Good news and bad news, ugh my back

[PineRidge]

Yesterday I saw a couple of Davey Tree trucks parked in the road in front of our place. Since I needed a couple of loads of chips I put a note on one of the windshields telling them to stop by the house when they could.

About an hour later there's a knock on the door and one of the guys introduces himself. Says he has some good news, and bad news for me.

The good news is that very soon I will have all the chips that I need.

The bad news is that 53 six-to eight foot pine trees that are lining one side of our drive fall within the power line 75 foot easement corridor and will need to either be re-located by me or they will be used to make the chips.

It's unfortunate that the power company decided to wait 7 years to tell us, because when the pines were planted they were only a foot tall.

We have until June of 2007 to get with the program. Time to call in some favors.

We need something to act as a snow break on the one side of the drive and as long as it's not a tree, it is permitted by the utility company. Do any of you guys have experience with privet? Will it work as a snow break, and how tall does it get if left untouched?

 

[AndyM]

We need something to act as a snow break on the one side of the drive and as long as it's not a tree, it is permitted by the utility company. Do any of you guys have experience with privet? Will it work as a snow break, and how tall does it get if left untouched?

I put in privet hedges at our old house. Even though there was a parking lot behind our house, it was zoned as residential property and a fence higher than four feet was prohibited by the village zoning.

I forget how far I spaced them, but I think they were four feet apart. They were only about three feet high when I planted them. Over the next few years, they grew into a thick wall across the back of my property, and I kept them trimmed at about six feet high. We went by there this summer and saw they are all between 10 to 15 feet and you can't see between them!

 

[Paddy]

PineRidge,

Slow down here. So the tree trinners tell you they got the go. Talk to the utility. Unless your trees are planted nearly under the line, do you have a problem. They do make many exceptions. Otherwise most subdivisions would be clear of trees. Confirm this by driving through any residential area.

Do you think they will ever pose a real risk?

 

[JimMorrissey]

Pine,

Take some pics and try to appeal to the power company. Maybe if you promise to keep them pruned below any trouble heights they'd give you a break. That's too bad.....

 

[MikeBurr]

Maybe too late in their growth, but I had some small pines that got the tops nocked off, the trees proceded to grow outward into a more bush like tree. If you cut the tops and keep them trimed, maybe you could make a tall pine hedge.

 

[krue]

I don't know about Ohio, but I am currently trying to clear (reclear actually) privet hedge off of my place. When I bought it the privet hedge was about 30-40 high, it all grew up together so thick that I guess the only was it could grow was straight up. Around here it's a nuisance and almost impossible to get rid of.

 

[SPIKER]

pineridge:

Sorry to hear about the pine having to go , but you can talk to the power company but usually not much can be done if they are in the right of way after the power outages back a few years. I didn't notice WHAY SOECIES of pine it was? White pines grow quickly compaired to blue spruces so you may have a few more years if they are a slower growing species. you can have anything under there that are 10' or less under ohio rules as they told me.

I wish you luck in moving or having them topped but the topped trees don't look right to me...

there is also the line voltage has a thing to do with it. higher the voltage the wider the right of way & more they will require clearances.

Markm

 

[rswyan]

Mike,

Before we start diggin' all those suckers up and transplanting them, call First Energy and see if you can get someone to come out and look at it.

I think I'd also track down the Davey crew and get the name and cell number of the regional supervisor. Keep in mind that Davey's HQ & campus is located right up in Kent - easy enough to pay them a little visit.

Having been to your place many, many times and seen the lay of things I find this to be a cruel joke. You would have to see it to really appreciate it - these are transmission towers - the lines are probably at least 150' off the ground - and you probably drive half a dozen semi's (abreast) between the closet base of the towers and the trees in question. The tallest tree is maybe 10'.

Dunno whether it was Davey or Asphlund but someone was here earlier this year to "clear" the lines running back to our place. They completely topped out a couple of hawthornes down next to my house that had grown up around the telco lines on the lower part of the poles. They could have just as easily pruned them back around the lines and left the shape of the trees - none of these trees were even close to the actual power lines at the top of the poles.

Then further up the way, they left all the brush and small trees growing under the lines - didn't even touch it. Some of this stuff, including some wild grape vines, had grown up and over the telco lines - the wild grape has now wrapped itself around the telco lines for a distance of at least 10'.

A couple of years ago when I called the telco about this they said "call the power company - it's their poles - we just lease the right to string our lines on 'em." I then called the power co and the first person I got told me that it was the telco's responsibility to keep their lines clear. I called back and got a second person who, after I started talking about electrocution hazards (kids walk by these lines on the way to school) and threatened to contact the local newspaper, agreed to send someone out. The did come out but the amount of work they did was a joke - they basically left anything that was close to the telco lines and trimmed out a couple of trees that were somewhat close to the power lines at the top.

You should post a pic of the trees and the towers.

 

[midlf]

RSWyan mentioned First Energy. If that is who has the easement I doubt you will get any slack from them. They are under a big gun to keep up trimming to better than required standards. They are the S*B's who were saving money on tree trimming, among other things, and thus caused the northeast blackout in '93. Their incompetence or negligence have created all kinds of headaches for the industry because they were not following the NERC guidelines for good utility practice. First Energy should have been forced into bankruptcy with massive fines and the executives should be in jail.

 

[PineRidge]

Have any of you guys rented a tree spade? How many of these trees should I expect to be able to move in a day considering the largest is only eight foot tall?