You Gotta Be Kidding: How NOT to Address a Safety Hazard

UPDATE 8/8/2022: The HOA has had a tree company survey all of the trees on the common-ownership property and identify hazardous trees that need removal. This looks like progress. We are hoping this new list of targeted trees overlaps 100% with the (shorter) list of trees that residents have expressed concerns about, such as those described here. Stay tuned. –S.L.

Many residents are worried about the huge white pine trees leaning and looming over their homes here in Quail Valley, as reported here on PATCH.com on April 12 and then again on September 19 of this year.

The September HOA newsletter, the Quill, reported, "Over the coming weeks, you’ll notice more tree work being done throughout the neighborhood, including removing dead trees and pruning others." Then today, October 22, 2021, a fellow with a ladder and a truck began work in the neighborhood. "Lots of trees to prune!" he informed me.

All of this made us feel hopeful. Silly us.

At this home, 18747 Barn Swallow Terrace, a pine tree leans toward the house, with the top of the tree reaching 25 or 30 feet above the roof. (See photo 1) Down on the ground, the tops of roots are exposed on the unstable side of the tree. Please walk by and have a look. See Photo 2, above, which shows damage to the very same house after the derecho of June 2012. Using binoculars, one can see that the main trunk splits into multiple trunks (above the roof line), which are unstable and will grow heavy and break off occasionally. Something like this will happen again.

The fellow who trims trees put up an extension ladder and cut a few branches that were growing toward the side of the house and the roof. That leaves perhaps 2,000 pounds of wood above the roof, waiting for a strong wind to snap off the top half of the tree, or uproot the whole thing from the ground. You could say that the tree is already "falling very slowly," as the exposed roots tell that story.

Is this HOA negligence? Incompetence? What is the right word for this behavior? [Added on 11/2/2021: A licensed arborist must evaluate any tree over 20 feet per Maryland State law.]

This family pays the Quail Valley HOA $88.25 per month in dues, as do all townhome owners. The HOA collects about $600,ooo from all of us every year (more than half a million dollars). The Articles of Incorporation requires the HOA board of directors to uphold "the health, safety, and welfare of the residents." We all want to sleep soundly at night.

Those are my observations and my opinions. Residents are always invited to attend the monthly HOA meetings and express their feelings and concerns. This problem of hazardous trees is, sadly, not going away any time soon.

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Steven Sellers Lapham is a 21-year resident of the Quail Valley HOA Community.