Help Me, What Would You Do?

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  #46  
Old 12-19-2019, 10:54 AM
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Originally Posted by gomsiepop View Post
Yesterday morning my neighbor rang my bell. I invited her into my home and she immediately said, "I hope this doesn't ruin our friendship". She proceeded to tell me the tree I planted in the back of my home was blocking her "view" of the water. I live two doors away from her and the tree in question is a Magnolia. Our homes are newly built and the tree in question was planted three months ago. I am in the process of having my entire home landscaped right now. I was extremely upset and because I didn't want to upset her I said I would try to relocate the tree. I spoke to my landscaper and he said because I have an interior lot the location I suggested could damage the screen to my pool area in the future as the tree grows. Although I want my neighbor to be happy I am not happy myself. I am upset she waited three months to tell me her concerns. The "view" she mentioned can only be seen from one chair in her lanai to the left side of her lanai. The tree is planted on my property and I did submit the paperwork to ARC and I was approved. Can someone give me guidance as to what they would do in my situation. Thank you for your help.
We have huge trees that are blocking our view and they belong to the Villages!! They are not going to even trim them but they did tell us that we can trim them on the bottom if we wanted to. Just like the massive Crepe Myrtles at our last house, behind the fenceline and belonged to the Villages. They were growing over our house...they told us to get a tree trimmer! (for THEIR trees)
  #47  
Old 12-19-2019, 11:00 AM
rrb48310 rrb48310 is offline
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Originally Posted by OCsun View Post
My first thought is how attached are you the tree. Will it bother you as the tree grows large and wide that you are blocking someones view? I ask this only because you took the time to ask for our thoughts. Maybe a palm tree would fill your need and not block the view. If you do make any changes I would ask your neighbor to pay for it.

There is a magnolia on the golf course behind my house and it does block my view and I wish I could have it replaced with a Palm Tree. It gets very few flowers also drops quite a few leaves which are messy. Just my opinion but if you love your tree then keep it. It is your property!
I agree with the part that palm trees are less a mess and asking neighbor to share the cost of replacing. In the end it’s what you want and that you did everything to comply with the ARC.
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  #48  
Old 12-19-2019, 11:35 AM
Sunflower33 Sunflower33 is offline
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If this would ruin your friendship then there was never a friendship. Friendships should be deeper than material things. Life is too short for this kind of behavior.
  #49  
Old 12-19-2019, 12:15 PM
Marty411 Marty411 is offline
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Default Magnolia Trees

I personally like Magnolia trees. They are green all year with beautiful shiny leaves. We have the lower branches cut off. This should give your neighbor more view.
  #50  
Old 12-19-2019, 12:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Aces4 View Post
This!!! The best move we ever made landscaping-wise was removing the dirty magnolia on our lawn. Magnolias are beautiful on the back forty of a sixty acre spread only. But I applaud your attempt at diplomacy with your neighbor.
wow, i had no idea! thx for sharing valuable info
  #51  
Old 12-19-2019, 02:18 PM
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I had the person across the street ask me to remove some shrubs that block the view of the golf course they have from their den when looking between my and my neighbors house. They bought several years ago and the view was blocked then. I told them that if they had wanted a golf course view they should have bought on the golf course like I did. Simple as that. You can never please everyone, so please yourself.
  #52  
Old 12-19-2019, 03:09 PM
justjim justjim is online now
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Default Magnolia Tree

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Originally Posted by bmit16 View Post
My 1st thought is why would anybody in a Villa want a Magnolia tree? The landscaper put one in our yard when the house was built. The 1st thing we did was dig it up. They are nice shade trees but they grow way to big for a Villa lot and they shed leaves and cone terribly. Who wants all that maintenance?
A Magnolia tree can reach 70-80 ft tall and a width of 30-40 ft. I would think several times before planting one in our small Village yards. No Landscaper worth his salt should recommend one for our yards. Even on the golf course it’s questionable.
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  #53  
Old 12-19-2019, 05:03 PM
LoriAnn LoriAnn is offline
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Default Do you really want your enemies close?

Remove the tree and you’ll gain a life long friend. Keep the tree and you’ll gain a life long enemy that lives way too close. In my opinion, she’s doing you a favor. You’ll regret that tree in a few years.
  #54  
Old 12-19-2019, 05:32 PM
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There really are some great posts about keeping a friend or loosing one. About making or not making an enemy. At our age can we agree that many people are very principled?

If the VIEW is so important have the neighbor let you VIEW the $$Benjamins$$ to cover the compromise that you decide upon. It's not a regular compromise because it should be the neighbor who is feeling ALL the pain financially, not you, you did everything the correct way. Why should you be a people pleaser or uncomfortable? Many people would have told her to hit the bricks.

I have great neighbors, top drawer, fantastic people but there is only one that I would do this for and not accept a penny. If this person matters to you the way this one neighbor matter to me then maybe you have to adjust the plan and foot the bill and upset YOUR yard!
  #55  
Old 12-19-2019, 05:56 PM
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Originally Posted by tophcfa View Post
I think you handled the situation very well and have no responsibility to remove the tree. However, let me give you a little advise based on my experience with magnolia trees. Do yourself a favor and use this episode as an excuse to get rid of the magnolia tree. In a few years you will wish you never planted the dam tree. We regretted having a magnolia on our property. These trees grow very big (not just tall but very wide) and create a mess. They constantly drop these rather large and spinny cones everywhere and their leaves make a mess, including clogging your gutters. You will be constantly cleaning up the trees debris. It also becomes very difficult to grow decent grass anywhere near the tree canopy and your lawnmower will learn to hate the trees cones. And if you wait until the tree grows big to take it down you will have to jump through loops with the ARC and pay someone big $$ to remove and replace it. Plus, the now extensive and shallow tree root system will then rot underground and create a fungus that will kill all your grass. Three years after removing our magnolia we are finally getting something that resembles a lawn, but we constantly need to add fill as the lawn depresses where the roots have rotted out.

