The Cadence at Tradition Homeowners Association is offering residents a chance to participate in its bulk tree-purchase program as the Sept. 30 deadline approaches for replacing dead trees in the community. Homeowners in the Port St. Lucie community received notices dated Sept. 1 from Campbell Property Management on behalf of Cadence at Tradition Homeowners Association Inc. demanding dead trees on their property be replaced by Sept. 30 or face escalation, but many residents say the trees are on swales and should be the HOA's responsibility.
A public relations firm for The Cadence at Tradition HOA said the association is replacing thousands of dead trees and shrubs in common areas that have yet to recover from the last freeze. The firm said residents are responsible for replacing trees in limited common areas such as rights of way immediately adjacent to and between individual lots, including areas containing sidewalks and driveway aprons.
Because the HOA is purchasing and installing trees in bulk, it has invited residents to participate in the program. The program allows homeowners to share in the cost savings while ensuring tree replacements around their homes are selected and installed professionally, according to the statement.
Homeowner Chip Collison said the dead trees were in common areas, not in yards, and he wants the HOA to pay for new trees in the swales. Keyla Peguero, another homeowner at Cadence at Tradition, said she replaced a dead tree in the swale in front of her house at a total cost of $300 to remove the dead tree, haul it away and replace it. She said she is not willing to do it again and should not have had to do it in the first place.
The HOA has removed many of the dead trees, leaving holes in the ground where residents are supposed to put in new trees at the homeowners' expense. Some residents say new trees should be planted in April at the start of the growing season rather than now. Collison said if new trees are planted now during hurricane season, a strong hurricane could destroy them and they would have to be redone again. The Sept. 1 notice from Campbell Property Management does not say what action will be taken if a homeowner does not replace the dead trees by the deadline.