Trees, trees, and no more trees...

We've been quite busy the last four or five weeks working with the architect on the floor plan and design as well as trying to figure out what we have to do to prep the lot for a home. There are four very large trees on the lot and three medium size trees. Unfortunately, we determined quite early that every tree on the lot is going to have to be removed. The healthy trees are right in the way of where we want our structure to go. Fitting the structure around the trees does not seem to be feasible and would be extremely limiting.

Last month, Beth got in touch with an arborist that was recommended by one of our potential builders. I wanted to get an arborist to evaluate the trees first to see if any of them were dead, dying, or about to fall over. Our primary motivation is saving money. If you remove or destroy a healthy tree in Atlanta, you have to pay recompense. I never knew this, but it makes sense. I suppose that's how Atlanta has maintained such a large tree canopy throughout the city.

The arborist evaluated the trees and three of the large trees are not in good shape. He deemed all three of them hazardous. One due to a gaping hole just above where two large branches split. The other two have massive damage to the root structures that hold up the trees. The trees are close to falling over anytime soon, but by definition of the city, they are deemed destroyed. So we filed an application with the Arborist Division of the Office of Buildings. It's a fairly straightforward process with not too much paperwork.

The arborist agreed on one of the three, but denied us the other two stating that the damage was caused by the demolition of the old house and would thus not qualify for a hazardous tree removal permit. Our arborist disagreed, citing that the city would still deem these "destroyed." So he gathered a little more data and pictures and we filed for an appeal. We were scheduled to have a hearing on Feb 23rd, but today I got a phone call from the city arborist saying the decision was reversed. After another evaluation of the site, he agreed they were destroyed and not by us. We got the permit and we just saved about $1300 in recompense!

On the house front, things are moving at a good pace. We have a floor plan we like and some initial elevations we are contemplating. Our next step is to figure out if the current plan is going to fit within our budget. Once we commit to a preliminary design, I'll post the floor plans and elevations.