Trees and utility lines

Forums › Off topic › Trees and utility lines - who pays ?

1 | 2 | 3

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13767 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1053438 26-May-2014 11:29

trig42: You say it is roadside - so is it actually on your property (would be very unusual to have a streetlight on your property).

Generally, the poles will not be on your property - they will be on the council berm. Not your problem. You may have to mow the berm, but you don't have to trim the trees on that berm.

About this time last year I got home from work and noticed sparks from the powerline hitting the trees outside my place. I called Vector and someone was there within about 15 minutes to check it out (they must have done something, because the sparking stopped). The tree was trimmed back the following day. The pole is on the edge of our property, but according to the plans, is actually on the berm/road reserve.

Tree is rooted 100% on our property unfortunately, pole for power/light etc is about 2 ft from it....

Thats my house behind the tree.... you cant even see the street light in it. And in there is power and phone lines as well.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

Rickles

2938 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1053449 26-May-2014 11:34

Gavin, that tree is so close to the footpath I'd be tempted to simply call the power lines company and say you are 'conerned' about saftey of all the services, viz. light, telephone and power.

I reckon they will take a look and simply trim it to avoid anything untoward now that you told them

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13767 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1053517 26-May-2014 12:35

Its actually a drive way as well to the neighbors (4 houses).

But contacted Vector, theyre sending someone out today to assess the situation and go from there - mentioned it will be an on-going issue and we'd be happy to see the tree gone and the Vector rep said its an option to remove it then, beneficial to all parties :)

Can think of one person who will be upset, and thats one of the neighbors - "at night when I look up at it, it reminds me of the trees at home" - shes from Australia and she even said she means gum trees... how a pōhutukawa reminds anyone of a gum tree.... guess it has leaves, bark and roots.....

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13767 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1053524 26-May-2014 12:49

And here we go... wife just called to say Vector rep has been round, will only trim around power cables and leave everything else, said very unlikely we'd get any help in removing the tree completely even tho itll be ongoing issue. Contacted Chorus in regards to phone lines running through tree and theyve said "too bad, your problem."

Council wants nothing to do with any of it.

FFS.

Ive got a can of petrol in the garage, might put it to use.......

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1053536 26-May-2014 12:56

xpd: Situation is this.....

30+ year old protected (or weve been told it is but council say its not on their records as ever being there) tree near roadside.

Now, I'm going to assume that some smart cookie in council/utility planning somewhere figured years ago "oh look a tree growing under where we want to run our lines and put a street light, that will never be a problem." and had the lines and street light installed....

Today, said tree has grown up and in the middle of it is the following :

* street light
* Powerlines
* Telephone lines for all the neighbors

In high winds, the branches of the tree move/rub the lines, and now I've seen theres a branch thats broken off lying across some of the (pretty sure its phone) lines.

Called the council and theyve said to contact the utility companies..... the issue I can see forthcoming tho is this... who pays ?

"Officially" I'm the land owner so therefore its my responsibility, yet this has been an issue long before I bought the property (3 yrs ago).
Some people have said that the utility company will generally sort it out the first time and I keep on top of it from there which is fair and fine with me.

And who do I contact considering theres 3 different services involved ? Can see if I contact one, they'll argue for the other two to help with costs (if they're nice and will cover it) and Ill sit there with a tree dropping more branches onto their lines and eventually bringing one/all the lines down.....

Home ownership... never ending battles.... :)

I used to work for utility companies in the UK and there, anything that interferes with their infrastructure will be removed with or without your consent, but at their cost.

Here, I had some trees that were allegedly causing a short in our power supply at the house by interfering with the lines in the road. Powerco came and looked and said they would trim them at their cost once then it was my problem, or they would remove them altogether at their cost. Only their approved contractor could do the work due to the safety issues with the live lines. (As an aside it made no difference whatsoever to the instability of our supply!)

I opted to have the trees removed as that seemed like the cheapest way. However, my neighbour across the road has just put up a new winery building that is visually awful, so now I am wishing we had left the trees there to screen that!! Did not know they were going to put the building in until construction began in November though.

