by TRC_Admin | Apr 27, 2023 | Codes
Video: WEAR News ABC 3
“For years, Floridians could call in code enforcement complaints in their neighborhood — and do so anonymously.
But that changed two years ago.
Some say the number of calls have changed, while others say it’s the kind of calls they’re getting that’s different.
A state law changed requiring callers to leave their name and address with their complaint. Anyone can now see the contact information of the caller when they request the public record.
The law took effect in July 2021 with the goal to stop frivolous complaints.
Escambia County Deputy Director of Natural Resources Tim Day says their calls dropped by about 25 percent since the change.
Officials with the City of Pensacola say they’ve not seen a noticeable drop in calls, with the number of calls also not dropping in Santa Rosa County.
But Santa Rosa County code enforcement manager Bobby Burkett says the nature of the calls has changed.
‘It’s reduced some of the what we call frivolous calls when neighbors get mad at each other and we go out there and it’s really no violation,’ he said…
Code enforcement officers in Santa Rosa County say when the law changed, there were concerns about people not calling because of fear of retaliation. But now most of the people who call are willing to share their name and address.”
— Sha’de Ray, WEAR News ABC 3
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by TRC_Admin | Mar 2, 2023 | Codes, Controversial, Trees, Uncategorized
Photo: Denise Buttacavoli
“The Clearwater City Council put a hold on its city tree ordinance after 4,000 healthy trees were tagged for removal.”
“When Denise Buttacavoli left for work that morning, her front yard was fully shaded. When she returned home, she discovered that the city had cut down every tree in her front yard.
Patricia Kirby, a 20-year resident of Clearwater, confessed that she broke into tears when she returned home from work and saw the condition of her neighbor’s yard.
That morning, Denise Buttacavoli’s front yard at 1660 Magnolia Ave. was filled with mature, healthy camphor trees that provided a canopy of shade and sheltered a host of wild critters.
When Kirby returned home that night, she said Buttacavoli’s yard was a barren wasteland. Every shade tree in the yard had been cut down by city of Clearwater tree service contractors.
A former federal park ranger, federal forest ranger and an independent contractor for the Environmental Protection Agency for more than 20 years, Kirby said she’s spent her career trying to protect the environment and the wildlife that call it home.
‘This kind of thing hurts my heart,’ she said.
Kirby displayed before and after photos of Buttacavoli’s front yard on the overhead screen at the Clearwater City Council meeting Thursday night.
There was an audible gasp from the audience when Kirby showed the photo of Buttacavoli’s yard after the trees had been cut down…
She said the problem with the city’s tree ordinance, as outlined by Dan Mirabile, director of the city’s public works department, at Tuesday’s city council work session is that the ordinance doesn’t take a tree’s health into consideration.
Mirabile said the city is divided into five zones and each zone is inventoried every six years by an arborist at a cost of $30,000 a year.
This year the arborist tagged 4,000 of the 20,000 trees in that zone for removal using a rating system from 0 to 6.
He said trees are rated based on their species, diameter, health, whether power lines are overhead and whether they’re home to nesting birds and other wildlife.
Under that rating system, said Mirabile, if a tree is rated a 3 or below, it is subject to removal. As a result, he told council members, the city has needlessly cut down healthy trees.
‘I lost 100 percent (of trees) — 100 percent of the natural beauty, 100 percent of the wildlife connection, 100 percent shade and comfort and 100 percent of the joy,’ Buccavoli said.
She urged the city to amend its tree ordinance and ‘model your new policy after a city who’s doing the right thing.’
At the very least, said Kim Begay, vice president of the Clearwater Audubon Society, property owners should be notified in writing before the city cuts down a tree on right of way in front of their property so the residents can challenge the decision to cut it down…
Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard said the council already agreed following the work session to put a hold on enforcing the tree ordinance until it can be reviewed.
‘We have completely stopped the program and are going to reexamine it,’ he said.”
— D’Ann Lawrence White, Patch
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by TRC_Admin | Mar 2, 2023 | Codes, Landscaping, Planting
Photo: Longboat Island Chapel
“In August 2022, the Longboat Island Chapel’s Board of Trustees approved the Grounds Committee’s request to replace dead turf around Friendship Garden’s gazebo with clay brick pavers in a decorative design installed by Seven Stars who maintains the Chapel’s brick pavers.
