HCA TREES WRECK ROOFS, RELAC, AND MORE ...

We love our Hickory Cluster trees.  All 18 acres of them.  They are big.  And beautiful. 

BUT ... a big tree growing bigger too near a Goodman House, or growing in a critical unintended location, is a maintenance nightmare.  And a VERY expensive nightmare at that.

BLOCK 1

Recently, roots of a noxious overgrown HCA Block 1 Common Area Sweetgum tree seriously damaged a carriage house RELAC chilled water service pipe.  Extensive RELAC efforts to isolate and repair the leak resulted in a temporary and unavoidable loss of air-conditioning water to other Block 1 homes.  And now the individual homeowner is unfairly faced with paying more than $5,000 in RELAC repairs caused by this overgrown Common Area tree that HCA should never have allowed to grow so big and so close to any house.  

To repeat, and contrary to misinformation from other sources:  the recent Block 1 RELAC shutdown problem was caused by an HCA tree, NOT by any failure of the RELAC system.

In addition, four inch diameter roots are running under the house possibly impacting its foundation and other infrastructure.  

The same overgrown Sweetgum tree is also lifting a carport apron slab and creating a serious trip hazard to an immediately adjacent carriage house.

Up through about 2010, at least one HCA Board President considered Common Area tree damage to be unavoidable "acts of God."  However, a September 2007 Virginia Supreme Court case decision made noxious nuisance tree OWNERS directly responsible for material damages caused by THEIR trees, and for knowing about and preventing such damage.  Ironically, a Sweetgum tree with typical highly-invasive roots was also the subject of the court case.

As in the 2007 court case, HCA should be fully responsible for payment of damages to the property caused by this and other too-close and too-big HCA Common Area trees.  Especially since HCA pays professional arborists to advise it of similar potential tree damage and liability.

During a 2017 rain storm, another overgrown HCA Block 1 Common Area Sweetgum tree dropped sharp jagged branches that pierced the waterproof roof membrane of the Goodman House over which it had grown.  

The Block 1 homeowner suffered extensive exterior roof and interior ceiling water damage, and former HCA Board President Michael Poss worked closely with the homeowner, other Directors, and RA to immediately remove the tree and avoid additional damage.  

Yet another overgrown HCA Block 1 Common Area Sweetgum tree continues to tower over a nearby Goodman House, threatening similar roof-piercing dropped branches and possible foundation and infrastructure damage, despite homeowner pleas to remove it. It is also causing adjacent Common Area retaining walls to bulge outward.  This tree should be removed immediately at HCA expense, not homeowner expense, BEFORE it causes predictable homeowner damages.

BLOCK 2

Over a period of years, HCA Common Area large water-seeking tree roots cracked the non-sanitary drain pipe behind a 3-story Goodman House causing blocked interior sink drains and $200 or more in 60+ feet of motorized drain snake repairs every year or two.  This problem was completely unknown to the current homeowner decades ago when they purchased their Goodman House and has continued without critical HCA Common Area maintenance.  

Other HCA Common Area problems also caused deterioration of and almost $10,000 in repairs to the rear patio wall of the same home several years ago.  HCA refused to pay for the damage.

BLOCK 3

Early published photos clearly show a paved HCA Common Area storm water feeder trench system constructed at the rear of all Block 3 carriage and same-side Goodman Houses.  

Sadly, HCA has never properly managed the now-large volunteer trees when they were smaller, easier, and cheaper to remove.  And HCA continues to allow homeowners to store and plant on what was the critical runoff trench, creating more diversion.  Now, the trees have completely blocked the original trenches and destroyed their ability to direct storm water to fully available and functional Fairfax County storm drains.  Instead, the runoff floods into other HCA Block 3 Common Areas and Goodman House rear patios, often increasing deterioration of rear patio concrete block walls.  

The situation was made worse by misguided efforts of at least one Block 3 homeowner to remove legacy HCA Common Area English Ivy, although invasive, resulting in increased soil erosion and uncontrolled runoff.  Adding to the problem, the homeowner did not replant any groundcover to replace what they removed without HCA permission.

On the positive side, former HCA Board President Michael Poss started the Block 3 storm water system study and repair process by collaborating with Fairfax County as they inspected and maintained their storm drains, and by coordinating a related remediation proposal from environmental engineering and stream restoration experts Wetland Studies.  However, subsequent HCA Boards failed to act further, and the problems persist.

BOTTOM LINE

HCA must focus on funding and maintaining original design-intent cluster elements we already have, not installing new elements that require even more maintenance.  And HCA should definitely not continue paying for expensive attorneys trying to remake Hickory Cluster governing documents into those of other less historic and less significant communities.