Below is the article that appears in the Union County Weekly, February 19th 2016:
WEDDINGTON – Residents of Providence Acres are exploring all avenues to help repair damage caused by the harvesting of about 20 acres of nearby trees.
Damage at Providence Acres (Courtesy of Thomas Yi)
A neighbor contracted a firm to cut down the trees. Residents took issue with the contractors putting in a roadway through Cottonfield Circle instead of using a more direct route to Rea Road, damaging adjacent properties and infrastructure. Home values around Cottonfield Circle range from the $200,000s to $500,000s.
“The devastation is beyond your imagination, especially for those neighbors who live alongside or across from the 21 acres of absolute destruction with no concern for the fact that this is a neighborhood of proud owners who take pride in the appearance of their properties,” said Craig Bohlen, president of the Providence Acres Homeowners Association.
The neighborhood is seeking help cleaning roads, paving Cottonfield Circle, restoring the berm and planting seedlings along the right of way.
“Affected residents have also experienced severe run-off of water into their properties that had not occurred prior to the tree harvesting,” resident Thomas Yi said.
Bohlen contacted the Union County Sheriff’s Office, but officials didn’t deem the damage as a crime. The sheriff’s office referred residents to contact the county or town.
Yi reached out to county commissioners last month. County Manager Cindy Coto emailed him back, explaining the site is in Weddington’s jurisdiction and the county doesn’t have authority over timbering.
He hasn’t heard back from State Rep. Craig Horn’s office.
Mayor Bill Deter, Councilwoman Janice Propst and Town Planner Julian Burton have visited the site to talk with residents and see the damage.
“Although our town planner has attempted many times to converse with the contractor or consultant over the last month or so, these attempts have failed to gain any response to date,” Bohlen said.
Deter said leaders plan to discuss the issue during the town’s annual retreat. Deter describes the two-day retreat as the council’s roadmap for the coming year with growth issues and budget planning as the big topics for discussion.
The retreat spans from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 18 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Firethorne Country Club, located at 1108 Firethorne Club Drive in Marvin.
The state forest harvesting program is slated to come up at 10 a.m. Feb. 19.
Deter has concerns the program allows profit to be privatized and the cost to be socialized.
“It’s a state program, so we have to investigate and see what we can do as a municipality to try to protect our residents from this,” Deter said. “We’re also looking at the other parcels in Weddington trying to determine which of those parcels are currently under the state forestry harvesting program, so we can look down the road and see where potential issues can be.”
Bohlen hopes the town can find a solution “before the next quiet residential neighborhood is invaded and desecrated.”
Suburban struggles with nearby construction aren’t exclusive to Weddington.
Residents of the Ashe Croft subdivision have appealed to Indian Trail leaders to help with excess water from a neighboring development flooding backyards and producing excess mud, sludge and dead fish.
Ashe Croft resident Arthur Spurr compared the neighborhood’s plight to the itsy bitsy spider (the one that famously climbed up the water spout).
“Our town and our little subdivision is like that spider, but we’re stuck in the drain, being flooded from the top and plugged from the bottom and nobody wants to take responsibility for it,” Spurr told Indian Trail Town Council.
Indian Trail leaders have said it’s a state problem they’ll help residents work through.
