The owner of a Waccamaw Neck car dealership was found not guilty of improper trimming of a tree on his lot.

He was cited by the county after he removed part of a three-part oak tree.

Two parts of the tree remain in place and the tree remains healthy, said Bob Paglio, owner of Tidelands-Chrysler Dodge car dealership.

Part of the tree was hanging over an area that could have injured customers and damaged the vehicles on his lot, he said.

The tree was near a concreate pad where he parks cars for display on his lot.

“It was a three-part oak tree and I cut off one part of it,’’ he said. “It didn’t harm the tree, it will still live.’’

A professional tree trimmer testified in Paglio’s defense and said that the trimming did not harm the tree.

“We didn’t remove them, we just trimmed them back a little bit,’’ Paglio said.

Another business, Hardee’s of Pawleys Island, is scheduled for a hearing on Nov. 18 for other incidents of alleged improper pruning, said Georgetown County planning officials.

Fines increasing

Meanwhile, fines for the pruning or removal of  trees in Georgetown County could be increasing, and the list of protected trees could be getting longer.

The Georgetown County Planning Commission held a workshop Thursday and discussed the amount of fines for violating the county’s current tree protection ordinance.

Fines now include any amount up to $500.  The proposed tree protection ordinance adds more trees to the protected list, and puts the fines for each violation at an amount of $500 each.

“Previously, 10 trees [damaged] at one time was considered one violation,’’ said County Planning Director Boyd Johnson.

The county is seeking to change the tree protection ordinance since there has already been some destruction of trees along the water

ways of the Waccamaw Neck.

Besides changing the fine for violating the tree ordinance, commissioners also debated whether to have longleaf pines protected throughout Georgetown County.

The proposed wording in the new regulations says the longleaf pine would only be protected on the Waccamaw Neck.

Commissioner Jeff Kinard asked why the ordinance would not protect longleaf pines in other parts of Georgetown County.

“I’m concerned there will be conflict with people on the western end of the county,’’ Johnson said.

The proposed regulations say longleaf pines located on commercially zoned land or multi-family lots within an area bounded by the Waccamaw River and the Atlantic Ocean should be protected — but doesn’t extend the protection beyond the Waccamaw Neck.

The possible new regulations also spells out what is considered a landmark tree, and says those trees can’t be cut or removed unless the tree is diseased or causing damage to a structure’s foundation.

A county permit would be required for most limb and root pruning, except for trees being pruned on single-family lots.

Tree topping wouldn’t be allowed, according to the proposed ordinance.

Legacy trees, which includes trees that are planted to honor a person, organization or event, couldn’t be removed without the county’s permission.

The new ordinance would also ask that developers not remove trees in order to comply with storm water regulations.