LETTERS: Residents react to threats of tree removal

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

Kudos to Dennis McDonald for filing lawsuit

Dear Editor:
I read with great interest the article about Dennis McDonald’s lawsuit against the city to save the trees on Palm Coast Parkway and at Palm Harbor Shopping Center. Good for you, Mr. McDonald. I am in full agreement. I realize the city has plans to replace the trees they intend to take down, but they will be saplings.

One of the primary reasons my family and I decided to buy a home here was because of the beauty and character of the trees along Palm Coast Parkway. I’d like to see it designated as a scenic roadway and preserved. This is the most historical and beautiful end of town.

Thanks for your efforts, Mr. McDonald.

Linda Hansen
Palm Coast

Plan to remove laurel oaks is flawed

Dear Editor:
The city is telling residents that the oak trees slated to be cut down on Palm Coast Parkway and in the Palm Harbor Shopping Center are laurel oaks, also called water oaks, that are reaching the end of their life cycle anyway.

Personally I find that just a little too simplistic. While I'm certainly not a tree expert, I can read, and I can see. Laurel oaks generally live from 30 to 50 years. The mature trees on the parkway appear to me to be a lot older than 50 years, so my natural tendency not to believe everything that I hear kicks in, and asks if these are all laurel oak trees or not? If not, then they must be live oaks, which can live as long as 500 years under the right conditions.

City management owes residents an accounting of just how many of each individual species of trees it wants to remove. We have an outstanding trained arborist on the city payroll who has already counted all the trees, and who can easily give city management that information, if it hasn't already been given. In the interest of full disclosure, the city should lay out the actual facts.

While many of us would like to see the parkway widened, we also don't want to see our wonderful Florida oak heritage laid waste. Cutting down large oaks and replacing them with palm trees is a flawed plan. I believe we have enough brainpower in town to come up with some viable alternatives.

Frank Consentino
Palm Coast

Editor’s Note: It is important to note that there are two separate projects under discussion. First is the widening of Palm Coast Parkway. According to a recent statement issued by the city:

“For the street widening from Cypress Point Parkway to Florida Park Drive, 395 trees in the city right of way will have to be replaced. Most of those are palm trees that are currently being relocated to parks and other public landscapes within the city. A few large laurel oaks near the intersection of Palm Coast Parkway and Old Kings Road will be replaced, but those trees are already approaching the end of their natural life expectancy and would have to come down in the next few years anyway, said Palm Coast Urban Forester Carol Bennett.

“To mitigate against the removal of these trees, 458 new trees will be planted in that 1.23-mile stretch of the parkway. ... The city’s plans for the overall landscape project include the typical Palm Coast streetscape that will complement the previously enhanced Palm Coast Parkway medians in the I-95 area and with the recent gateway improvements at the eastern end of Palm Coast Parkway, near the toll bridge, said Palm Coast Landscape Architect Bill Butler, who oversaw the design of the new landscaping.”

Palm Coast Communications Manager Cindi Lane confirmed that seven laurel oak trees will be removed between Wells Fargo and the Mobil gas station, to facilitate the widening of the parkway. She said Bennett and Butler estimated that these seven trees were planted in 1983, when they were already several years old. Laurel oaks often live 50-60 years in a natural environment, but not as long in an urban setting. The city does not plant laurel oaks for landscaping any more because their lifespans are shorter than most other kinds of oaks.

"Sometimes there is a cost to progress," Lane said, speaking of the widening of the parkway. "While the city would rather not remove any trees, sometimes it is needed."

The second project is Palm Harbor Shopping Center, and it’s not related to the widening of Palm Coast Parkway. At this time, according to the city, “there are no requests to remove any trees. Only conceptual drawings for a redevelopment have been submitted by the property owner.”