When it comes to Jacksonville's tree-protection laws, the
state Department of Transportation and the Jacksonville Port Authority want City
Hall to cut them some slack.
Faced with the prospect of paying six-figure checks to comply with the city's
regulations, officials with the transportation department and the port say there
should be more flexibility so their costs will be less.
But the requests have not generated any support at City Hall. Mayor John
Delaney's office, noting that voters overwhelmingly approved a tree-protection
initiative in November, says the law should be applied in the same way to
government agencies as to private developers.
The election "was one of the clearest expressions of the will of the
community that we've seen in a long time," said Audrey Moran, chief of staff to
Delaney.
The Jacksonville Port Authority paid $1 million last year and officials
expect to ante up another $500,000 this year as a penalty for clearing trees to
expand port facilities at Dames Point. The state Department of Transportation
could face a $1.5 million payment in connection with cutting trees for
construction of the Florida 9A beltway at Interstate 295.
The city law requires such payments whenever a construction project clears
out trees and the development does not plant enough new trees on-site to
compensate for the lost greenery. Money from the tree-protection fund is used to
plant trees in various areas of the city.
Unlike homebuilders, who went to court in an effort to overturn the November
election, state transportation officials aren't seeking any legal action in
regard to the city's ordinance.
But state officials say they want the city to reconsider the effect of the
law because the cost of compliance is rising in connection with roadwork, and
paying to the tree-protection fund means less money for road construction.
From 2001 to 2006, the state's proposed budget for Duval County contains
about $14 million for landscaping. That's 2.6 percent of the amount the state
will spend on road-building in the county. State law requires the transportation
department's landscaping budget statewide to be at least 1 percent of what the
state spends to build roads. In 2002, that standard will increase to 1.5
percent.
The state's landscaping budget is higher in Jacksonville because of the
compliance cost for the tree-protection law, said Ken Cheek, landscape manager
for the transportation department's Northeast Florida district.
At the port, officials estimate they will pay $6 million to $8 million for
tree replanting as they proceed with development of several hundred acres at
Dames Point. While some of the cost will go toward planting trees on-site, the
port will pay most of the cost by writing checks to the city's tree fund.
The port wants to look at other options, such as building public walking
trails through wooded tracts the port owns, to compensate for the loss of trees
to port expansion, said Dave Kaufman, director of marine planning and project
development.
"I just think there are creative ways for doing this," Kaufman said. "The
city could either accept it or not, but at least you would have the opportunity
to present other options."
But Kelly Elmore, a member of Greenscape, a non-profit group that undertakes
landscaping work in the city, said when payments go into the tree-protection
fund, it provides citywide benefits by paying for landscaping in areas that
didn't get it before Jacksonville enacted its tree-protection law.
"Yes, there's a cost involved, but in the long term, it's worth it," he said.
