We live in an older neighborhood (most homes built around 60 years ago, but the lots were sold and developed independently over time, not as a 'development') with one level brick homes (not counting basements), lots of large and ancient trees, plenty of shrubbery, and comfortable size lots. Comfortable as in affording some privacy. Well, in today's market, perhaps rather large lots; our lot at 1/3 of an acre is the second to the smallest lot of the ten houses on our little cul-de-sac.
When we bought our home, there was an empty lot next door. The people who owned the lot were planning on building on it, eventually. Several years passed after we moved here, they finally built. An absolutely enormous house on a very tiny lot. And also, a rather steep lot, running from the back of the house down to the front. He built so closely to my house, in order to squeeze in his 3000 sq ft for just him and his wife, no children, no pets, no children coming, that when the foundation was dug I called the township to see if he could actually build that close. He could: 8 ft from our property line. He used every inch he could, literally, shoving his home almost into the graceful, beautiful Norway Spruce between our properties. His bedroom is almost IN my patio, and that made me uncomfortable. People move into neighborhoods with larger lots for privacy, not for a setting like an inner city. But at least I had low hanging pine tree branches for some privacy. Until he cut his side of the branches off, and then within two years I was forced to cut off my side in order to keep the 5 or 6 story Norway Pines in balance during heavy snows. I don't sit on the patio I used to LIVE on for 6 months of the year. He stole that pleasure from me. But that's nothing..
What happens when you cover more than 50% of a lot with pavement and buildings? Storm runoff. An incredible amount. At high speed with the steep slope. His driveway dumps enormous volumes of water so that the streets are seriously flooded at the bottom with any hard rain. In the winter, there is now a two to three foot wide swath of ice in front of our driveway and mailbox and property line, thick ice, and that makes plowing and shovelling and getting mail difficult and/or dangerous, and the ice hangs around a good long while. Pain in the butt. Well, he began to have wet basement issues. He had his lawn regraded, and within 30 days we had two hurricanes in one week. I had 4 inches of water in my basement. The lawn had been regraded so as to dump every inch of water from the back of his house directly behind my house. I wrote them a letter immediately after we had cleaned up, explaining the damages and trauma (a freezer caught fire). His response: here's the number of the contractor. He wasn't going to do anything. Contractor response: I didn't do nuthin. I could go to small claims court and recover half of what the INITIAL cost was of my loss (which turned out to be ongoing problems). I planned to do that. Then due to my parents and sons illnesses, I spent the next two years travelling out of state frequently, and my own husband has an illness that requires two days of solid cooking before I can leave for a few days, and requires about an extra 50 hours a month of my time to maintain in general. I had no time for the suit. My out of state family's conditions were either directly life threatening, or potentially so, and I was the only one who could be of help. Several months after the September deluge when we used the heating system, we smelled a terrible stink, and I feared mold was in the ducts. I got an estimate to clean the system: 1000 bucks, which we don't have. I have severe allergies and asthma. Lifes been hell.
My neighbor did not regrade his lawn to alleviate the situation; flood waters deluged my yard every time it rains hard...and it always rains hard here, or not at all. With the time and zero funds I had available, I have been able to divert some of the water, because I built a very crude and ugly little berm, using huge cinderblocks as support here and there, between our yards, and dug a little channel for the water to flow into. I put a very ugly plastic pipe on top of the ground to catch the flooding waters and channel them to the front yards nearer the street. My neighbor's response was to kick the pipe out of position whenever he mowed his lawn. I wouldn't see that, and flood waters would seep into the basement again (though not 4 inches worth). The original flood and subsequent smaller ones have created channels so the water now eagerly and naturally flows to that wall of my house, and from watching our French drain, now has created a reservoir under my house. My plans for this summer were to pile up a great deal of earth between us and force all of the water into his yard. Then more family troubles, and a death two weeks ago. And I caught a hideous virus from a family member while at their home out of town, and was so sick I could barely move for over a week.
I was finally feeling better when my neighbor calls two days ago to tell me that she wants every tree (that's six 5 story Norway Spruce) on our adjoining properties removed. and the problem is that some of them are on both of our properties. She said professionals told her they were all dead or dying or due to die and she didn't want them to fall on her house. I said that's not the case; they are very healthy, and the company who told you that is just looking for a very great deal of cash. I told her that I would be happy to have some ethical companies I know come out and explain to her the special characteristics of Norway Spruce, and why these trees which have stood well over 60 years are just fine and aren't going to come down, that the only danger is the one tree where the continued flooding washes away soil.
She got dead silent when I said that I would be happy to get professionals out to look at the trees. Then she switched tactics and said she wanted them taken down because of the flooding issue. Please. Does anyone here have a brain to use? The enormous canopies of these trees absorb so much water that during most rains, even our very hard ones, the ground beneath them remains dry as a bone. The roots break up the rock hard soil that I found going down farther than the three feet deep I dug out two 20 foot gardens (almost needed a pick-axe), so that water CAN be absorbed downward. The roots hold the soil and keep even more soil from eroding. If the trees were removed, I would be deluged absolutely insanely. But I didn't say anything; I wanted to hear what she had to say after her clearly lying opening statement.