Bung

6487 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1053542 26-May-2014 13:04

xpd: Can think of one person who will be upset, and thats one of the neighbors - "at night when I look up at it, it reminds me of the trees at home" - shes from Australia and she even said she means gum trees... how a pōhutukawa reminds anyone of a gum tree.... guess it has leaves, bark and roots.....

Maybe it's because both are a damned nuisance when they are planted too close to houses. I have a neighbour's juvenile gum showering my roof and gutters with leaves. When/if it gets bigger it will probably start dropping branches :(

Pohutukawa can be treated as big shrubs and I wouldn't hesitate to do that to one that was planted. In an urban area they will never be the same as the really old ones on the coast.

Edit: Most trees won't regrow if hard pruned below the level that is producing leaves. Pohutukawa will resprout from the cut end of a bare trunk. I've got one about your size that was cut to a stump about 25 years ago.

bales

116 posts

Master Geek

Subscriber

#1053597 26-May-2014 14:07

let them do the first prune then you can do the rest safely.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

wellygary

8328 posts

Uber Geek

#1053601 26-May-2014 14:20

There is no way that tree is "notable" "historic" or in any way protected,
rent a chainsaw and a chipper and go to town on it,

Glassboy

850 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1053622 26-May-2014 14:54

xpd: And here we go... wife just called to say Vector rep has been round, will only trim around power cables and leave everything else, said very unlikely we'd get any help in removing the tree completely even tho itll be ongoing issue. Contacted Chorus in regards to phone lines running through tree and theyve said "too bad, your problem."

Council wants nothing to do with any of it.

FFS.

Ive got a can of petrol in the garage, might put it to use.......

Depending on where you are the Pohutukawa may be an introduced species (eg Wellington) and won't be protected. You should also be able to top the thing and then keep it trimmed.

Glassboy

850 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1053623 26-May-2014 14:54

xpd: And here we go... wife just called to say Vector rep has been round, will only trim around power cables and leave everything else, said very unlikely we'd get any help in removing the tree completely even tho itll be ongoing issue. Contacted Chorus in regards to phone lines running through tree and theyve said "too bad, your problem."

Council wants nothing to do with any of it.

FFS.

Ive got a can of petrol in the garage, might put it to use.......

Depending on where you are the Pohutukawa may be an introduced species (eg Wellington) and won't be protected. You should also be able to top the thing and then keep it trimmed.

Sidestep

1013 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1053633 26-May-2014 15:01

In association with Project Crimson, as part of a private Carbon Sink I've planted many, many hundreds of Pohutukawa.

But much as I love them, that one's going to cause you no end of grief.

Take it down now before it does get listed/protected..

pinkydot

247 posts

Master Geek

#1053671 26-May-2014 16:14

Trim it & build a small tree house. That would be awesome, will be one of your major attraction of the street. Who ever want to visit the tree house, charge them a small fees. Tell them it's for the maintance of the tree. ;)
ok maybe I'm just day dreaming.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13767 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1053695 26-May-2014 16:31

LOL, we want the thing chopped down so we can have firewood ;)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

hellonearthisman

1819 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1053923 26-May-2014 20:56

Here are the basic rules on tree pruning. You could take out 20% of the tree.
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/consents/resourceconsents/Pages/typesofresourceconsents.aspx#tree

But it looks like a Pohutukawa so may have extra protection. But letting the lines company deal with the trimming will mean you won't have to deal with a RMA. Also they take out one of the bigger limbs the timber might be worth more than firewood value.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13767 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1054053 27-May-2014 08:16

It is a Pohutukawa but when the council has been approached about it previously, they had no interest in it at all and didnt care what we did with it.... but refused to put that in writing or help remove anything to make the walk/driveway to the neighbors safer.

Cant win.... they all pas the buck onto someone else ;)

When i got home, it appears the Vector rep did actually cut away some of the lower branches etc but said he needs to get someone else in the clear branches away further up from the lines, but may take 3+ months to happen.

I'll plod on and email/write to Chorus, Vector and the council and see if we can come to some arrangement where the tree can be removed ("no interest" clause with Vector) - dont mind paying some of the cost but prefer not to bear the lot (think quote a while back was around $1500+ to remove) escpecially when its in all their interests as well.... pretty sure they dont want me to be ringing every winter to come out and fix the cabling because another branch has fallen (at my cost).

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

1 | 2 | 3