airplane_mech2: I'm pretty sure the trees can be safely moved to some "other" part of the peoples property? If not, it could still be moved somewhere else. It's still a dick move. $4 million home and your gonna quibble over $225,000? These people really need something to do to occupy their time.

No.

That size the root ball would be massive. Plus pines tend to have to have tap roots. No way to cut it, and even if there were shock would likely kill it.

The HOA I live in once had to fine a couple of bonehead homeowners for cutting down a bunch of trees on a slope so they can have a better view. The trees, unfortunately for the boneheads, belonged not to them but to the HOA which legally owns and is responsible for the slope. Our area is prone to fires and subsequent mudslides, so the trees were not only property, but were doing a function of helping to keep the slope stable. The tree cutters bleated on about their property values, too.

Never underestimate the pig-ignorance of the Rich.
Some schmuck bought a house in Southport, CT a few years ago. The plot included two of the oldest beech trees in the State. All of a sudden, it turned out that both trees were sick, and had to be removed. Despite the protests of his neighbours (also fairly well-off), the trees came down. We assumed that he was trying to improve his view of the harbour, but now he's subdividing the property and building a huge house right where the trees used to stand.
Try GISsing Southport, CT, to get an idea of the environment where this is happening.

Tom_Slick: I don't know, my HOA is dragging its damn feet over a neighbor who has covered all the windows on the front of his property with plywood on the inside, it wouldn't be bad if he would just paint it white or black but leaving it unfinished looks very ghetto fabulous.

/The rules state "All window treatments facing the street must be white or black facing the windows."

Hello Tom, it's Tim Todd from across the way, I put the window treatment up because I called the HOA to complain that..
1)Your pictures are slightly eskew in the bedroom
2)The shade of paint you use isn't a nice color, it offends me.
3)Also, during your sex romps, your wife could use less "oh's" and add a few more "ahh's in there" the rhythm is off.

Is this town one of those towns that also charges a "view tax"?

TimGuy: Hello Tom, it's Tim Todd from across the way, I put the window treatment up because I called the HOA to complain that..
1)Your pictures are slightly eskew in the bedroom
2)The shade of paint you use isn't a nice color, it offends me.
3)Also, during your sex romps, your wife could use less "oh's" and add a few more "ahh's in there" the rhythm is off.


That just proves you don't live near me, my is Jewish, so it is "I get a diamond for this right?"

I'd say that fence needs to be higher...

From the article:

An appraiser hired by John and Kelly Olerud said their $4 million home would be worth $255,000 more if the rare Chinese pine and the Colorado spruce across the street were cut down and replaced with smaller plants. The Chinese pine's value is estimated at more than $18,000.

The board specified that the trees must be removed. It did not specify how much Mr. Baker should be compensated for their removal.

If the trees are worth $18,000.00 removing them creates an increase of $255,000.00 for Mr. Olerud, and Mr. Olerud is forcing Mr. Baker to remove the trees, then it is perfectly acceptable for Mr. Baker to charge Mr. Olerud $273,000.00: this is their value as given by Mr. Olerud's own appraiser.

I'd just cut down the tree as he asked, ensuring it accidentally fell on his house.

His yard should suddenly have a giant spill of roundup.

My HOA doesn't let me keep my charcoal grill on my condo patio. The bylaws cite a fire code that says a charcoal grill can't be operated within 10 feet of any flammable construction. My HOA translates that as I can't store the grill on my patio. WTF.

baseball dude needs a bat to the face.

Jaws_Victim: If the jerk insists on it being cut down he sold have to reimburse them for the cost of the tree, a suitable replacement, and the labor involved with it, if he is so desperate for a nice view.

Huh. I wonder if that was addressed in the article?

Barricaded Gunman: Jaws_Victim: If the jerk insists on it being cut down he sold have to reimburse them for the cost of the tree, a suitable replacement, and the labor involved with it, if he is so desperate for a nice view.

Huh. I wonder if that was addressed in the article?

there's an article??

Did he wear a helmet to the hearing?

Jaws_Victim: Spiralmonkey: The Olerud guy sounds like a prize coont. Is there a US equivalent of a tree preservation order or something? It certainly looks like the tree was there first.

They said the tree was worth at least 18k too. That stupid tree is worth almost as much as I make in a year. If the jerk insists on it being cut down he sold have to reimburse them for the cost of the tree, a suitable replacement, and the labor involved with it, if he is so desperate for a nice view. Or he shold buy the house across the street, or one with a better view. I would also sue the appraiser for putting the idea in his head.

You sound poor. You also sound like you DNRTFA.

FTFA: the tree-owning neighbor, ''Bruce Baker, a Presbyterian minister and a professor of business ethics at Seattle Pacific University, said his reaction was one of disbelief, but he didn't know if he would appeal the decision to the City Council.