She continued that she has mold in her house, and she got pneumonia last winter and has to resolve the mold issues because she can't continue to jeopardize her health. She doesn't know about mine; they are so callous and unresponsive, knowing they have been flooding my house and washing out my yard for two years, I didn't bother to tell them as yet. I sure will now. What I did say was what do the trees have to do with the mold? She said she was told the shade from the trees was the problem. What a bunch of horse manure. Half of the shade in that area of her house is from HER HOUSE, which is very high for our neighborhood. He built a basement an extra three feet above ground above the normal build to have high ceilings in it, and put on a very high and steep pitched roof. I have lived many decades of my life in neighborhoods just like this one, and mold does not run rampant in these neighborhoods. The problem is the storm runoff; it has nowhere to go. I forgot to mention they have ZERO landscaping, no trees. There are trees at the top of the hill behind their lot on someone else's lot. They weren't in the house but a few weeks and he trimmed all the branches on his side up over two stories. Why? This tree line is about 35 feet from the back of his house; the branches were no danger.
The man hates green, that is why. They are tree phobes. Maybe bush phobes as well. When he took off the lower branches on my/our Norway Spruce, he removed them going up over two stories as well.
Her final pitch to me was that at least the trees needed to be thinned and the dead wood removed. She explicitly said, again, that the smallest tree in the line was definitely dead. This tree is 100 percent on my property line, by the way; I am unsure of the others exact placement because the property line is not exactly straight AND the hill obscures a clear view anyway. I went outside to look at it, and described its very green and healthy appearance to her. I also noted in the back of my mind that it seemed like somehow I could see much more of her yard, but I wasn't up to par in my health yet and it didn't sink in.
Two days later, while showing a friend the trees and explaining the situation, I saw for the first time numerous new cuts in the trees where branches had been. He had come on my property and done all the thinning he wanted while I was out of town, without ever even asking me about it. More of my privacy was gone. And on HIS side, he has now removed branches up to three stories.
I have to go out of town next week. Will there be trees when I return? I guess I will send a cease and desist letter certified mail to somehow protect myself.
We don't know these people well because whenever we would both be outside and I'd try to say hello, he was very surly and uninterested in talking, right from the beginning... after I invited him to an Obama party I was having. It's clear he is Republican. It's also clear in his allergy to all things green. He's only in his yard to mow the lawn. They built a patio but are never on it. It's just for show. They have used their fancy gas grill once. He doesn't give one damn, I'm sure, about the pollution impacts of his storm runoffs. He clearly doesn't give a damn about my rights, and doesn't feel he even has to ask. I think his wife was sweating realizing that what he had done was damage my property without even asking, and was hoping to put out a fire before it started.
I'm going to try to speak to them 'in good faith', because that is what one should do, and that is what courts require. I can't see any court granting him the right to cut down the trees, when his real requirement is either just tree phobia, or else he thinks he has the right to a 100 percent shade free yard in this neighborhood. Why didn't he build in the new, naked neighborhoods, those many that are sterile and devoid of trees and vegetation, if that is what he wanted? If he wanted all concrete and building, why didn't he move in the city? Will a judge say I have to give up the shade and beauty and environmental protection of trees for this butthole? I really don't think so. But will the butthole just cut down the trees anyway and results be damned? That's what I fear most. He's an engineer and his wife works too. No kids. Money is no issue, and his ego clearly is. But still, I must make myself speak with civility at first. I will explain why their stated reasons are not cause for concern. I will explain storm run off (for an engineer, he did a crap job of understanding about building a huge home on a little and very steep lot and storm run off). I will explain the trees HELP with runoff, and removing them will make it worse.
But I have unfortunately been forced to accept over the past 10 years that facts mean nothing to Republicans, and phobia is their way of life. In this case, tree phobia. That they have no respect for others needs or desires if those run counter to their own, and that they feel completely free to alter, injure, or destroy other's lives just because they want to do so. So I will also send the letter and copy our town management office on it, stating that they have never had my authorization to cut tree branches on my side, nor to cut down the trees. I guess I will have to alert other neighbors and ask them if they will call me when I am out of town if they hear saws running. Or call the police. I will be contacting the borough police on Monday when the non-emergency office is open, and see if I could file charges for destruction of private property. I don't want to, but I do want to clue the police in and also ask them if they could respond if my neighbors call while I am away. And if I would have the right to file those charges, and my neighbors show yet again they don't care, but expect me to fulfill their needs to my own financial detriment, I will tell them I can file charges. I will also be explaining to her about MY breathing problems that they caused, that they have not redressed, and that they have shown they don't care a fig about. I will point out my washed out side lawn with no grass because the rain washed away what the shade from their gigantic house did not kill. I will ask them if they will come over and help shop vac next time we have a hard rain.
God help me I hate Republicans.
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