STEVE REID
Editor & Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com
One does not have to be remarkably observant to notice that countless towering canopy trees were wiped out by last year’s hurricanes on Longboat Key and across the region.
And although everyone, including property owners, wants to see the trees replaced, the Longboat Key town commissioners opted to soften the rules and no longer require the replacement of downed trees on multi-family properties following a natural disaster such as a hurricane.
This change was made last week by the town after a second reading of an ordinance. One of the main considerations was to help lessen the financial impact numerous communities are feeling in simply rebuilding the structural damage that followed last year’s storms.
Town Manager Howard Tipton introduced the issue by stating that its genesis is from the severe damage by Milton and Helene last year that impacted Longboat Key’s tree canopy, mostly due to the intrusion of the salt water from the storm surge.
The longstanding ordinance that requires two trees to be planted for every tree removed by a property owner has been in place since 1974 said Town Planning Zoning and Building Director Alan Parsons. Under the previous ordinance, a property owner had the option to pay $300 per removed tree into a town tree replacement fund instead of replacement.
The change, desired by staff, was to amend the rules to exempt the requirement for replacement, or for paying anything at all into the tree fund for trees either completely killed by a natural disaster or severely impacted on multi-family condominium properties.
Commissioner Gary Coffin objected to allowing condominiums and multiple unit properties “completely off the hook,” and suggested a requirement of one-to-one tree replacement, and giving a time frame of up to three years for said replacement.
Coffin further suggested to hold off on amending the ordinance and give it to the planning and zoning board to further research the issue and go with the one for one replacement.
Longboat Key resident Terry Driver spoke to the issue on behalf of the LBK Citizen’s Green Team. She said her group agreed with the one-to-one replacement and the three-year window for such replacements, and maybe simplifying the permitting process. She also suggested the planning and zoning look at the current rules, which allows replacing a mature tree with smaller, immature trees as a workaround.
Driver said that if you travel from Sarasota to Longboat Key, there is a 10° difference in temperature due, in part, to the island’s greenery and canopy.
Commissioner BJ Bishop pointed out how it is impossible to drive on Longboat Key and not be shocked by the amount of trees gone, especially in some neighborhoods or condominium complexes such as Windward Bay, which lost an entire canopy that stretched hundreds of feet along the roadside.
Coffin reiterated that he has an issue with the condo associations having the power to be completely exempt from having to replace trees that are damaged through natural disasters.
Mayor Ken Schneier called the storms of last year “particularly insidious because we were softened up by the rain, and then blown away by the wind”
Schneier credited the current commission for taking steps beyond any previous commission in embracing the green movement. Schneier added that he was concerned that if they were to pass the ordinance as written it would apply to all future natural disasters.
Town Attorney Maggie Mooney pointed out that the Town has the ability under its home-rule power to either increase the requirements of the tree code, or decrease, without fear of a Burt Harris Act challenge. She said that because the ordinance falls in the general rules of the Town and not in the land development code it would not be construed as a taking of property rights, and therefore the Town could always up its requirements, or modify them down the road
The mayor said, knowing that he could tinker with the ordinance down the road that he felt comfortable passing the ordinance as-is.
Commissioner Bishop said that she has respect for the people who live in the condominiums and for the boards and that they don’t want to live in ugly communities. She spoke of not needing to micromanage the condominiums, and felt that relaxing the rules would be appropriate
It passed with everyone voting for it, except for Commissioner Gary Coffin
Then the mayor asked for a consensus to esnd the passed ordinance to the the planning and zoning board for insight.
