I shouldn't live in town.

Plant trees on your side of the property line? I am the opposite of you, I like my neighbors close. Makes me feel better.

If it's too small for a house I wonder what he thinks will inspire people to buy it? Especially for 50k or more. His best bet would have been to sell to you or the lady behind who is adjacent to it.
 

I've never understood people who live on land - or live out of the usual suburban subdivision - but don't do anything with it and don't expect any of their neighbors will either. The town where we lived in ID was famous for this. The town was originally very agricultural. Many of the original homeowners still farmed or had animals on their land. But a neighbor would sell (the land was their last "crop") and a subdivision with 4 to 6 houses per acre would pop up. Suddenly the new neighbors were complaining about those farmers who were running their tractors late at night (because farmers now can't survive without a day job), the flies, the smell, the noise, the weeds, the field burning, and all sorts of other stuff. It is like people who buy next to an airport because the housing is cheap then try to restrict the air traffic because the planes taking off at 6am are too loud.

But in all fairness to the neighbor behind you, I probably would have sold the trees, too. Around here that is exactly what people do. Timber is a crop. We've got 1.5 acres or tress on one side and 3.5 acres on the other. We have no plans to sell the trees anytime soon but we could. As a matter of fact, it is better to sell them when they are ready than to let them go to disease. So, just like people who complain about chickens in rural areas, unless I own the trees, I can't really complain when they get cut down.

And like you, I hope our county land doesn't get incorporated anytime soon. I think if a town is going to incorporate an area they better provide city services. For us, for instance, 911 services are 20 minutes away. Even if we got incorporated, that wouldn't change.

I was just going to ask how they thought cutting down trees would raise the property value.  Do you think the trees brought in more money than your offer of $10K?  I can't imagine they did.  Just is so strange.

Look into planting Leyland Cypress'.  They are (relatively) inexpensive (I know, no trees are inexpensive), and they grow CRAZY fast.  Just an idea.  I have no idea if they will grow in your area, though.  If they will, they give GREAT privacy.