So my advise would be to get rid of the magnolia for you, not your neighbor. But you will get a double win since your neighbor will think you did it for her : ).
I agree with you. Our neighbor at our last house had one, and we were constantly picking up the leaves. It doesn't seem to flower all at once and be done with it, so a mess was there a lot of the time. The overall shape of them, to me, is not very graceful. I would never plant one, but to each his own.


If the neighbor would pay for removing it, I'd go for it. To me a friendly neighbor is worth it. It could be a win-win situation.
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  #56  
Old 12-19-2019, 06:15 PM
OhioBuckeye OhioBuckeye is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gomsiepop View Post
Yesterday morning my neighbor rang my bell. I invited her into my home and she immediately said, "I hope this doesn't ruin our friendship". She proceeded to tell me the tree I planted in the back of my home was blocking her "view" of the water. I live two doors away from her and the tree in question is a Magnolia. Our homes are newly built and the tree in question was planted three months ago. I am in the process of having my entire home landscaped right now. I was extremely upset and because I didn't want to upset her I said I would try to relocate the tree. I spoke to my landscaper and he said because I have an interior lot the location I suggested could damage the screen to my pool area in the future as the tree grows. Although I want my neighbor to be happy I am not happy myself. I am upset she waited three months to tell me her concerns. The "view" she mentioned can only be seen from one chair in her lanai to the left side of her lanai. The tree is planted on my property and I did submit the paperwork to ARC and I was approved. Can someone give me guidance as to what they would do in my situation. Thank you for your help.
I agree with another comment. She bought a home that her view was out in her back yard. She didn't buy anybody else's property for them. Just tell her nicely that you paid for your property & you'll move the tree a little if she'll pay to have it move so you won't infringe on her view that you paid for. If the view is that important to her let her pay to have it moved. She sounds like she's quite old, so yes be nice. You sound like you would bend over backwards to honor her wishes!
  #57  
Old 12-19-2019, 07:54 PM
600th Photo Sq 600th Photo Sq is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tophcfa View Post
I think you handled the situation very well and have no responsibility to remove the tree. However, let me give you a little advise based on my experience with magnolia trees. Do yourself a favor and use this episode as an excuse to get rid of the magnolia tree. In a few years you will wish you never planted the dam tree. We regretted having a magnolia on our property. These trees grow very big (not just tall but very wide) and create a mess. They constantly drop these rather large and spinny cones everywhere and their leaves make a mess, including clogging your gutters. You will be constantly cleaning up the trees debris. It also becomes very difficult to grow decent grass anywhere near the tree canopy and your lawnmower will learn to hate the trees cones. And if you wait until the tree grows big to take it down you will have to jump through loops with the ARC and pay someone big $$ to remove and replace it. Plus, the now extensive and shallow tree root system will then rot underground and create a fungus that will kill all your grass. Three years after removing our magnolia we are finally getting something that resembles a lawn, but we constantly need to add fill as the lawn depresses where the roots have rotted out.

So my advice would be to get rid of the magnolia for you, not your neighbor. But you will get a double win since your neighbor will think you did it for her : ).
Actually I totally agree with this post. Magnolia Trees are basically junk trees usually in parks and wide-open spaces.

They really are terrible and you will wish in not too distant future that you did not plant the tree.

Bottom line poor choice of tree.

Get rid of it...before it cost you a bundle.

Excellent advice from the person who posted it.
  #58  
Old 12-19-2019, 08:44 PM
OrangeBlossomBaby OrangeBlossomBaby is offline
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Don't you need special approval to remove a tree? Under Florida law, you have to get an arborist to state that the tree is dangerous or diseased or something like that? I thought I read that somewhere, with some recent changes.

If that's the case, then the neighbor is already on pretty shaky ground with her complaint. If it's not the case - decide if you want the tree more than you want a peaceful cordial relationship with your neighbor. If you're willing to give up the tree, have her pay for the removal.
  #59  
Old 12-19-2019, 09:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby View Post
Don't you need special approval to remove a tree? Under Florida law, you have to get an arborist to state that the tree is dangerous or diseased or something like that? I thought I read that somewhere, with some recent changes.

If that's the case, then the neighbor is already on pretty shaky ground with her complaint. If it's not the case - decide if you want the tree more than you want a peaceful cordial relationship with your neighbor. If you're willing to give up the tree, have her pay for the removal.
I think if it's under a certain diameter trunk you need no permission to remove it.
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  #60  
Old 12-19-2019, 09:24 PM
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If you remove the tree to please your neighbor, what will her next request be? I agreed to an opaque fence up north where I had flowers and the rule is 6’ high at the back maximum. The neighbor put in an 8’ fence. When I didn’t complain, she made it 10’ high. She has a raised deck on her side, it is 6’ from her deck floor. Now I can only grow grass, I don’t mind as I am not up north all the time. But guess what my answer will be the next time she asks for anything.... And yes I know I can get it down to 6’ with just one call.
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