Latest tree rules to go before board

LECANTO -- The proposal has been written, rewritten and revamped.

On Thursday the third version of the proposed tree ordinance will come before the county's Planning and Development Review Board, which will vote on the draft and send it to the County Commission for final review.

The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in Room 166 of the Lecanto Government Building, 3600 W Sovereign Path in Lecanto.

Although the specifics have been refined along the way, county officials say the goal has remained the same: simplify the rules, close the loopholes and increase the penalties for violators.

This proposed tree ordinance would:

Require all properties, including residential, to maintain at least one tree per 2,000 square feet. Sparsely wooded properties would not have to plant new trees to meet that standard, as long as no trees had been wrongfully removed.

Require permits to remove any tree larger than 4 inches in diameter at breast height, defined as 41/2 feet above ground-level. Homeowners would be exempt from this requirement, as long as they maintain one tree per 2,000 square feet.

Prohibit tree removal outside an approved building footprint, except as allowed by county officials to prevent wildfire hazards, ensure the building's structural integrity or satisfy other safety concerns.

Create stiffer penalties for wrongful tree removal. If too many trees are removed from a residential property, the owner must plant enough new ones to average one tree per 2,000 square feet, or pay a $125 fine for each tree that would be needed to meet that standard.

For unpermitted tree removal on nonresidential property, the owner must replace all of the trees and pay a $125 fine for each 1,000 square feet of affected property.

Or instead of replacing the trees, the owner could pay a $250 fine per 1,000 square feet of affected property.

In both cases, the fines would go into a reforestation fund for publicly owned lands in Citrus County. The $125 fine, based on the value of live oak sapling, is more than double the current penalty for wrongful tree removal: the $60 fee for an after-the-fact permit.

The proposal would also require developers to make every effort to preserve large "specimen" trees, defined as trees larger than 24 inches at breast height.

If a specimen tree had to be removed on nonresidential property, it would have to be replaced with enough new trees to equal the size of the trunk that was removed.

For example, a specimen tree that was 30 inches in diameter could be replaced with 15 2-inch-diameter saplings.

Instead of replanting, the owner could pay a hefty fee based on the size of the specimen tree.

-- Bridget Hall Grumet can be reached at 860-7303 or bhall@sptimes.com.

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