Chappaqua Tree Removal Trial Uses New Aerial Images

Last Thursday was the second day of testimony in the case against Chappaqua property owners accused of removing as many as 560 trees from their property.

The Town of New Castle has accused Dr. Yossi Haroush, a veterinarian, and his wife, Rebecca Marshall, of 7 Mayberry Close, of removing the trees without the proper permits.

Testimony by the key witness, New Castle Environmental Coordinator Dennis Corelli, continued Aug. 8 as he was questioned by both New Castle Prosecutor David Levine and Rocco D’Agostino, the attorney for Haroush and Marshall.

Corelli had signed off on a July 27, 2023 complaint, which alleges that during the summer of 2019 and in June, 2022, an estimated 560 trees were unlawfully removed and a stop work order posted at the property had been violated.

Corelli, who sat between Town Justice Noah Sorkin and the court reporter, frequently flipped through a huge file of papers to double check his facts and dates. He testified about his visits to the Haroush property during 2022, 2023 and right before the trial started.

New evidence presented were aerial images of the Haroush property taken in 2023. When the trial started in the beginning of August, the most recent aerial images were from 2021 and 2018.

At one point Sorkin asked for a break so Corelli could review the number of trees appearing in the new 2023 aerial image of the property and compare it to aerial images taken in 2018 and 2021. Sorkin was interested in a count based on observation rather than on scientific data that had been used during the first day of the trial.

The trial was stopped for about two hours for Corelli to review the images.

Based on Corelli’s observation of the aerial images, he testified that 102 trees were removed. The images included tree canopies and brush that blocked any additional trees that have allegedly been removed.

Sorkin was prompted to ask Corelli for a manual count after D’Agostino continuously grilled Corelli to try to reduce his credibility and expertise, especially when Corelli cited what he believed were marked property lines.

“You’ve done nothing to confirm your accuracy of your assumption that the photos do not necessarily show whose property the fallen trees were on,” D’Agostino said to Corelli.

The line of questioning interrupted the basic procedure of entering numerous hard copy photographs of the Mayberry Close property and surrounding properties into evidence.

Sorkin told D’Agostino, “I think the line of questioning you are going down now doesn’t go to the admissibility. Right now, we are focused on whether they (photos) should be admitted as evidence.”

Levine asked Corelli to describe the Haroush property when he viewed it from adjoining properties.

“I wanted to visit the property to see what the conditions were as I would have to testify,” Corelli stated. “There were piles of timber at the base of the slope. These were not trees that were snapped in half, they were cut, they were uprooted and they were piled on top of each other. It wasn’t a single uprooted tree that had fallen.”

Covering a tree’s roots with too much fill can kill the tree by blocking oxygen from filtering into the soil. One of the photographs entered into evidence showed fill covering the bottom of trees up to a few feet high.

Attending the trial last week were four members of the Saw Mill River Audubon, which is suing Haroush and Marshall because their property abuts the Pruyn Sanctuary on the east side of the sanctuary. The Saw Mill River Audobon, which owns the sanctuary, has alleged that piles of tree trunks were stacked eight feet high on its land, that more than 30 mature sanctuary trees had been bulldozed and more trees were so severely damaged that they would probably die.

Also expected to testify during the trial are Anne Swaim, executive director of the Saw Mill River Audubon, and neighbor Giorgos Tsapepas.

Since the case is not a jury trial, Sorkin is expected to rule at the end of the trial. A possible settlement might include a tree replacement program, paying $554,000 into the New Castle Tree Bank Fund or having Haroush and Marshall fined more than $500,000.

The trial will resume on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 10 a.m. when D’Agostino is expected to cross-examine Corelli.

Editor’s Note: The originally announced next court date of Aug. 26 for resumption of the trial has been changed to Aug. 29.