Dangerous Giant Tree Removal
There’s an enormous, dying ailanthus (“weed tree”) growing a couple of doors down from me. It has dropped two giant limbs on my yard in the last few years, mashing fences and plants. What I’m now really afraid of is that the next branch may mash me, or worse, my 18-month-old daughter. The tree is…
There’s an enormous, dying ailanthus (“weed tree”) growing a couple of doors down from me. It has dropped two giant limbs on my yard in the last few years, mashing fences and plants. What I’m now really afraid of is that the next branch may mash me, or worse, my 18-month-old daughter.
The tree is on the property line between my next door neighbor (who also wants it down) and the back of a commercial property facing on the avenue. As far as I can tell, it’s on the commercial side, but we’re on a hill, and it’s literally growing out of the retaining wall of my neighbor’s property (on the other side of her fence).
I mention all this because my neighbor, who is quite elderly and fairly decrepit, claims she sued the owner of the commercial property a number of years ago to remove the tree, but lost. He claimed it was her tree.
At this point, I just want the thing taken down. It really is quite dangerous. I know the city won’t intervene and do it, it’s the owner’s responsibility. But I’ve got a couple of questions, and wondered if anyone knows the answers.
1. How do I find out if there was in fact a case, and who won?
2. Is there any way to lodge my complaint about the tree legally, so that if something happens, I’m on record?
3. Does that even matter?
I’m even willing to pay for part of this to get it done, but if it’s the commercial landlord’s tree, he should obviously bear the burden of it. If not, I’ll hit up my neighbor and see if we can split the cost. Urgh.
thanks.
We had a four story ailantus tree cut down 2 years ago for $1800. You should get a certificate insurance from the tree company for the job.
I also had a few communication glitches with Urban Arborists, but the boss is a tree scientist (literally wrote the book on oaks) and his underguys are smarter than you think. Haven’t used Family tree company, but if I had a disease situation as a possibility and not just a removal, I’d go with Urban Arborists (we have a potentially house-devouring weed maple, 4 stories high, whose health is of HUGE concern to us, and Urban checks and prunes it every few years).
If there was a lawsuit a long time ago, the owner may have changed. That would mean you could start the process over again.
If you call the city to report a dangerous tree, they would have to decide who to ticket. That would help you decide as well.
Tree law is shockingly complicated. It’s even on the bar exam every year.
I got a gigantic diseased Norway maple taken down — it was leaning over from my yard into a neighbors and one leader was practically resting on their roof. I wound up getting this monster down (was about 50 feet high with a trunk of 5 feet in diameter). I got estimates ranging from 2500 + 1,000 for the stump removal (Urban Arborists) to 12,000 from Bartlett tree service which wanted to take it down by CRANE! I went with Urban Arborist, who are (as the name suggests) liscensed arborists and serious professional tree people. There are a lot of fly by night types to avoid. Another service, much cheaper than Urban Arborists who I have gotten to know is Family Tree Service. Very professional and more organized than Urban Arborists (Urban Arborist operates like a giant clown show regarding scheduling- extremely aggravating) and much cheaper.
Trust me. Don’t waste your time with all this checking around. Call your insurance company (which probably won’t pay). Just schedule it and do it. Or else you will drive yourself nuts and possibly get hurt. You might try contacting the owner, but if this goes like most of these things, the owner will be a jerk (what responsible person would let this situation happen) but see what you can get out of them. See what you can get from your neighbor. Just get it done.
so the dilema is that you want the tree taken down but you want someone else to pay for it. Is that the issue? If so, I have no advise, that is a tough challenge. If not, then just take it down. what’s the problem? If you lived in a residential neighborhood, I would write a note to your neighbor saying: “the tree is leaning on my property I am afraid it will fall over so I am taking it down on Thursday”. If your neighbor is a business that doesn’t care, don’t even send the note. just do it for pete’s sake, it’s just a tree.
We have a large tree in our yard that we’re having pruned for safety and aesthetics.
An estimate to remove it was 6K. Big tree = big bucks.
Interesting comments, thanks. I had a feeling searching for the court records would be more trouble than it’s worth. I think I’ll call insurance just to feel things out, and meanwhile get a quote on removing the tree.
As to the comment about resprouting, I do know that. There are actually several adolescent ailanthus surrounding the giant one, but they’re less likely to drop life-endangering limbs on me, so I’m not going to pay for their removal (plus they cool the air and block the view of the back of the avenue properties). Any suckers that sprout from this stump won’t be in a position to hurt anyone for another 20-30 years. As to full removal, obviously, my neighbor should have that done, since her property is being damaged (the retaining wall, and who knows, her foundation), but that’s not my business or concern.
thanks, all.
Another strategy, which may or may not work, is to contact any utilities (phone, cable, etc.) whose wires might be damaged by a falling branch. They may have crews to deal with this situation.
to answer your first question: if possible, ask your elderly neighbor which court she filed in. if she can’t answer or remember, you will need to search supreme court and probably also small claims court records for the name of your neighbor and/or the owner of the commercial property at the time. you’ll need to do this in person with the clerk of the court, and they may be able to direct you elsewhere to search filings. if there is a decision in the file, you should copy the entire file and proceed according to who the court found owns the tree. i agree that working with your insurance company is probably the most by-the-book way of handling it, but it’s probably not necessary and may be counter-productive to the goal of getting the tree removed as soon as possible.