Home destroyed by a saved tree

[grandmoon]

A TREE that residents wanted removed - but a council arborist wanted heritage listed - has smashed into a Sydney house, narrowly missing the owners who now find themselves homeless.

The 27m-high Norfolk Island pine came down in wild weather at Allambie Heights on the weekend, crashing through the roof near the bedroom of Rock and Kendall Davis-Bogan. The couple are furious Warringah Council was warned the tree was unstable but refused a request by their neighbour on whos property it was growing, to cut it down less than two years ago.

"Through no fault of ours, or our neighbours, this tree has smashed our house and destroyed our lives," Mrs Davis-Bogan told the Manly Daily yesterday.

Such is the damage the house might have to be demolished. When their neighbour wrote to the council in June 2011, asking for permission to remove the tree, he stated it was growing in just 50cm of soil and did not have deep roots.

But the council rejected the request, ruling it should be heritage listed.

A council spokesperson said the inspection was undertaken 18 months ago and "tree conditions can change over time".

ee was unstable but refused a request by their neighbour, on whose property it was

[cherples]

This thread makes me worried.

I have a Norfolk Island pine in our backyard which council rejected our application to remove it. The reason was it's a prominent tree. It's so tall i don't know how tall.It will crash one of 4 houses whichever direction it falls.

You could try getting the top lopped off. I don't think the council can do much about that.

Urban areas need trees for cooling, drainage and shade. They just need to be the right type of trees rather than ones that seemed like a good idea 60 years ago.

[cherry*135]

Similar thing happened in the area I live in 5 or so years ago, except sadly, it caused the death of one of the husband living there.

Taken from a Hastings Council link (not the council that refused permisson for this tree to come down). Read the bit at the bottom about using an aborist to shift the liability from the Council.

In a New South Wales Court of Appeal decision earlier this year, Shoalhaven City Council was successfully sued for $743,000 by a resident that was killed by a falling tree.

The deceased had previously applied to the Council for permission to remove the tree which was protected by the Council's Tree Preservation Order and Council had refused him permission to remove it as the inspecting officer did not consider the tree to be a danger. Subsequent to the inspection, the tree fell on the applicants house and killed him while sleeping. This decision has implications for the current system used by Hastings Council under the Tree Preservation Order. 

This report proposes a new process whereby applicants applying to remove/prune trees on the grounds they are dying, diseased or dangerous  be required to submit a report from a suitably qualified arborist to support their application, effectively shifting the liability from Council.

http://mail.hastings.nsw.gov.au/EBP%20Hastings/buspapr.nsf/e9acbc2a171e28abca256968000d7cab/f6e161f003d04887ca256ede000bd14d?OpenDocument

[cherry*135]

^^ should read the death of the husband. His wife lived there too.

[i-need-a-martini]

I have a Norfolk Island pine in our backyard which council rejected our application to remove it. The reason was it's a prominent tree. It's so tall i don't know how tall.It will crash one of 4 houses whichever direction it falls.

You don't have to worry.

The tree in the story was dangerous because it had been grown in a shallow 50cm deep garden bed.

But Norfolks are not dangerous trees. Just think of where they are traditionally planted - seaside parks and cliffs where they are often seen leaning after decades of ferocious winds. They are pretty tenacious and the tree that fell in the story was just a freak.