Who is responsible if trees fall from abandoned land onto an occupied home?
It’s a question State Rep. Tim Ackert is mulling over after watching an NBC CT Responds investigation.
The Republican lawmaker says he’s thinking of drafting legislation, too.
This week, we were there when Ackert met with the Coventry man featured in the NBC CT Responds report last month.
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Dana Markie has been dealing with any homeowner’s nightmare.
He’s had not one, but two massive trees fall and crush his Coventry home in the past two years.
Both trees had been located on abandoned land next to his property.
NBC CT Responds
He has homeowners’ insurance, but the rebuild is draining financially and emotionally and he’s concerned about other trees on this abandoned land falling on his home a third time.
Town management says the land the trees were on was once owned by a now dissolved lake association, and it hasn’t been kept up in decades.
Markie is concerned more trees from the abandoned land may fall on his home.
He wants the town to pitch in to clean up the property as he sees road runoff draining onto the abandoned land impacting the trees.
Town management says that’s not the case and because it’s not their land it’s not their problem.
“I can’t wait to have these trees taken down. Something needs to happen sooner than later,” said Markie.
Markie actually hides in his basement when a storm passes through town, scared that another tree might fall.
Ackert asked him, “I said, ‘Why don’t you just claim that property?’ He says, ‘Why? Look at the hazards on that property.’ But after I started just looking in my own community and saw more land just down the street that’s unclaimed.”
Ackert says lawmakers need to address tree troubles across the state, as locals lose power often during storms.
He says he will also specifically bring up Markie’s situation to the legislative Planning and Development Committee, particularly potential legislation for dealing with unclaimed property in Connecticut.
“I actually thought of potential legislation that could be put in. How do we deal with unclaimed property in the state of Connecticut?” he said.
Coventry’s town manager says Coventry does not have the capacity to accept the costs of more tree work, but he’d support a state-funded program to address orphaned trees, as long as it doesn’t take away from existing municipal grants.
In the meantime, Markie is going to reach out to his Coventry town councilors for advice on how to handle his specific headache.
He doesn’t want to rebuild with the chance of a tree destroying his home for the third time.
