The President’s Hoot!

Moratorium and Tale of Two Sites

Six Month County Moratorium on “Planned Development”- The Board of County Commissioners of Indian River County should be fully supported for seeking a 6-month moratorium of new “planned development” while they revisit growth laws. The community and now the county commission seems shocked with a more than 50% jump in weekly housing starts in Indian River County alone not counting the cities since 2002 and the way it is happening. During this period, Audubon, in collaboration with other organizations, will be organizing a workshop on how to make Indian River County a better place to live. We plan to have people in Florida who have been involved in successful developments and at the same time preserve and enhance the environment present how they did it. Perhaps you can give us suggestions of possible speakers.

Tale of Two Sites- By now, you may have heard about the Palms of Vero Developer who was fined $33,000 for clearing 5 specimen and trees of special concern without a permit and later the “county was good” to them and had the fine reduced by $16,000! Actually, every tree on the site had been eliminated. These developers appealed to the county’s code enforcement board to reduce the remaining amount by planting twelve 4-inch trees. Never mind, it takes sixty 4-inch trees to equal the cross-section area of just the one 31- inch specimen tree chopped down. Accolades, the code enforcement board reinstated the whole $33,000 fine!

Near this tragedy, a commercial project called Bridgewater at 1515-1775 Indian River Drive in Vero Beach is being developed by Louis Schlitt and constructed by Bill Bryant and Associates. They saved and moved 25 large oaks on the same site at a cost of $1,000 per tree. This was not necessary, but they decided to do it anyway. Both men are from the area and have done a lot for the county. One builder said that as long as the fines are low, it does not pay for them to spend money to protect trees. “If it only costs a $2 fine if caught going through a stop sign, how many stop signs will you stop at when you are in a hurry to make a living?” Tree ordinance fines should be severe and upheld.

Better planning or supervision could have saved many trees at the “Palms of Vero” without even moving them and not being fined. One excellent new procedure was suggested as a result of this incident. Dr. David Cox, Chair of the County’s Planning and Zoning Commission and a PIAS board member, has requested the planning department to provide tree survey overlays to the site plan being reviewed. This action alone should save many trees in Indian River County as developers will be encourage to work around them.

Furthermore, Audubon has found a flaw in the new tree ordinance for “after-the-fact” approval by the environmental planner for land clearing and protected or specimen tree removal activities. At a recent county commissioners meeting, we with support from our members requested having this determination made by the County Planning and Zoning Commission where the public can have input into the decision to cut trees “after the fact.” The planning department was asked by the county commissioners to report back on this request.

Although trees have been cut down, hopefully new awareness and a revised tree ordinance will follow. Indian River County is still beautiful, and we have many trees yet to save. Please join a committee listed on the insert and get involved- Richard Baker, President (May 2003)