Helen Pratt knows that the cottonwood tree towering over her Fridley home has been there since at least 1955, when her parents bought the property on Fourth Street N.E. What she doesn’t know is who owns the tree. That question is becoming an increasing worry for her. About five years ago, Pratt noticed that the tree seemed to be “tilting” in an alarming way toward her house.

“If another storm came through, that tree would fall down and it would take my house,” she said.

A few years ago, Pratt talked to city and state employees because the land is adjacent to the entrance ramp for Interstate 694 at University Avenue. Fridley said it belonged to the state of Minnesota. The state of Minnesota said it belonged to Fridley.

This week, Pratt contacted Whistleblower for help identifying the owner of the tree before her house gets clobbered.

Fridley City Assessor Mary Smith quickly tracked down the property and found the names John and Laura Vagovich listed as the owners. After some more digging, she realized that the Vagoviches are long gone. The state Department of Transportation took over the property from them in 1968.

The next call was to Jim Kosluchar, Fridley’s Public Works Director, to determine if the tree might fall into the city’s right of way, since it sits close to the street. He said if Pratt calls him, he will have a city employee either visit the property or find a way to determine what can be done with the tree.

“We still look out for our residents,” he said. “Just because it’s in MnDOT’s right of way doesn’t mean we ignore it.”

Check back with Whistleblower next week to find out if anyone has claimed the tree.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Neighborhood nuisances, Property problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.