David says last June, "The development team behind the [Douglas Road/US1 project called Link at Douglas], Adler Group and 13th Floor Investments, wiped out decades of tree canopy throughout the site, nearly all without permits or approval.
He goes on to say, "While county officials authorized the removal of 21 trees, the developers kept on cutting, hacking down an additional 174, including a handful of mature banyan, oak, mahogany, and other hardwoods that were planted -- as estimated on a recent visit from growth rings visible in the weathered stumps -- more than half a century ago. The developers called it a mistake. The county-imposed penalty: just under $25,000."
A slap on the wrist, the cost of doing business.
Florida House Representative Anthony Sabatini says, “I’m a conservative, and I think if people don’t want trees, they shouldn’t have to have them.”
Commissioner Ken Russell says, “We have seen that there are arborists willing to write reports on trees that are not posing a threat or danger.” I have been saying this for years. I know of one who will say anything if you pay.
Here is the full article Last Tree Standing in the Biscayne Times.
Central to this issue is the awful, and expensive application process required for tree removal. While I ardently support canopy protection, it has taken us six months years to get a permit to remove a tree that is growing into our house and has damaged the roof. We labored through the red-tape and got the tree survey and the final cost with mitigation and tree survey ran $1350.
ReplyDeleteDevelopers look at these delays and costs and simply do the math. Time is money. When we re-modeled our home 10 years ago, it took months of delays to get an inspector to our house to approve moving a tree on our property, during which time we were shelling out interest payments on a loan.
So there need to have different approaches for Developers who blanket remove trees illegally (very stiff fines or a moratorium on future building in the Grove for 3+ years for that developer)... something that comes with financial pain. For individual home owners, the paperwork is overwhelming, confusing, time consuming and expensive. It needs to be streamlined and reasonable. This leads to further illegal, middle of the night tree removal.
We need our tree ordinance. But we also need some common sense and a system that doesn't encourage people to just chop it down, hope they are not reported, or, in the event of being fined, just chalk it up to 'cost of business'.
Why do you not name and call out these aberrant 'Developers'. Let them be shunned and vilified.
ReplyDeleteWhat the heck are they 'developing'?
JRL...44 yr. resident, 1st to appear before board to prevent tree removal,and won,saving a grove of Mangoes, for 12 yrs., till overpowered by FPL.