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Letter to the editor

Learning Gate parties must replant or pay up

The principal is spared, but a tree service and property manager feel the heat.

By JARED LEONE, Times Staff Writer
Published January 11, 2008

LUTZ - Learning Gate Community School will not have to pay for leveling trees for its expansion, but its contractors will.

Debbie's Tree Service and Cyclone Property Management were given the choice of replanting or paying a fee for the felled trees.

Hillsborough County wants Florida No. 1 grade shade trees as replacements, or $90 for each diameter inch that was cut. Florida No. 1 grade shade trees are pruned and conditioned and meet specific standards. They include live oaks, elms and maples.

The county removed school principal Patti Girard as a violator from the two cases during the Dec. 18 Code Enforcement Special Magistrate meeting. Reached by phone last week, Girard declined to comment.

Debbie Sacco, owner of Debbie's Tree Service, was told she is responsible for restoring 87 diameter inches of trees because of the December 2006 removal of six sabal palms and one laurel oak. If Sacco decides to pay, it will cost $7,830.

"That's a lot of money," Sacco said. "I just don't have that kind of money right now to do that kind of restoration."

Sacco said that under her restoration plan she would replace the palms she cut with new palms. She said she did not understand why she had to replace palms with Florida No. 1 grade shade trees, which are more expensive.

After submitting a tree restoration plan, Sacco will have 60 days to implement the plan or face fines of $25 a day until the project is complete.

Cyclone Property Management also was cited for illegally removing trees.

The owner, Tom Cawley, must implement a tree restoration plan within 30 days of approval or he will be fined $50 a day.

The amount of diameter inches Cawley was responsible to replace was reduced from 146 to 73 during the December meeting. Paying for the 73 diameter inches would cost Cawley $6,570.

Cawley did not return calls for comment.

[Last modified January 10, 2008, 23:54:57]