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County to consider recommended changes to tree ordinance
By SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 |
PINELLAS COUNTY – Residents soon may have new rules to help with growing concerns about dead or hazardous trees and potential dangers during hurricane season.
“Sometimes trees are not our friends when they activate with strong winds,” said Paul Cassel, director of the county’s development review services department.
Cassel told the county Board of Commissioners at its June 22 work session meeting that his department was seeing a dramatic increase in permits for taking down trees. Cassel said people want to take out trees that they think are dangerous because they are dead or rotten. He said people also want to take out healthy trees.
“Staff tries to protect trees. That is our mission,” Cassel said. “But, people are afraid of trees.”
Cassel proposed that the county revise its current tree ordinance to allow an appeal process for people who are denied permits to an independent organization such as the International Society of Arboriculture.
Cassel also said the county’s ordinance does not have a requirement in the tree code requiring the removal of dead or “truly” dangerous trees.
Loren Westenberger, owner of Westenberger Tree Service in Clearwater, a certified arborist and past president of ISA, told the BCC that people don’t understand how tree’s protect people’s homes more than they cause harm. He said dead trees are not necessarily hazardous during a hurricane because they have no leaves and wind moves through them.
He said some people want to keep dead trees because the trees are habitat for animals and birds, such as the pileated woodpecker, which was once on the endangered species list.
Westenberger said he would like to see a way for people to petition to not be forced to remove a tree if it’s not truly a hazard.
He gave an example of a dead tree located away from structures or places frequented by people as one that should not require removal.
“It (tree) should have a target to be hit to be considered hazardous,” he said.
He agreed that the county’s tree ordinance needed to be updated and described it as “antiquated.”
He said many new techniques had been developed for saving trees and that recent development was resulting in a loss of trees. He said he would like to work with county staff and be part of a task force to develop a comprehensive plan that included enforcement.
Westenberger would like to see the county’s arborists become certified the same as plumbers and other regulated professions.
“Some people working on trees are doing damage to the trees,” he said.
Westenberger also said he would like to see more planning go into the species of trees being planted. He said over the past 10 years, people had been planting trees that weren’t meant to withstand winds. He said he would like to see people planting more native species.
Cassel said Pinellas County had “matured as a community compared to 25 to 30 years ago. Our trees have grown.”
However, he said, the county’s tree ordinance has not grown.
The BCC agreed to consider revisions and unanimously approved a motion to prepare a new tree ordinance.
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Article published on Wednesday, July 12, 2006
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