Falling Trees and Hopes

Here are the trees on the front lot before they were cut down.











Here are the trees being cut down.

Here is the lot with no trees. Notice the two kind of spindly trees on the neighbor's lot across the fence. We were thinking it might be nice to see those trees fall down in the next big storm on the builder's house. I think the redwood and cedar shielded the other trees a lot during wind storms.

April 28th was an emotion-filled day. The trees on the front lot were cut down and the builder essentially said he’d love to see us in court! Here’s how the day went down.

At 9:00AM, PSE dropped my electrical connection. PSE told me that I should have received 48 hours notice. The builder had called me the previous evening to tell me that my power was going to be turned off tomorrow from 8:30 to 11:30 AM so that the trees can be cut down (turns out that the power was off from 9 to 6, and therefore I didn’t get any work done). Evergreen Tree Experts cut down the redwood and cedar on the front lot.

The builder and I had arranged to meet at 1:30 to talk about the utilities. I teold him that the PoTelCo guy told me that if an easement was set up across the front of the builder’s lot, that the electrical underground connection could be on private land and thus not cost as much. He just nods.

I asked if he got the letter I mailed to him. He said he no longer lives at the Renton address I have for him and that he didn’t get it. I gave the builder a copy of the letter. He read it and then gave it back to me. I tried to give it back to him, but he refused. I asked for his new mailing address and he refused to give it to me and said that his cell phone number is good enough. I shouldn’t have allowed him to give me back the letter, I guess. At least he read it.

The builder told me that we could split the cost of the new water line for my house (half of $700 is $350). I said I would consider it but that I still felt that it was his responsibility to pay for the whole thing. He said that he is an Indian and that it is in his people’s nature to settle these things in court (I have never run across someone who would use their ethnicity as an excuse before and I was a little taken aback). He said that if there was an earthquake and my waterline was damaged (and that the break was on his lot), that I would need his permission to fix the line, that he would not give me that permission, and that I would have to pay to have my line moved so that I could have a water connection. This feels like a veiled threat to me. I still think that the implied (prescriptive) easement would give me access to the line for repair. I need to ask my lawyer about this.

I asked him about the overhead electrical line and how he proposed to move it. He said maybe he wouldn’t move it. I asked him how that is possible since the house he is building is 2 stories. He shrugged his shoulders implying “I don’t know.”

He said I should think about the three options of paying for the moving of the utilities: paying for all, paying for half, or paying for none and to think about the ramifications of each decision. He is willing to split the cost of the water line. He said he is very willing to deal with these issues in court. I told him that if he’ll pay for the utilities to be moved, that he could proceed with his construction sooner. He said he can wait. He said that he has the water line scheduled to be moved on 5-5-06 (Friday next week).

This encounter with the builder was extremely frustrating. I tell my spouse about it and we both end up on edge for the rest of the day (and evening). We discuss just building a fence down our driveway to limit his access to his lot since he uses our driveway for access (for the time being). We could also dig a trench. A trench would not be so obviously aggressive and we could put a water line in it in the future. In the end, we decide that we will try to talk to our lawyer first, but that may not be until Monday.

Oh, the builder also told me (because I asked) that he might move into the house since he wants to live in this area! Of course, if he can get a good price for the house, he’ll sell it. Oh god! My spouse and I don’t want him as a neighbor!

To end this blog-post, here is the redwood on the ground. I counted 65 plus rings on the redwood and 75 on the cedar. They were likely planted when the house was built in 1935. Sad to see them go. So sad.