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Neighborhood report

'Butchered' grand oak has council up in arms

No one is saying who overtrimmed the tree on a development site in the Channel District.

By JANET ZINK
Published April 15, 2005

The City Council is serious about its tree ordinance.

Council members made that clear April 7 by asking the city attorney to look into pursuing criminal charges against whoever was responsible for the overtrimming of a grand oak in the Channel District.

Council member Linda Saul-Sena said the tree was "butchered," not trimmed. The site along Channelside Drive at Jefferson Street across from the St. Pete Times Forum is slated for more than 850 condominiums.

Council member John Dingfelder said he believes that tree was purposefully damaged.

But representatives of the developer, Miami-based Crescent Heights, told the council they were blindsided by what happened to the tree.

"We designed the project around the tree," said land use consultant John LaRocca.

"We were just as shocked and appalled as you were," said attorney Truett Gardner.

Representatives for Crescent Heights said the tree will likely survive.

But city code requires that tree trimmers get a permit before taking a chain saw to any grand oak. No one ever pulled a permit for the job, Gardner said.

Willfully violating any city code is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable with a fine of up to $500 and/or 60 days in jail.

City Attorney David Smith said his office is looking into the issue.

"A willful violation is a little harder to prove than that a simple act occurred," Smith said. "That determination will have to be made by the State Attorney's Office."

Gardner said the tree was trimmed several months ago in the wake of hurricane season.

Gardner said he didn't know who cut the tree, and Crescent Heights did not return calls from the Times. Gardner speculated that Crescent Heights hired a Pinellas County tree trimmer.

"They obviously did not know the stringent rules in Tampa," he said. "They got a little overzealous."

Crescent Heights has projects nationwide. The company plans to build two 30-story towers with more than 850 condominiums and about 25,000 square feet of retail space on the Channel District property.

Studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom units will range from 600 to more than 2,000 square feet. They will cost from the high $100,000s to more than $500,000. The project does not have a name yet.

- Janet Zink can be reached at 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 13, 2005, 16:39:09]