Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont admitted on Monday that he played a role in hiring a landscaper who illegally cut down more than 180 trees and thousands of bushes on a property behind his Greenwich home.
The wealthy two-term Democrat, along with one of his neighbors and a neighborhood organization, has been accused of removing trees in protected wetlands they do not own in order to get a better view of a pond.
Lamont denied this accusation, claiming that the trees were damaged in previous storms and the plan was to clean up the area. However, he acknowledged partial responsibility for inadvertently cutting trees on someone else’s land.
Lamont explained that he expected the landscaping company, hired by himself and the Ashton Drive Association, to have obtained any necessary permits from the town of Greenwich. He also stated that he was unaware that local permission was needed to remove what he considered to be dead trees.
The illegal tree-cutting was discovered in November when a property manager for another undeveloped piece of land heard the sound of chainsaws. The manager reported that the tree-cutting “went far beyond destruction of wetland vegetation.” Fred Jacobsen, the property director of the land owned by INCT LLC, said it appeared that the “massive cutting effort” had been going on for multiple days and involved more than 10 workers.
Access to the site had been provided through property owned by Lamont’s neighbor, wealthy businessman Alexander Vik and his wife Carrie. Jacobsen told the wetlands commission that “the people involved knew they would never be allowed to do this, if they had applied for a permit, so they did it anyway.”
Lamont and his neighbors could face fines from the town. The Inlands Wetlands and Watercourses Agency held a special meeting on Monday to discuss efforts to reach an agreement on how best to replant the property.
Lamont has been criticized for not publicly explaining what happened sooner, with House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora stating that Lamont should have had a better response by now, given that the incident occurred in November.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.