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Week in reviewBy Times staff writer © St. Petersburg Times, published April 8, 2001 TREE POLICY BECOMES CITY LAW: Home builders will have to come to grips witht the city's new policy on tree removal and branch trimming, which was voted into law at Thursday's City Council meeting. "I don't think we support it," said attorney John Grandoff, representing the Builders Association of Greater Tampa. "But we will work within the bounds of the ordinance. I think it is a little over-restrictive on property rights, but we will learn to work with it." Those wishing to remove grand trees -- those generally more than 36 inches in diameter and more than 30 feet tall -- now need an administrative permit unless the city's urban forester determines that the condition of the tree poses a hazard. The amendments also change the rules for trimming grand trees, requiring permits and raising standards to match national regulations. "So trimming (now) has to be done by someone with credentials," said council member Linda Saul Sena. "A Saturday night hacker who just has a chain saw can do irreparable harm to a grand tree." CLEAN-UP APPROVED FOR BROOKER CREEK: A $300,000 water quality project in the Brooker Creek basin got final approval Wednesday. Hillsborough County Commissioners voted to spend $150,000 on a plan to repair altered wetlands in an 1,111-acre tract in northwest Hillsborough. The county-owned parcel protects the basin's headwaters and the water that eventually flows into Upper Tampa Bay, project manager Forest Turbiville said. Another $150,000 will come from a Southwest Florida Water Management District grant. "Brooker Creek, itself, is a fairly small creek system, but it drains into Lake Tarpon, which ultimately drains into Upper Tampa Bay," through the Lake Tarpon Outfall Canal, Turbiville said. "So if you can get things right in the headwaters, you kind of improve your chances for improving water quality downstream." The land is west of Dale Mabry Highway between Van Dyke and Lutz-Lake Fern roads. The project will focus on restoring one or two altered wetlands totaling about 25 acres, said Rob Heath, environmental supervisor for the Hillsborough Parks and Recreation Department. Ditches -- about 5-feet deep by 25-feet wide -- will be filled with a combination of dirt and water blockers, such as rip-rap. The idea, planners said, is to keep more water in the wetlands, which will improve water quality heading southwest through the 8,000-acre Brooker Creek Preserve and help recharge the Floridan Aquifer. Surveying, permitting and design is expected to take about a year, said David Glicksberg, senior hydrologist with the Hillsborough Public Works Department. Work could be completed by the end of 2003. WHARTON FRESHMAN ARRESTED: As part of a growing crackdown on threats at schools, a 14-year-old Wharton High School student was arrested Tuesday after making a bomb threat to a teacher, Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said. On Monday, after the ninth-grader's science teacher asked him to leave the class for being disruptive, he turned and said, "I'm gonna blow up the school," officials said. He was arrested Tuesday at school. The student was suspended from school and arrested on a charge of threatening to place or discharge a destructive device, a felony. He was taken to a juvenile detention center. The school district is recommending the teen be expelled, which could last for up to two years under a new get-tough policy by Superintendent Earl Lennard. BANK ROBBER CONVICTED: After a five-day trial, a federal jury found a Zephyrhills man guilty Monday of holding up 10 banks in three counties, including Hillsborough and Pasco. Eric Donald Johnson, 41, began robbing several banks on Nov. 8, 1999, when he hit the SunTrust Bank on Sixth Street in Zephyrhills. He later robbed banks in New Port Richey, Land O'Lakes and Winter Park. He robbed the AmSouth Bank at 8805 New Tampa Blvd. three times, authorities said. Dubbed "The Checkbook Bandit," Johnson would walk into the banks and show the teller a computer-generated note inside a blue plastic checkbook cover that read, "This is a robbery." In one case, he had a gun. Johnson would demand specific denominations, no dye packs and asked the tellers to empty the reserve drawer, as well. Johnson often tried to disguise his looks by hiding his shoulder-length hair under a ball cap and wearing drugstore reading glasses. He sometimes shed his jacket and other clothing outside the bank to keep from being identified as he made his getaway.
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