra filed an affidavit in response to the lawsuit explaining the tree’s condition.

“The tree was found to be free from any rot or decay,” Sciarra wrote. “The city continues to monitor the tree as it monitors all of its shade trees.”

Sciarra’s affidavit also states that Karakula can make no case for being harmed under the shade tree statute of the state general law “The plaintiff has never complained of any damages to his house or property from the tree,” it states.

That was reiterated by the city’s attorney, Jeffrey Trapani of Boston, who wrote in his response that “the relief sought forcing the city to take action (is not) a remedy available to him.”

Throughout, Karakula has written letters to former Mayor David Narkewicz, then to Sciarra who took office in January 2022, and Tree Warden Richard Parasiliti, some with what he admits was scathing and coarse language implying that they are giving preference to a tree over a human life.

“To get attention, I filed the lawsuit. I had to go to court to save my life from a life-threatening tree,” Karakula said.

As an example, one letter in the court filing has Karakula telling city officials he is being treated like garbage by them: “I live every single day with the threat of death literally hanging over my head, and no one does a thing about it, except provide me with more and more mountains of paperwork.”

In a statement from Sciarra’s office Thursday, the mayor notes that the tree is being paid close attention to. “In January 2023, the city reinspected the tree, again finding no cause for removal,” she wrote.

Though state law is clear, Karakula compares his situation to a ticking time bomb that has yet to go off but will eventually cause damage. In court on Jan. 13, Karakula said he is “nerve-wracked” every day of the year. “I’m worried about saving my property and saving my life,” Karakula said.

Shade tree inventory

Karakula also contends a pine tree should not be considered a shade tree, since it’s not among the species typically planted along streets, and argues that the tree was never intentionally planted, instead growing from a seed some 70 years ago when he was a child.

But the tree, 32 inches diameter at breast height, is now legally part of the city’s shade tree inventory, one of two next to Karakula’s property, and an online TreeKeeper map shows the locations and sizes of 9,799 trees, representing most of the total inventory.

Northampton’s website states that the city has over 10,000 public shade trees worth $16 million and cites numerous benefits, including delivering $1.3 million annually in energy savings, carbon sequestration, stormwater mitigation and property value increases.

Even if he could hire a contractor to do the work — he asked for $2,800 for that expense in his lawsuit, along with $275 related to court costs — that would be in violation of the state law that states, “Public shade trees shall not be cut, trimmed or removed, in whole or in part, by any person other than the tree warden or his deputy, even if he be the owner of the fee in the land on which such tree is situated, except upon a permit in writing from said tree warden.”

City regulations, guided by the state law, also state that residents are not allowed to do their own work on shade trees: “Do not trim or remove a Public Shade Tree without the expressed written consent of the Tree Warden.”

Penalties include a $500 fine and up to six months in prison.

Karakula’s next steps are uncertain. He said he once promised to give the city his land and home and its contents, including rare historic photographs, but he has advised his lawyer to rewrite his will.

He laments the situation he finds himself in.

“Are we living in an alternate universe where a tree has more value than a human life? The main point of all this seems to be that you can’t take down a public shade tree without an act of Congress.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.]]>