Monday
Aug232004
Neighbor from Hell - Tree Background
Monday, August 23, 2004 at 10:45AM
There is other stuff, but this is specifically The Tree...
March 2000 - We finish building and move into our beautiful new home in Buckhead. The kids start school in one of the best public elementary schools in the state of Georgia, which is why we moved 'upscale', and life is good.
October 2001 - The new neighbor moves in.
November 2002 - We have several dead trees on our property cut down. Neighbor at that time wanted us to consider taking down another very large--live--tree in our backyard because the branches overhang their backyard (30 feet up), no where near their house, which is toward the front of their property; however, the branches overhang their pool, which was put in the year before (2000) by the previous owner. We considered the situation, trying to be neighborly, but:
a) It's a live tree. (We would need a permit from the City.)
b) It would cost several thousand dollars to take it down.
c) They didn't want to participate in the cost, as it was our responsibility.
So we said NO--it was a live tree and we didn't want to take it down.
February 2003 - We received a Certified, Return-Receipt-Requested letter from our next-dooor neighbor, indicating their interest in having the tree removed--with a statement from an arborist stating the tree was a hazard and their insurance agent's opinion that this was our responsibility. (Note this was the middle of winter and none of the trees had any leaves on them.)
May 2003 (Spring) - We declined. We had a certified arborist come assess the tree in question, and several others on the fence/property line, and we paid $900 to revitalize the trees in question (aerate the root zone and deep root feed) and prune out dead branches. We hoped that would resolve the issue--
May 2004 - Neighbor has our certified arborist do an assessment and send us a letter indicating "Despite last year's initiative to revitalize the tree, it seems unfortunate that the declining cycle of this oak tree has not been reversed." When, in fact, all you have to do is LOOK at the tree and it looks great, much better than last year, and fortunately we have dated pictures to prove considerable improvement in the number of leaves and condition of the tree--it is far from dead, or dying.
May 2004 - We decline. "We have done all we are going to do with the tree."
Sept. 21, 2004 - We receive a Certified Letter from the City of Atlanta Bureau of Housing Code Compliance indicating a violation typed in on the list of violations:
"DEAD TREE ON PREMISES IN DANGER OF FALLING" with "also nuisance trees" written in...
March 2000 - We finish building and move into our beautiful new home in Buckhead. The kids start school in one of the best public elementary schools in the state of Georgia, which is why we moved 'upscale', and life is good.
October 2001 - The new neighbor moves in.
November 2002 - We have several dead trees on our property cut down. Neighbor at that time wanted us to consider taking down another very large--live--tree in our backyard because the branches overhang their backyard (30 feet up), no where near their house, which is toward the front of their property; however, the branches overhang their pool, which was put in the year before (2000) by the previous owner. We considered the situation, trying to be neighborly, but:
a) It's a live tree. (We would need a permit from the City.)
b) It would cost several thousand dollars to take it down.
c) They didn't want to participate in the cost, as it was our responsibility.
So we said NO--it was a live tree and we didn't want to take it down.
February 2003 - We received a Certified, Return-Receipt-Requested letter from our next-dooor neighbor, indicating their interest in having the tree removed--with a statement from an arborist stating the tree was a hazard and their insurance agent's opinion that this was our responsibility. (Note this was the middle of winter and none of the trees had any leaves on them.)
May 2003 (Spring) - We declined. We had a certified arborist come assess the tree in question, and several others on the fence/property line, and we paid $900 to revitalize the trees in question (aerate the root zone and deep root feed) and prune out dead branches. We hoped that would resolve the issue--
May 2004 - Neighbor has our certified arborist do an assessment and send us a letter indicating "Despite last year's initiative to revitalize the tree, it seems unfortunate that the declining cycle of this oak tree has not been reversed." When, in fact, all you have to do is LOOK at the tree and it looks great, much better than last year, and fortunately we have dated pictures to prove considerable improvement in the number of leaves and condition of the tree--it is far from dead, or dying.
May 2004 - We decline. "We have done all we are going to do with the tree."
Sept. 21, 2004 - We receive a Certified Letter from the City of Atlanta Bureau of Housing Code Compliance indicating a violation typed in on the list of violations:
"DEAD TREE ON PREMISES IN DANGER OF FALLING" with "also nuisance trees" written in...