Residents of a Palm Harbor neighborhood have argued for years over a patch of bamboo on public land. Last month, the county cut it down.
By JOSE CARDENAS
Published October 15, 2005
PALM HARBOR - The 40-foot-tall bamboo stand that once literally and figuratively divided some neighbors in this waterfront community is gone. What remains, however, is a lingering grudge.
For a dozen families near Sutherland Bayou, the stand at the south edge of the block had long provided privacy for their waterfront back yards.
But in the past three years, other neighbors further south of the bamboo wanted it cut.
They, too, wanted a view of the water.
For three years, Pinellas County officials refereed the dispute.
There was a community meeting where a deal was made to keep the bamboo trimmed to a height of 10 feet at the expense of the family of David Collom, a resident who wanted the bamboo cut.
Then there was a vote by county commissioners not to give the county land, where the bamboo stood, to Linda Woodhouse.
Woodhouse, 73, led the charge to save the stand that her husband had planted in 1996 on a patch of publicly owned land next to their house. That spot is where Missouri Avenue dead-ends at Eighth Street.
Still, the compromise didn't hold. Sheriff's deputies responded on several occasions to squabbles over the bamboo.
So last month, the county removed it altogether.
The expense of trimming the bamboo had become burdensome for Collom's family. Plus, county officials say that Woodhouse kept harassing crews who came to do the work - an allegation she disputes.
"How long are we going to be peacemakers?" asked Charles Norwood, county director of geographic services.
There's still a lingering tension in a waterfront community where homes that cost less than $100,000 two decades ago now sell for $400,000 or more.
Woodhouse's camp contends that the county favored one family - David Collom's - over a larger group of residents who had already compromised by agreeing to have the bamboo shortened to 10 feet.
"It doesn't make sense to me, especially in a democracy, that they would take one side," said Woodhouse, a retired school nurse.
Collom said that other neighbors also supported removing the bamboo and that he feels unfairly vilified.
"I don't feel like I can put my kayak in there because I don't want to deal with the hostility," said Collom, 40, a podiatrist who moved here from Philadelphia with his wife and teenage daughter three years ago. "It ruins my day."
The day a crew cut the bamboo down, a sheriff's deputy stood by.
Collom said a pro-bamboo neighbor walked by and told him, "I hope you're happy."
That neighbor, Bobbi Brenzo, said she actually told him, "Congratulations," which she said could have sounded sarcastic.
"I have not been hostile," said Brenzo, 47. "I'm upset with the county. Their job is to be unbiased."
Collom said that the county verified that the bamboo was on public property and could be cut before he bought his family's $150,000 fixer-upper and put that much more money into it.
Still, other neighbors had grown fond of the bamboo over the years. It kept peering eyes and car headlights away from the water, boats and houses along Sutherland Bayou.
It swayed in the wind, said Woodhouse, whose husband, William, died in 2000.
"It was gorgeous," said Brenzo, who has lived on the bayou for 12 years.
Now "it feels like (cars are) going to drive into your yard," said Jeff Sterns, 40. He bought his house on Sutherland Drive 20 years ago for $60,000 and estimates it could sell for at least $500,000 now.
The dispute started three years ago when Collom said he got permission from the county to cut down the bamboo. He walked across the street and started doing so when, he says, Woodhouse ran him off.
And that wasn't the last disagreement over the bamboo.
Norwood said that county supervisors had warned during a meeting this year that if there was any more trouble regarding the bamboo, it would be removed.
Norwood said Woodhouse continued to confront tree trimmers and posted a "Private Property" sign on county land.
Woodhouse said she confronted only one landscaper more than a year ago, when she was concerned that people were cutting vegetation without proper permits, and before the county did a survey that showed the land was not hers.
Norwood, who said he recalls only one other dispute like this in recent years, said the county will replace the bamboo - which is considered a nuisance plant not native to Florida - with sea grapes.
The cost to taxpayers for work at the bamboo site has been $750, and it will cost about the same to plant the the sea grapes, Norwood said.
The sea grapes will give some privacy back to the residents of Sutherland Bayou while providing a water view for the neighbors to the south.
While Collom says other neighbors supported his position, getting like-minded residents to say so is not easy. A few people called a Times reporter to support Collom's family - even though some said they did not want to speak publicly on the issue because they had businesses that could suffer.
"I certainly think the view is lovely now," said one neighbor, Nancy Hensel. "I have also come to the thinking that we come to Florida for a reason. Why isn't it that everyone can't view this water?"
