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Highlands Park Pine Beetle Letter

October 10, 2008

October 10, 2008 Re: Removal of Mountain Pine Beetle and Standing Dead Trees Dear Property Owner: As you are no doubt aware, our Highlands Park Property Owners Association (“POA”) has continued to pursue an aggressive program to address the mountain pine beetle (“MPB”) infestation crisis in Highlands Park. The Board is very pleased that with the exception of two property owners, everyone fulfilled their responsibility to both the neighborhood as well as to their immediate neighbors this past year. The town intervened and successfully dealt with both non-compliant owners. It is worth noting that the other Highlands Property Owner’s Associations have pursued equally aggressive MPB programs as well. In developing our plans for 2009, we asked our surveyor, Giving Tree Care, to address the following as part of the Fall Survey. First, to evaluate the effectiveness of this year’s spraying program. Second, to identify the number of newly infested MPB trees, and thirdly, to identify the number of standing dead trees on each property. The combined efforts of spraying and removing most MPB infested trees in a timely fashion earlier this year proved to be successful as better than 95% of sprayed trees did not become infested this season. Nonetheless, there are approximately 2600 trees in our POA that are infested compared with approximately 3000 trees a year ago. In addition, almost 2800 standing dead trees are present in the POA. Standing dead trees pose a potential high fire risk according to the Breckenridge Red, White & Blue Fire Department and therefore must be addressed as part of our strategy for 2009. With respect to spraying, we are please to announce the POA has contracted again with Giving Tree Care (“GTC”) for the spraying of trees in 2009. GTC’s cost for spraying will once again be $8.50/tree. The POA intends to spray up to 80 trees per lot. This will require raising our annual assessment $100 this coming year to $500 to continue our very successful spraying program. Any property owner wishing to spray more than the 80 trees per lot paid for by the POA should contact GTC at 970-566-4532. Property owners are encouraged to spray more than the 80 trees as the cost of spraying a healthy tree is significantly less than the cost of removing an infested MPB tree or dead tree in the future. During the year, the Board has participated with the Town of Breckenridge (“TOB”) and the Breckenridge Red, White and Blue Fire Department (“RWB”) to develop a collaborative effort to address MPB and dead trees, both standing and fallen, throughout the TOB. This collaboration has resulted in the TOB moving in a direction which stresses the need to create defensible spaces and fuel reduction programs on privately owned property. TOB is intending to enact a Defensible Space and Fuels Reduction Ordinance, together with specific enforcement provisions, to address MPB, standing and fallen dead trees this coming year. We will share with you the specifics of the new ordinance as soon as it is available. Additionally, we are please to announce the POA will be participating with TOB and RWB to create a defensible fuel break area on TOB open space above Discovery Hill. This fuel break initiative is intended to create defensible space so that firefighters would be able to successfully fight a fire threatening properties in the POA. The work to create these defensible space areas should begin and be completed sometime this fall. Furthermore, the Board will continue with its’ efforts to have TOB clean up its’ open space areas within our association. To complement our joint efforts with the TOB and RWB in creating defensible space above Discovery Hill as well as our efforts to retain as much of our forest as possible for aesthetic and valuation reasons, this coming year both spraying and the removal of high risk flammable materials (dead trees) and newly infested MPB trees will become the cornerstone of our efforts. The POA is requiring property owners to cut down, remove and chip all MPB infested and standing dead trees on their property by June 1, 2009. Failure to do so will result in a $75/tree fine plus a one time administrative cost of $50.00. Fines not paid by July 1, 2009 will result in a lien being placed on the property. These fines are in addition to the enforcement remedies available to the TOB, including but not limited to, fines, liens and self-help provisions. Remember, the results of the fall survey have been forwarded to the TOB so that they may also track the compliance or lack thereof by individual property owners. Enclosed is the 2008 Fall Survey conducted by GTC which identifies the number of MPB and standing dead trees by lot number. Every property owner whose property has been identified to have MPB infested and standing dead trees is required to contract with a licensed tree contractor and to have such contractor verify in a written affidavit (Form of Affidavit is enclosed) that they have been contracted to do the work and they will complete the work by June 1, 2009. Every property owner is required to conclude their arrangements with their contractor and provide the POA with such affidavit by March 31, 2009. The TOB is requiring the POA to provide them with the names and addresses of all property owners who have not complied by March 31, 2009 so that they may follow up with the remedies they deem appropriate. The newly infested trees have been marked with a ring of orange spray paint and standing dead trees with an orange dot approximately four feet above the ground. The TOB currently requires a permit to remove dead trees. Please contact the Community Development Department at 970-453-3160 for more information. In most instances, your tree contractor can coordinate this for you. For your information, a list of contractors licensed to do business in Breckenridge may be found on the TOB website, www.townofbreckenridge.com, then click on MPB. Please be advised there may be instances where the exact boundary lines between properties were difficult to determine during the fall survey and as such, the surveyor may have mistakenly identified one or more trees as being on your lot, when in fact, they are actually on your neighbor’s lot. Therefore, if you doubt the accuracy of the survey, it is your responsibility to first contact your neighbor(s) and determine with them the proper allocation of MPB and dead trees amongst yourselves and then to contact Kiersten Stais ( 970-453-6900) so that she may update the fall survey numbers and report such changes to TOB. Unlike previous years, the TOB will no longer reimburse property owners for the cost of the fall survey nor will they reimburse property owners $40/ infested tree removed and chipped. In addition, the new ordinance which will most likely be adopted early in 2009 may require the removal of fallen dead trees in addition to MPB infested and standing dead trees. As noted earlier, once the specifics of the new program are known we will forward the information to you. Therefore, the cost of tree removal will be greater than in the past. In light of this, the POA will not require you to remove the fallen dead trees and will permit chipping of the infested and standing dead trees to be done on the property, thereby eliminating the need to dispose of the chips offsite. Both of these measures should result in the property owner experiencing a reduced per tree cost in order to comply with the 2009 tree removal program. GTC has advised the POA they are available to begin tree removal this fall for those owners who would like to get started. Since they conducted the survey, they are very familiar with your property. They are prepared to provide a no cost estimate customized to your particular property based on factors such as number of trees to be removed, size of trees, ease of access and ease of chipping on the lot. GTC’s number is 970-566-4532. The expense of doing the work in the fall should be less than what tree contractors will likely demand this coming spring when everyone is scrambling to complete the work. Property owners are strongly encouraged to make arrangements now for fall removal. Dead trees have been accumulating in our association for years, which has greatly increased the risk of forest fire. A healthy tree, which becomes infested, becomes a dead tree within one year. That is why we have partnered with the TOB and RWB to create defensible space fuel break areas above Discovery Hill and why we continue to spray healthy trees. Healthy non-infested trees do not become dead trees. By removing infested and standing dead trees now, we minimize the future inventory of dead trees and thus reduce the risk of forest fire while maintaining a pleasing green canopy on our ridges and hillsides. With everyone’s support and commitment we believe our efforts will allow us to effectively manage the problem and retain many healthy trees until the beetles have passed through our area. Should you have any questions regarding this information you may contact Kiersten Stais, at Hawk’s View Management (970-453-6900) or Gary Gallagher, President of the POA, at 970-547-2931. Sincerely, Board of Directors Highland Park Property Owner’s Association Highlands Park Contractor Affidávit I, ________________________, an officer of _________________________, affirm that I have been contracted by _____________________________to cut down and remove all of the marked mountain pine beetle infested trees and dead trees ( all the needles have turned red ) from Lot # _______. I agree to complete the work prior to June 30, 2009. __________________________________ Name and Title of Individual __________________________________ Name of Company __________________________ Telephone Number ________________ Date This form must be submitted by March 31, 2009 to: Highlands Park Property Owners Association P.O. Box 8029 Breckenridge, Colorado 80424 Or fax to: 970-453-7900