Does anyone have, in their city code, a regulation requiring property owners to take down dying/dead trees, or trim limbs that may cause damage if they fell on neighboring properties/roadways/sidewalks?
I visited with our city code inspector about a next door neighbor with overgrown weeds and giant dying Elm tree, she said they’d rush right out to check out the weeds, but our city doesn’t yet consider nuisance trees a possible code violation.
In fact, she had brought the subject up at a recent city council meeting because they have had so many complaints of fallen limbs damaging neighboring properties this year.
As it stands now, out neighbors’ Elm could fall on our house and it would be considered a civil case. If their homeowners insurance refused to pay damages, we’d have to take the neighbor to court…
If anyone knows of a community with ‘Nuisance Trees’ written out in legalese, I’d love to see how it’s written!
My city will drag its heels for years before adopting a similar code, only because nobody seems to have the time or nads to write a proposal for something that may be scrutinized in a court of law one day.
They need to see others’ codes so they can see how it’s done and get the ball rolling ASAP.
I’ve wondered about that myself. Certain species are better suited for landscape situations - although slower growing. This is the heart of the problem, homeowners want quick shade. Unfortunately, trees that provide quick shade have a host of undesirable characteristics in a landscape situation, including but not limited to a ratty appearance, susceptibility to falling limbs in ice storms and high winds, and water-hungry roots interfering with sewer and water systems, buckling sidewalks, etc.
Tree species to avoid in particular are Silver Maple, Weeping Willow, Tree of Heaven, Box Elder, etc. They are the “weeds” of the tree world, in a landscape situation.
My husband is a firefighter. He said to check your state uniform codes Building, electrical, and fire. In many states, cities who don’t adopt a code of their own, are mandated to follow the state uniform codes. Your neighbor’s tree would be cover by that.
He also said to tell you not to touch a leaf on that tree, or your own home owners insurance won’t give you a dime.
Another thing he said to explore is what sort of week abatement does the city use? If they use chemicals you could have a case for the city having killed the tree, causing it to fall on your house.
One other thing, If you get no satisfaction anywhere, call your home owner’s ins. agent, have him come look at the tree, tell to what lengths you’ve gone, and ask his advice.
Good luck.
Found one in Cincinnatti that hits the nail on the head.
(BTW, that link is for “unicode.com”, but we took a wild guess and tried adding an M… “municode.com” is the site for municipal codes)
Thank you fine folks for all the links and advice, this place is teets!