Trees

The tree commission in our town is trying to cut down our beautiful shade trees in front of our house. These trees shade our house in the summer and absorb water from a wet area. We would like to get a second opinion by a certified tree expert and also would like to contact our insurance company. The town would like us to sign a legal waiver also and give us responsibility of any property damage from these trees . They are telling us our insurance would not cover us if any damage was done by these trees. We were never notified of the tree removal and now we are being pressured by this waiver before we can do any research. They are threatening to cut the trees down tomorrow as commissioned. What do we do to save our life supporting green trees?

30 years ago, I planted a Austrian Pine tree about 6 feet from my south property line. The tree when planted was probably 10 years old because it was already 8 feet tall. That tree NOW is about 40 feet high and about 40 feet in diameter and 40 years old. Some of the branches have crossed the property line by about 12 to 13 feet on the bottom parts. I discussed the issue of planting so close with my original neighbor at that time because of my concern with future growth (he has since died). He said to go ahead and plant it, because he had no plans to plant any trees on his side of the property line, and my tree would eventually provide him with shade. A second owner moved into the next door property and lived there for 20 years. We had no problems with the tree's placement. Now, the grandson of the second owner has taken over the property. For 5 years he let the property run down. The City of Thornton, CO code enforcement was called by SOMEBODY, but it wasn't me. He, however, "thinks it was me" and has even expressed such, even though I've explained I have never called code enforcement on anybody in my entire life. As a result, he now is demanding and threatening to file a lawsuit that I prune back the southern limbs to the property line. This would leave about 5 foot stubs for all of the southern limbs, and therefore no needles on the south side of the tree. Keep in mind, this is a PINE tree, and doing such a thing would kill the tree and also leave a 40 foot tall tree top heavy, and an ideal candidate for toppling over, causing a safety problem. My only choice in this case would be to completely remove the tree. As part of his experience with code enforcement, he planted in a 10 foot square area 2 tall "growing" spruce trees, and 3 Aspen trees. (part of this 10 ft area is under the limbs of my tree). His trees are all UNDER 3 feet tall. This is obviously going to cause future crowding of his own trees. As part of his argument, he is now claiming that my tree has caused 2 of his Aspen trees to die. Reason --- my tree has shaded his Aspens even though the 2 spruce trees less than 2 feet from the dead Asens are doing just fine. I have pictures that show that most of the shade on his trees comes from his very own house and stockade fense to his back yard. Further, Aspen trees don't do very well in the climate and altitude of the Denver metropolitan area --- they are good mountain trees. Before I take out a 40 year old tree that appears to be healthy, I need to know MY rights about this issue. 1) Do I have the right to not do anything at all and not suffer any consequences? 2) What is the likelyhood of a court order that forces me to "prune or take out" this tree. 3) Is there anything such as "grandfathering" that applies to this situation --- This tree is actually older than the new "neighbor" himself.