Common Area - Diseased Trees Question

We have common area that are pine tree lots that run throughout our neighborhood. We along with others in our state have seen Pine Trees die due to Pine Beetles. Some of these trees are in the wooded lots and present no danger to residents property. However a tree service has identified 39 trees throughout our neighborhood that are diseased. The total bill for this comes to 9300 dollars or right at 9% of the total budget.

Question - Is the HOA legally obligated to take down all of said trees? No homes are in danger for residents but fence lines could be damaged if the trees did fall a certain way.

Looking for any insight to this issue as we plan to vote on the removal of trees Tuesday week. The funds would have to be taken from allotted monies in the Swim & Tennis Reserve as collections are down due to the Pandemic unfortunately this year.

Thanks ahead of time!
Mike

I would remove only the trees that might do property damage if they fell

No they are in green spaces that run between our main road into the neighborhood and the property lines of the residents back yard/fence line.

I am sure these are "Southern Pines". Which are not known for their strength. Those who are not familiar with these trees are not aware of that their root system is quite shallow. They grow extremely high. Most trees the roots are as far down as they are up. Not so in the southern Pine.

Beetle infections once get in 1 tree easily spreads to others. They also eat the tree from the inside out. We had 1 that had filled with water and when it thawed out, it broke in half landing on a house/fence. So it's VERY important to get those infected down ASAP.

Now on who is responsible, that is hard to tell. Like our property they were there during the development. They basically divide the HOA neighborhood from the neighboring neighborhoods next door. Basically the developer didn't take them down when developing the land leaving them as a "natural" border. So it's kind of hard to tell if on HOA property or other neighborhood. (Non-HOA).

Our HOA we owned the property around everyone's homes so they were on "common property". If your HOA isn't set up this way, then it's a bit grayer area. The HOA can recommend the owner to remove the tree but not necessarily pay for it.

I did have an arborist come in and evaluate our situation. We did have a beetle infestation on a few trees. It was recommended to take them down. Which was nearly 3K a tree. Our budget could not support that. However, we could if we had a special assessment just for that project.

I would recommend bringing the issue to ALL the owners maybe in a special meeting for it. Give them the arborist report and bids for the job to be done. (Get 3 bids). Agree for the work to be done and then vote in a special assessment for the job. Also do it in stages. Best way to eat a monster is one bite at a time.

Some will complain the trees are not on their property. However, explain to them the effect on the HOA insurance if one was to fall. Also do the research on this as well. The HOA may not be on the hook for damages as much as you think.

BTW: There is some tree companies that offer a "Remote control" tree removal. They don't climb the trees to cut them! It is all done by a boom truck. It's safer, faster, and cheaper.