Trees keep falling in Cherokee Co. neighborhood, homeowners worry with every storm

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Cherokee County homeowners say with each rolling storm they sit with bated breath because of trees randomly falling on top of homes.

“If a bad storm comes through those trees could fall right down,” Chris Frymyer said.

O’Neal Wilburn showed Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln the damage to his bedroom when a tree fell on his home last month.

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“It hit the house and rolled off, and it hit my shed right there,” Wilburn said.

And hours later another tree went down in a neighbor’s driveway.

“Everybody is really upset about the situation,” Wilburn said.

Lincoln spoke with Chris Frymeyer who is a board member with the homeowners’ association at the Victory Place subdivision, where the trees are falling.

He blames the developer Smith Douglas Homes for allegedly deceiving homeowners by telling them the county was responsible for clearing dead trees.

“These homeowners have been going to the county and the city to get something rectified and they’ve been going to the wrong person and when Smith Douglas gave them the wrong information,” Frymyer said.

The HOA had an arborist look at the wooded area behind the homes and they discovered more than 30 trees in jeopardy of falling onto homes.

Frymyer says the county told them the developer could have reached out to the county to assess the wooded area.

“If Smith Douglas would have come to us and said, ‘Hey, if we see some of these trees could pose an issue for homeowners we would have given them the proper measures to remove these trees,’” Frymyer said.

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The HOA says it may cost homeowners thousands to have the trees removed.

“There’s clearly dead trees, but we’re going to have to look at what’s going on, but if we can’t get Smith Douglas to do anything, homeowners may have to pay $3,000 each to remove these trees,” Frymyer told Lincoln.

The HOA says the arborist told them because so many trees were cleared to build this subdivision, it’s weakened the root system for the remaining trees, causing them to fall.

Smith Douglas Homes sent us a comment, saying:

“We’re aware of tree damage experienced by some of our homeowners in the community.

“In this case, the trees that have caused damage are located within a non-disturbed buffer area, as defined by local authorities. We’re prohibited from entering this area to remove trees.

“All new community projects, including Victory Place, prior to permit approval for development, are reviewed by County authorities, including the Arborist, before physical activities commence. We address situations brought to our attention by these authorities, including the removal of trees that pose a threat to our future homeowners. As each community is built out, it also undergoes multiple municipality inspections before we’re allowed to close on homes and before our customers can move in.

“Due to these circumstances, we believe the events of this matter are beyond our control and have advised our homeowners to utilize the provisions of their homeowner’s insurance to remedy any damage done to their property.”

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