Battle Brewing Over Trees In Denver Neighborhood
DENVER (CBS4) - Cathy Schultz lives in a section of Green Valley Ranch known as Fairway Villas. For almost three years she has been bothered by letters from her governing district telling her she's in violation of covenant rules requiring two trees outside her house.
She has spent nearly $2,500 during that time trying to purchase a tree that will grow on what she says are very harsh conditions out near Denver International Airport.
"There's a high water table here," she said. "There's no place for the roots to go that isn't waterlogged."
Schultz is not the only one struggling with the HOA requirement. Mostly everyone on her block is coping with a dead or dying tree. One neighbor said he spend $4,000 on six trees.
Several years ago in her efforts to find the right tree for the land Schultz started with the Colorado blue spruce, her favorite.
"It took two of those to die before I finally realized that they weren't going to grow here," she said. "So now we've gone to ferns, we've gone to red maple, we've gone to pear and are still having trouble."
Her latest tree she's trying to grow is a maple, and she showed a CBS4 crew how the leaves are curling and the tree doesn't look healthy.
"It's pathetic," she said.
Schultz is one of several neighbors seeking an exemption from the tree requirement. She'd like to be able to put in a bush whose roots don't go down so deep.
"I am tired of every single year having to replace these (trees)," Schultz said. "It really isn't even the cost. It's just the inconvenience and just the hassle of having to go through it."
If homeowners don't meet the requirement they face a fine of $50 or more.
