Inquirer: Undeveloped lots causing problems for home owner

A Concerned Reader who lives on Stonegate Drive, which is off Billings Road, has two undeveloped lots that back up to her property. It's what some people might call urban forest, but she calls it a problem.

She says the property, which fronts on Billings, has underbrush that spreads onto her property, which causes her all kinds of problems. She can't come out and enjoy her backyard because of the mosquitoes, she said, and the woods also offer up critters such as possums, raccoons, snakes and even deer.

And ticks. One of those little buggers showed up on her shirt when I was out to take pictures on Thursday. And one of her neighbors came down with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a tick bite, she said.

She called the city and they sent out a Special Enforcement officer, who determined that the underbrush had indeed encroached too close to the woman's property. So they sent a contractor out to clear back about 500 square feet, said Drale Short, special enforcement manager.

(You know the routine by now. If the city has to pay a contractor to handle a job like this, they put a lien on the property and it can't be sold or developed until the owner pays the taxpayer back for the work.)

But the woman wasn't satisfied that enough underbrush had been cleared, so she called and said she wanted more of it gone. They said they had done as much as they could, and that's when she called me.

Which sometimes gets the job done. But not when the job can't be done.

"What she wants is for us to clear the lot," Short said. "We don't clear lots."

In fact, the city doesn't have legal authority to just go in and clear someone's property.

If your property abuts wooded land, it can be a blessing and a curse. My own property backs up to a large cemetery that has a few hundred yards of forest between us and the, uh, customers. (Yes, they're quiet neighbors.)

We've seen raccoons, deer, rabbits and even a fox, right there in the middle of the city. Personally, I think it's kind of nice, but I realize it's not for everyone.

And we have mosquitoes and I've had to pick a tick or two off, but I haven't come down with any tick-borne diseases, thank goodness.

I've found that if I spray the yard with tick spray it battles them back, and mosquito spray keeps those pests off you. I'm a big believer in better living through chemistry.

Our friend on Stonegate is in the process of putting up a privacy fence, as you can see in the picture, so that should hold down some of the wildlife but not the insects.

My advice? Go to Home Depot and get some tick and mosquito spray.

Meanwhile, enjoy the view. Someday they'll develop those lots and you might be looking at some fat guy mowing his lawn with his shirt off.

-- Seen something that needs attention? Contact me at 706-571-8570 or mowen@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published October 19, 2014 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Inquirer: Undeveloped lots causing problems for home owner."