Several neighbors have expressed concern over the beautiful and very old beech tree (lovingly called the “elephant tree”) located at the south-west of the neighborhood. This tree lives in the “green space” between lots 57 and 58, which remain under the ownership of the developers and are not yet sold. It was always the intention of the developers to preserve this tree, which is why the green space was drawn to include this tree.
But as many of you have pointed out, its branches extend beyond the green space and extend into lot 57 to the east of the tree. This has posed concern for buyers as well, since the tree would likely need to be trimmed back for construction of a home on the adjacent lot. To my knowledge, two buyers have considered purchasing this lot and decided not to build there because of the tree.
It has been suggested that the neighborhood association look into purchasing one or both lots adjacent to this tree, seen here:
Why would we want to acquire one or both lots?
- It would help preserve the tree from damage caused by the construction of a home to the east
- It would provide a location for a small play area in the future, if the HOA desires
- In the case that the HOA builds a play space, property values may increase from the ammenity
What are the downsides?
- Liability insurance is likely to be more expensive if a play area were constructed in the future
- One or two fewer homes would increase the per-household annual HOA dues a small amount
What is the cost?
I have reached out to Sandi Gentry at RE/MAX who is representing the developers for remaining lots, and each lot is priced at $72,900.
The HOA would need to collect these funds up-front to cover the cost of purchase, whether that is one lot or both lots. This means each property owner would need to cover an equal share of this cost to make this happen.
Currently, this amounts to about $1,100 per for each household for the east lot.
Add another $1,100 if both lots were desired, but the east lot is of greater interest to preserve the tree.
This may go up if the price of these lots increases, and may go down if we add new owners as other lots are sold.
What if I do/don’t want this to happen?
A decision like this is up to the members – that’s you and me.
Everyone would need to vote to approve the motion before any action can be taken by the HOA. Our rules and bylaws do not stipulate a specific majority rule for circumstances like this, but I would imagine that a two-thirds majority or three-quarters majority would be necessary, since this is obviously a costly proposition.
If there is sufficient interest at this informal proposal stage, the HOA Board of Directors would provide all members with a written notice outlining specific costs and details. We would also schedule a special meeting of members to discuss the proposal, get your input, and schedule one or more official votes of members.
Next Steps
I’d like to have a conversation about this before we get too serious. Unfortunately, Sandi Gentry has expressed that a builder is interested in buying all the remaining lots so we may not have time to get all of this done, but it is still worth discussing.
What are your thoughts? Is this a terrible idea? Is this a great idea? Please leave a comment below or send an email to hoa@lakeshorewoods.rocks – thanks!
YES!
Additionally, I’m in favor of a well constructed, wood (not plastic) playground right away as well. I think it’d be an awesome addition to a neighborhood of this size with as many young families as we have.
Great idea and worth exploring. Thank you for pursuing this and for sharing the enormously helpful information, Steve!
I don’t mean to be the Debbie Downer, but I’ve designed a handful of parks with playgrounds in my career and play structures are quite expensive. Theres are lots of factors to consider- site grading, fall zones, ADA accessibility, material, play surface. For a decent playground you are looking at least $50,000 and that isn’t even taking to consideration the landscape contractor that would need to be hired to prepare the site grading, demolition of the trees, pour the concrete footings, city government approval(?), etc. We also found at our design firm that playgrounds only accommodate a short age span with children until they start using it in ways other intended (E.g. jumping off high places, climbing on top of tunnel slides, etc.). So although the idea of a playground sounds great, I think at the end of the day it will be a compounded cost with a growing scope of add-on fees for our community. With the community playgrounds I have worked on, it was something the Land Developer worked into the budget prior to the HOA. For above reasons, I say no.
It is a wonderful tree. If we are interested in preserving it I would suggest we first contact an Arborist to assess the health of the tree, and make recommendations on how to best manage for all to enjoy.