"I'm going to need to think that over. It's so fresh and shocking I haven't had time to react. I'm still stunned," Baker said Thursday.''

No kidding.
I suppose it wouldn't be ethical to plant a more expensive, faster-growing tree in its stead?...

TFA: "An appraiser hired by John and Kelly Olerud said their $4 million home would be worth $255,000 more if the rare Chinese pine and the Colorado spruce across the street were cut down and replaced with smaller plants. The Chinese pine's value is estimated at more than $18,000."

Hi, this is Mr. Baker. Yes, I just hired a tree appraiser, a property appraiser, and a tree removal appraiser. The tree's value is appraised at $100k, the property appraiser indicated a decrease in my property value of $500k with removal of the tree, and due to it's tricky location, the removal service quoted me $150k for removal of the tree. So entire loss for me includes $500k. Cut me a check and we'll call it even.

Where is your hero worship now?

Really? by the looks of it that tree has been there for years or decades. it should have been left alone and the ordinance used to force its removal is nothing short of assnine.

Tom_Slick: I don't know, my HOA is dragging its damn feet over a neighbor who has covered all the windows on the front of his property with plywood on the inside, it wouldn't be bad if he would just paint it white or black but leaving it unfinished looks very ghetto fabulous.

/The rules state "All window treatments facing the street must be white or black facing the windows."

So which is it? Are you describing window treatments that face the street or face the windows.

/Seems to be a mutually exclusive situation there.

//Still hung over, so probably not.

What a cockgobbler.

I Am The Egg Matt Drudge Smears Upon His Body: So which is it? Are you describing window treatments that face the street or face the windows.

Face the street and face the windows on in the same from the inside of the house.

Kind of like the person that buys property next to a hog farm and then biatches about the stink

How old is the trees in question ? If they where there before 1953 they are exempt from the ordinance . It up to the Olerud to prove the trees are younger than 1953 .

NewportBarGuy: My dad tried to get one of those about 20 years ago, but the guy had way more money to fight it. So, one winter, dad and a neighbor just cut them down. :)

Winning!

/Yes, we're a family of felons.

Family full of something else is more like it

This is what happens when proles suddenly get rich.

Soup_In_A_Basket: Did he wear a helmet to the hearing?

I was thinking the same thing.

Sarcastic Fringehead: If I was the Baker's I'd hire Clark Griswald to decorate my house for Xmas

And tell the neighbor the decorations are staying up all year long. There's no law against it in most areas.

Then, show him these concepts for the new house paint colors you're considering. I'm partial to the zebra stripes, though perhaps in dayglow orange. Of course, only on the side of the house facing his.

Crazy Painted Houses

It's a shiatbag society we live in when when someone can fark up a neighbors property in order to increase their own "value".

This is a good example of why people don't trust government.

More Bullshiate "I want to tell you what you have to do with YOUR property."

WAAAHHHH! You're obstructing my view of nature with a tree!!

I thought Fark ha a "What a Dick" tag?
Didn't there used to be a "What a Dick" tag?
Coulda swore there was a "What a Dick" tag?
We need a "What a Dick" tag!

"Hey, you know, your house obstructs my view of Seattle, too. That's gonna have to go, too..."

A**hole...

ZAZ: More information on the view ordinance: http://www.clydehill.org/community-resources/neighborhood-matters/#Tr e es. It seems a tree on the property line is legally considered a "fence" and a "naturally grown" fence can't be higher than 8 feet.

That is interesting. I wonder if they were thinking of common, fast growing trees planted in rows at fence lines. I could see limiting the height of an entire row of trees. They should have been more specific in writing that ordinance.

I still think the guy is a schmuck.

ZAZ: More information on the view ordinance: http://www.clydehill.org/community-resources/neighborhood-matters/#Tr e es. It seems a tree on the property line is legally considered a "fence" and a "naturally grown" fence can't be higher than 8 feet.

I don't think it's at all uncommon for developments to have height restrictions on trees included in the CC&Rs. One of the new, upscale developments around here limits tree height to 18 ft, IIRC. The idea is to not encroach on the neighbors "viewshed". They've gotten casual about it and some of the trees are well about that height. I predict there will be some battles similar to the one in TFA, although with the decimal points moved at least one place to the left.

Abox: My HOA doesn't let me keep my charcoal grill on my condo patio. The bylaws cite a fire code that says a charcoal grill can't be operated within 10 feet of any flammable construction. My HOA translates that as I can't store the grill on my patio. WTF.

Some old jew woman doesn't like how that looks and has power over you. Congratulations, you got exactly what you asked for when you signed up for one of these power tripping Stepford wives associations.

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light

But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'

Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw ...