Unfortunately, poverty owners can leave dead and dying trees standing and they can refuse to go to the expense of cutting them down. My PV neighbor had several dead and dying trees on the fence line with my Ladera property and refused to take care of that are,which is a conservation lot. Since they were not only a danger but also unsightly, I had them cut down and paid for the removal of accumulated deadwood from his lot.
Will PV take care of such problems??
Same neighbor failed to adequate cut the weeds at the fence line, as required by the WFPD code until reminded forcefully a number of times.
Even now, weds were not cut back to the required distance from the fence line, except where it can be sen an inspected readily by WFPD.

I have the exact same problem with my Westridge neighbor's huge eucalyptus trees. They have not bee trimmed in over 30 years and some look as though they are dying. They have reused to take care of them and won't let me trim anything except what's hanging over my yard. I think the trees are a storm and fire hazard, but Portola Valley won't do anything about it. Should those trees ever catch fire--lightning?--the entire hillside would burn. Oh well, I hope I'm not living here then.

There needs to be a recourse for home owners who are dealing with neighbors' dangerous trees.

I cannot believe the price per tree the town would pay. It can be done for much cheaper. What a waste of funds.

We've paid more than $2000 per tree if they are over 60 feet tall and over the house. Other smaller pines have been up to $1000. Thankfully we don't have eucalyptus on our property, which I've heard can cost from $3 - 5,000 each, because the wood is a lot denser, trees are taller, and difficult to remove. The article says the Town is paying $25,000 and PG&E has the lion's share with $60,000. So Town paying less than $1000 a tree, and since some I believe are eucalyptus, it sounds like a well-negotiated deal to me.

woodside fire department has a hazard complain form on their website:

Web Link