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© St. Petersburg Times, published March 7, 2003
Editor: At the Citrus County Commission public workshop on the proposed tree preservation ordinance on Feb. 25, the president of the Builders Association proposed a minimum 2-acre lot size for regulation. Another builder asked for exemptions for half-acre and smaller lots.
Accepting the 2-acre proposed limitation would eliminate coverage by the proposed tree preservation ordinance of the vast majority of vacant residential building lots in Citrus County. Only vacant lots are covered by the proposed ordinance.
The proposed ordinance calls for preserving one existing tree per 2,000 square feet of property, about 22 trees per acre. For lots smaller than 10,000 square feet, it calls for preserving two existing trees.
Let's do some math.
A purchaser of a 10,000-square-foot lot is unlikely to propose building a 2,500-square-foot or larger home on that size lot. But, let's say the owner does build a 2,500-square-foot improvement. That would cover one quarter of the lot. For a square building centered on the lot, there would be about 25 feet to the lot boundaries. Would it still be impossible to build on that lot and not be able to keep two previously existing trees somewhere on the lot? Would it substantially increase the cost of construction?
The same sort of thought process for half-acre lots makes it increasingly harder to imagine that a sufficient number of existing trees (10 or 11) cannot be protected with a minimum of interference and cost during construction.
For the builders to state that the minimum size lot they can work with for tree preservation is 2 acres is ludicrous.
-- Walter P. Wynn Jr., Beverly Hills
Editor: Re: Neighbors are ignoring trash under their feet (Citrus Times, Feb. 27):
I hope Mr. Bischoff continues to pick up the trash. That makes two of us!
I clean up my 3 miles every seven to 10 days. I fill three or four plastic bags every time.
If everyone who walked carried one plastic bag and picked up a little, what an improvement we'd see.
Now, if someone would enforce the no-littering law, that would be even better!
I don't care to be called a "prissy prude" and I don't drive a Buick.
-- Helen Dresback, Homosassa
Editor: Re: Brown-Waite loyal to constituents, March 4 letter to the editor:
David Monier's letter complimenting U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite for her "accessibility to constituents," as seen in her recent "open forums" throughout the 5th Congressional District, apparently only applies to his hometown of Inverness, and to Dade City residents, but not to those of us in Hernando County.
Citrus and Pasco counties were provided midafternoon meetings in the middle of large population centers to meet with Brown-Waite.
However, Brown-Waite's appearance in Hernando County was a last-minute, late-night, weekday evening event held in the ghostlike empty town of Brooksville, in its less familiar City Council chambers.
Brown-Waite should have called for a town hall meeting in the heart of her congressional district's population -- Spring Hill -- and scheduled it at a decent hour and in a familiar and more accessible location, so that her many senior constituents could attend.
It appears Brown-Waite avoided planning any town meeting, except a Saturday evening dinner with her political party, in the town where most of the local anti-Iraq war demonstrations are occurring. Could there be a relationship here?
If Monier thinks Brown-Waite is being "so loyal to her constituents," then maybe he could put a good word in for us in Hernando County. We have recently requested Brown-Waite to hold a public forum in Spring Hill about the impending war in Iraq. In this way, citizens can more easily voice their concerns, opposition or support of the war to her directly. Plus, they also can hear her explanation and rationale as to why she supports the war.
This type of event, a town hall meeting, was televised on C-SPAN last week with Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Shay and the residents of his district in Connecticut.
If one of Brown-Waite's colleagues from her political party can do it, why can't she?
-- Brian P. Moore, Spring Hill
The Citrus Times welcomes letters from readers for publication.
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Send your letters to Greg Hamilton, editorial page editor, Citrus Times, 301 W Main St., Inverness, FL 34450. To fax a letter, call 860-7320. Send letters by electronic mail (in text only format) to Hamilton@sptimes.com.