Legal risk and our money..
The Tree Committee is so hell bent on it's war against trees that block a view, they are willing to subject the association to many legal law suits
The Complaint:
A complaint was made about over height trees bordering Seabreeze Lake. They block a very narrow view.
The Investigation:
The trees were found to be over the allowed height limit.
The lake is mostly owned by the association with the exception of a number of private lots whose property lines actually extend into the lake. These particular trees are in question as to which property they are on. Surfside or the private property. A Tree Committee member, time and again said that the Surfside property should be surveyed before any further action. The committee decided to ask the Board for the funding of a survey, but because the requested amount would be nearly twenty thousand dollars, the Board rejected the survey as proposed. . Any sane Board would not spend that amount of money over a couple of trees.
The actions:
Without a survey, the Tree Committee decided to ask the property owner to cross his property to remove the trees.
In another later tree issue that was not a complaint, Stan Jackson was paid 648.00 to "trim trees and remove brush from HOA property on Seabreeze Lake" (War #20510)
You guessed it...Turned out the owner determined that the trees were on his property. He determined this by his property markers. Needless to say he was irate and called the office. The association is aware of the mistake, if you can call it that. The Timber Trespass law can require that the owner be paid 12 times the value of the tree. I don't think the owner plans to go to court, but one of these days the luck of the Tree Committee will run out.
Other Issues:
Members have reported that they were told by a Tree Committee member or members, that they should cut their trees down. The Tree Committee is also recommending tree topping be done by unlicensed 'tree butchers" The association has never recommended contractors to the members. (It's a liability issue).
In conclusion:
The Tree Committee in their zealous efforts to keep a view, are placing the association with it's members at risk for legal law suits that could cost thousands. This committee needs to be abolished. We now have a Compliance Investigator that can take care of all complaints. The false propaganda of the Committee needs to end. The Tree Committee has sucked the Lands and Buildings Committee into being a part of the Seabreeze fiasco.
Note:
I offer no legal advice and the information relayed here, should be considered reliable. I have no direct first had knowledge. Maybe the Tree Committee will provide their version of the events. Or, will it just be another of the cover ups that we have come to expect.
13 comments:
The tree committee members should pay for this out of their own pockets. The board now has a reason to do away with this useless committee and the old bags who run it. They continue to bring shame and discourse to our community. They are the ugly faces of surfside.
Interesting, but not surprising how one key bit of information is being left out here concerning the survey. It wasn't the Tree committee who were pushing for the survey, it was Larry Raymer. I was at the board meeting when he had brought it up and it was thankfully shot down. I believe it was led by Flood but could be wrong.
So while yes he is on the committee, the committee as a whole, including the assigned trustee were NOT asking for it. And it was NOT coming from anyone on J place.
The reason for asking for a survey, was to keep what happened from happening. The committee knew that the board would not approve the survey, because it was to costly. The committee went around the board and got those damn trees cut down. Another reason they should be abolished or the current members removed. If I was a board member, I would be irate at the committee for thinking they can do whatever they want without board approval.
3:18 obvious you didn,t go to either Tree Committee. Or Buildings and Grounds meetings. You would know differently.
I have never been quoted more than $2,500 for a survey - that for five acres - another for tidelands in commercial property. So where do you get that kind of cost for a survey?
A complete survey of the lake involves 50 or more properties that border the lake. It is not a simple survey of one property. There are many irregular boundaries in and out of the water. There are banks that extend into the lake that is owned by Surfside. Some have trees. This is a zone where trees should be left alone as it is protected shore lines. New regulations prohibit cutting trees along a shore line. The tree committee is aware of the new regulations, but choose to ignore them. They may find themselves under investigation, as they should.
I recently inquired about a survey to sell a lot, separating it from another. The estimates for that simple operation from Surveyors in both South Bend and Seaside ran over $6000 apiece. BTW one person thought that the committee went around the Board to do their nasty work, but wait, there seems to be quite a significant connection between the Tree Committee and members of the Board, maybe an unannounced "blink of the eye" approval was issued?
It should be perfectly obvious that Peggy Olds has no business serving as chair of the Tree Comm., being a J Place owner and her husband on the Board. Larry Raymer was removed as chair for being "too nice, and patient", and replaced with the very eager Peg Olds. Larry happened to miss the meeting, and had no idea that he was being replaced. Peg has an obvious conflict of interests and should be replaced by a non-J Place member.
She told committee members they should "cut so much off of (a large Spruce tree on the lake) that the tree will die." Raymer has suggested the tree be left alone, as Spruce trees have a disease and are dying at an increased rate. It can be seen all around the area on the fringes of forested land.
She just "loves the smell of gasoline and sawdust in the morning". (Borrowed from "Apocalypse Now", referring to Napalm).
No conflict of interest with the Olds. He does what she says. Actually feel a little sorry for him. Just a little. Maybe they deserve each other.
I know larry. He made a proposal that there should be a survey of Seabreeze Lake because of a tree complaint filed against Surfside property by the lake.
The land & buildings committee approved that he get a bid from a surveyor. He took the bid to the board for board approval. That bid was for 19,500 approximately. This was for a survey of all of Seabreeze Lake.
The board rejected this bid because of the cost. This should have ended the issue, but the tree committee was adamant for the removal, so they took it on themselves to hire the removal.
The tree committee, working with James Clancy, of the lands and buildings committee, got another bid of 2,000.00 to survey just the one lot where the trees were located, rather than all of Seabreeze lake. The tree committee and lands and buildings rejected that bid together. They took a guess without a survey, as to where the property lines were located.
They had the arborist cut the trees down to 4 feet tall. The two committee chairs decided on their own, to have additional work done on another property on Seabreeze lake. This work was done by a non licensed contractor. By doing this they made themselves liable for any problems that might occur.
Figures that Clancy would be in the middle of it. Our Water Plant may need to be relocated because of Clancy's work on the failed permitting. Surfside tends to do what they want, often ignoring regulations to save money. That's how the Asbestos disposal was mishandled, at great cost later, and fines. By the way, an "unlicensed contractor" would NOT be an arborist.
11:08
More falsehoods. Larry was removed because he was a trustee and the board at the time wanted chairpersons on committees to be non board members.
Before you call me a liar again, I was at the board meeting when it was talked about and the proof is on the tape. So your hate is misplaced and wrong but obviously will continue.
Since Larry had been on the committee for 12 years and served as chair for several, there were obviously more substantial concerns by some, that he wasn't being tough enough in his enforcement approach.
What is just plain twisted is that the BOT didn't just discuss it with Larry, showing him due respect. Williams decided to replace him without notice at a meeting he was unable to attend. That tells the story in itself. This was a political move, to replace him with a J Place owner as chair. In a community with more than 2000 member households, there are plenty of options to appointing a J Place owner, which is an obvious conflict of interests.
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