Lawyer question about developer ripping out trees not on their land

[zippy23]

Check these pictures out. The trees have been there 18 years, mature huge trees right on the other side of my fence. Blocked the road, looked awesome. Poof, all gone cuz of a "mistake of miscommunication between the developer and the tree crew they hired".

 

[KittySlayer]

This was not m/I land, the HOA takes care of this land, and it's very far off the road, all the other utility lines are right next to the road, the trees are pretty far off.

Not sure you need a lawyer but you definitely need advance buy in from your neighbors / HOA. It will only take one disgruntled neighbor to muck up the whole resolution.

And don't expect 18 year hold mature trees. Think about your goal of a barrier from the road and get a good long term solution that will likely take a couple of years of growing to be effective after the replacement landscaping is planted.

 

[nra4ever]

Update: so the city contacted the developer to cease operations. The city admitted to me on an email that the developer made a mistake. The city said they are behind me and u neighbors, and are forcing the developer to come up with a restoration plan. Me and my immediate neighbor have been contacted today to set up a meeting with the city and developer all together to discuss the restoration plan. We are dealing directly with the director of city planning and development. He said the city and us will need to approve of this restoration plan. So they made this mistake, they must make the situation whole. Should I contact a lawyer, go to the first meeting and see what the developer is offering to do? The city director said he'll use the resources of the city to help make this situation right.

Hire an attorney that does this type of work. The attorney fees should be paid by the developer so definitely hire someone good!

 

[WebSnyper]

Not sure you need a lawyer but you definitely need advance buy in from your neighbors / HOA. It will only take one disgruntled neighbor to muck up the whole resolution.

And don't expect 18 year hold mature trees. Think about your goal of a barrier from the road and get a good long term solution that will likely take a couple of years of growing to be effective after the replacement landscaping is planted.f years of growing to be effective after the replacement landscaping is planted.

I'd think that the board of the HOA would need to take action according to whatever their covenants say they would need to be able to spend $ to engage legal assistance. They don't normally need a quorum of all the residents of the HOA to do that type of thing, and often HOAs already have some legal representation available to them already.

An initial step would probably be a letter from the HOA's legal representation being sent, assuming that a call from the HOA to MI doesn't get some amicable response.

Interested to hear how this one progresses.