A shocked resident in Gold River, California, came to Reddit's r/TreeLaw community when their homeowners association decided to chop down the neighborhood's perfectly healthy trees.
According to the post, the Redditor's HOA attributed the tree removal to preventing cracks from occurring in the driveways across the community.
The original poster noted that their HOA normally patched the neighborhood's sidewalks, but still opted to enforce the rule that residents should pay for new driveways on their property if they had developed cracks.
The Reddit user also mentioned the numerous benefits of having the trees in their area, stating that these trees "help the environment, improve our air quality and allow us to save energy with their shade in the Sacramento heat."
Many states establish tree law to help prevent trees from being cut down since they are incredibly valuable to our environment as they clean the air we breathe and cool down our planet.
Tree law can also help protect those who face threats from HOAs and property managers who decide trees are unappealing or unnecessary to the neighborhood.
If you feel as though you are facing similar pressures from your community's board, you may want to consider negotiating with your HOA to help change rules and bylaws that prevent eco-friendly home and lawn renovations.
Several tree law enthusiasts came to the original poster's aid with advice.
"That sounds frustrating! HOAs can be really strict about certain things. Have you tried talking to your neighbors about it? Maybe if enough people express concern, the HOA will reconsider," one person wrote.
"Contact the city. It can be hard to get permits to cut down giant redwoods in particular, and the HOA may not be pulling proper permits for this. They can get into a heap of (very expensive) trouble if they are not," another commenter suggested.
"I did a job a few years ago cutting every tree within 20' of any road in an HOA because they thought the trees made the roads icy. Cut about 6 semi-truck loads of logs. It was a miserable job, many people didn't want their trees cut but the HOA had the power to cut them," a Reddit user working in forestry and logging commented. "First and last time I'll ever do anything with an HOA and I'd never live in one."
"It is heartbreaking to see," the original poster replied.
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