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Old 05-06-2009, 11:15 AM
 
3 posts, read 10,236 times
Reputation: 16

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I live in the city of Madison, but Huntsville Utilities provides power and line maintenance.
I got a letter on my door from the utility department stating that they were going to cut down my 27 year old 60 foot Pin Oak tree in my front yard because it is barely touching their power lines.

This is ridiculous. What recourse do I have? I have been told that it will affect my property value by up to 10% or more.

I have looked a Madison City ordinances and the HAVE NO ORDINACE on record for this. Huntsville does.

But they don't cut trees down in Old huntsville! Nooooooo! Not for the rich they don't, they don't touch them.

The plan to compensate me with a $70 voucher. You cannot replace a $10,000 tree with $70.

What can I do?

Also, it looks to me like the power lines were ran way too deep into our front yards, what are the easement laws for power lines for Madison?
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Old 05-06-2009, 11:31 AM
 
426 posts, read 1,265,718 times
Reputation: 126
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zephaniah View Post
I live in the city of Madison, but Huntsville Utilities provides power and line maintenance.
I got a letter on my door from the utility department stating that they were going to cut down my 27 year old 60 foot Pin Oak tree in my front yard because it is barely touching their power lines.
My guess is that you have no recourse. Huntsville Utilities does a horrendous hack job any/all trees they judge to be near power lines (which are pretty much everywhere). In fact, this whole area is rather unfriendly to trees. Notice how the land is basically destroyed and cleared to the dirt for new residential and commerical development.

I suppose you could start with a call to your city council representative's office. Maybe they can guide you. I doubt you'll get anywhere with general people answering the phone at Huntsville Uilities.

Last edited by gsp4ever; 05-06-2009 at 11:44 AM..
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Old 05-06-2009, 01:23 PM
 
Location: Alabama!
6,048 posts, read 18,327,698 times
Reputation: 4835
Call and protest to BOTH your council rep AND Huntsville Utilities. And do it NOW! They could arrive to do the job any minute. A lot of times the utilities contracts this job out...and to companies that go around looking for trees to cut.

Decatur Utilities has trimmed my mom's pin oak so that it does not threaten the power line to her house. Of course, they have to come out and do it every few years, but they haven't cut down the tree yet. (Too bad...it's so big that we wouldn't object).

Were the power lines there before your house? If that's the case, your builder may have sited the house too close.

All that said...the utlities' job is to keep power supplied to its customers, and there may be nothing you can do about it. But it couldn't hurt to object!
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Old 05-06-2009, 02:27 PM
 
Location: Rocket City, U.S.A.
1,806 posts, read 5,682,957 times
Reputation: 865
Not understanding why they don't just trim it back...not the prettiest thing, but better than removing the tree entirely. That's not a little job and I'd think the majesty of the tree holds a considerable value.

Had the opposite problem in FL...the builder, back whenever, planted scraggly pines RIGHT UNDER the power lines, on the front (lawn) easement, and it was a bit of a mess when we moved in. I called Jupiter about it and requested they trim the branches back at their convenience - since it is recommended to let them handle it, especially since Hurricane season was approaching...3 years later they made it to my house and did an awful job. THEN I get a letter from the county Arborist citing me for pruning incorrectly! That was an immediate phone call to inform the inspector that it was his own local government, and not the landowner, who hacked the trees.

They backed off.

The person who bought our house took them down within the year.

*****Start calling about it today.*****

If the utilities department were to show up today - what recourse does the OP have? Can he state that the removal is under dispute and insist they wait? Will they tell him to pound sand? Is the tree itself on the easement or just growing over that area?
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Old 05-06-2009, 03:41 PM
 
485 posts, read 1,451,187 times
Reputation: 166
I also received notice that Huntsville Utilities would be in the area looking at trees that interfered with their lines, but had to scratch my head since the lines are buried on my street. Not sure exactly where the lines are that they are concerned about.
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Old 05-06-2009, 04:06 PM
 
Location: Fly-over country.
1,765 posts, read 7,302,128 times
Reputation: 922
arborday.org has a section on trees and utilities and also has a forum where people post similar stories and what they tried to do in order to stop or mitigate tree removal

i'm guessing the pin oak is old enough to begin to push out at the top, and that's what's causing the worry now. utility folks have trees they just don't like (depending on where you live) and I'll bet the pin oak in on several of those theoretical lists-- even though it's a fine tree
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