Wealthy Neighbors Removed My Trees So I Closed Their Access Road
My long ordeal began on a very ordinary late September afternoon when my sister Mara called me in a complete panic. I rushed from work to our family property on Pine Hollow Road. When I arrived I found that six massive forty year old sycamore trees along our eastern boundary were completely gone. My father had planted three of those trees when I was a child and the rest had been there even longer. They had been reduced to nothing but stumps by a tree clearing crew working for the Cedar Ridge Estates homeowners association.
Cedar Ridge Estates sits on a hill directly east of my land. Their homeowners association president Gordon Hale had ordered the trees removed to improve the valley view for twenty seven houses in his development. I spoke with him at his house and he dismissed my complaints while claiming their property survey gave them the right to clear the boundary. I knew he was wrong because my grandfather had established a very specific road easement agreement in 1989 which I kept filed next to our 1967 property survey. That legal document allowed the neighborhood to use Pine Hollow Road to cross my land but it strictly prohibited any modification of my property.
I immediately consulted my real estate attorney Denise Alvarez who confirmed the tree removal was an illegal trespass and a violation of the easement scope. Early the next morning I installed survey posts and a heavy chain across Pine Hollow Road to legally block all residential access to their neighborhood. Gordon Hale and the other residents were furious but the local sheriff verified my legal right to secure my property while emergency vehicles retained access. A subsequent independent county survey proved without any doubt that all six tree stumps were located entirely on my family parcel just as I had known.
Faced with an undeniable lawsuit for timber theft and property damage the homeowners association agreed to our settlement terms. By November a landscaping crew arrived with a crane to plant twelve mature replacement sycamores along my property line ensuring an even denser boundary than before. Once the final tree was secured in the ground I removed the chain and allowed the residents to use the road once again. The neighbors regained their access but they must now watch their precious view slowly disappear behind twelve growing trees.