Current tree protections in danger of being removed
Miami's trees are in danger, developers will have a field day if this is approved. The City Commission has an ordinance on the January 10 agenda that states, "An ordinance of the Miami City Commission repealing the tree ordinance; containing a severability cause; and providing for an effective date."
In other words, our current tree protections will be removed if this passes, the ordinance will be repealed. This makes no sense at all. None.
Miami's tree ordinance currently says, "Chapter 17 of the City Code is intended to protect, preserve and restore the tree canopy within the City of Miami by regulating the removal, relocation, pruning and trimming of trees. The purpose of the tree protection article is to assure that the design and construction of all development activity within the City of Miami is executed in a manner consistent with the preservation of existing trees and to maximize the City's tree canopy to the greatest extent possible.
"No person, agent or representative thereof, directly or indirectly shall remove or relocate any tree situated on any property described in section 17.3 without first obtaining a tree removal permit, unless exempted by the regulations."
District 4 commissioner Manolo Reyes is the board member who is sponsoring this issue, which is strange since it goes against his environmental stance in the past. Some feel that Reyes wants to protect homeowners in his district from receiving fines for damaging trees and has the "it's my property, I can do what I want," attitude.
There is talk of deferring the issue but that doesn't solve the problem. One solution could be that we can save our trees here in the Grove by having it part of the new stricter NCD, but the whole city needs to be protected, not just Coconut Grove. District 4 may believe that they are part of the Grove's strict NCD and that could possibly be the reasoning behind this. I reached out to Mr. Reyes, but have not heard back yet. The whole city is NOT part of the Grove NCD, but would it be such a bad thing if they were?
Miami is #2 on a recent list of cities with more cars than trees. Not good. Pittsburgh and Detroit have more trees than Miami. The list is of cities according to the article, where "there have been no attempts to cultivate trees within the city or the attempts have moved at a significantly slower pace than the cities development."
To reach Mr. Reyes, you can email him at mreyes@miamigov.com or call
305-250-5420.
The other commissioners are:
Willy Gort:
wgort@miamigov.com
305-250-5430
Ken Russell:
krussell@miamigov.com
305-250-5333
Joe Carollo:
jcarollo@miamigov.com
305-250-5380
Keon Hardemon:
KHardemon@miamigov.com
305-250-5390
And hopefully many of you will show up at the Commission meeting to give a piece of your minds. The Thursday, January 10 meeting is at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive. The commission meeting starts at 9 am.
UPDATE: 4 PM SATURDAY: Due to the outrage this has caused, Commissioner Reyes's office has removed the item from the January 10 agenda, but they plan on revisiting the issue at a future meeting. Please let's stay vigilant so that the don't slip this in when no one is watching.
posted by Tom Falco at 4:00 AM
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2 Comments:
Please advise asap if this Tree Ordinance comes up again. Thank you so much.
Regarding the proposed new "stricter NCD" it is not stricter. It would allow about 65% of single family sites in the Grove to become Duplex, presently prohibited. It would allow lot coverage (by building) of 70% for single story residences and 60% for 2 story residences. With paving for drive ways, patios, and pool decks in addition to the 60-70% this would leave little room for trees. Lot coverage is presently restricted to 50% for 1st floor. Double density would be allowed in the commercial mixed use T-4 and more than double in T-5, both could have a reduction in parking of 100%. Allowable height would be increased, Lot splitting would be allowed in violation of present code and policies that go back to 1991. The current code is not being enforced, particularly in regard to design review which requires that size and scale of new construction be consistent with neighborhood context. A new complex and often contradictory code would just open the doors even wider for the destruction of the Grove.
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