Turf around the gazebo in the Friendship Garden has not done well because of 1) lack of enough sunlight even though the tree canopy above it was opened, and 2) chairs and people atop the grass for weddings and events damage the turf.
The University of Florida IFAS Extension Service does not recommend synthetic turf, because it is not Florida-Friendly. They published the following:
Protecting and preserving Florida’s water resources through sustainable landscaping practices on living landscapes is the primary focus of the Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program.
When considering the use of a synthetic turf system in the urban landscape, it is important to understand all the potential environmental impacts. Synthetic turf systems have not been shown to improve or create wildlife habitat, do not improve groundwater recharge, can heat excessively in the sun and, in more extensive installations, can cause a substantial heat island effect.
In addition, synthetic turf generates higher stormwater runoff than natural turf and has been shown to leach a variety of contaminants, including both organic compounds and heavy metals.
Finally, since synthetic turf is primarily plastic it has a finite lifespan and must eventually be disposed of in a landfill, a practice that is counter to the sustainability goals of the Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program.
So as to better accommodate weddings and events, the Grounds Committee recommended replacing the turf with the same style of clay brick pavers within the Friendship Garden but installed in a decorative design.
Benefits of the brick pavers are:
– They are Florida-Friendly.
– These areas will have the same height as existing pavers, reducing risks of tripping on raised turf.
– The areas will be level to place chairs.
The brick pavers were installed the next month in time for a wedding ceremony and reception at our Chapel in September on Labor Day weekend!”
Photo: Longboat Island Chapel
— Ingrid McClellan, Scenic Florida
Read about Longboat Island Chapel Weddings
by TRC_Admin | Mar 2, 2023 | Codes, Environmental, Landscaping, Planting
Photo: Johner Images, Getty Images on Martha Stewart
“Also called meadow lawns, this landscaping technique requires little to no maintenance or resources to thrive.
What Is a Tapestry Lawn? Best Plants How to Plant Mowing and Maintenance Zones and Regions Pros and Cons
A tapestry lawn is just one term for this natural landscape trend: Sometimes called a matrix garden, meadow lawn, prairie lawn, or patchwork lawn, this turf technique involves removing traditional grass and replacing it with a mix of native plants and flowers of varying heights, sizes, and textures for both aesthetic and ecological benefits.
As its name implies, a tapestry lawn consists of a mix of colorful plants that create a living piece of art in your yard. ‘They are alternatives to traditional grass lawns and are more colorful, visually intriguing, eco-friendly, and low-maintenance,’ says Jeremy Yamaguchi, the CEO of Lawn Love. ‘These lawns are essentially an interlaced spread of low-lying plants and flowers.’
While most homeowners opt for low landscapes, a tapestry lawn can vary in height; low-lying options clock in between 6 to 10 inches, but your site can be scaled to up to 48 inches depending on your turf and goals, says Benjamin Vogt, the owner of Monarch Gardens LLC. ‘In general, such a landscape will include plants that move about, fill gaps, and generally show a new arrangement season to season and year to year—just as they would in wilder nature,’ he says, adding that the main difference between your lawn and the wild is that the plants are purposefully selected to work on this site for aesthetic, practical, and environmental reasons.
The Best Plants for Tapestry Lawns
Tapestry lawns aren’t one size (or zone) fits all. Ultimately, the plants you choose when working within this landscape trend should be native to your area, non-invasive, and low-water. ‘You also want your selection of plants to all have similar water, light, [and] humidity requirements,’ Yamaguchi says…
Tapestry Lawn Regions and Zones
All the experts we spoke to agree that the secret to creating a successful tapestry lawn is to always choose plants native to your region. ‘The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map has universal codes that will help you pick the right ground cover plants for your [region],’ Bucur says, noting that native plants are easier to care for and have a low likelihood of wilting or dying.
Pro: Environmental Impact
Tapestry lawns are far more eco-friendly than grass lawns, says Vogt. ‘Just the increase in flowers alone is a boon to adult pollinators, while the diversity of plant species provides more food for their young (think caterpillars that eat foliage and become butterflies and moths),’ he says. ‘The increased density and diversity also is much better for healing soils, capturing and storing carbon, cleaning and cooling the air, reducing stormwater runoff, and generally providing habitat (and an aesthetic show) all year round—yes, even in winter.’
Con: Foot Traffic
While there are certainly perks to this low-maintenance approach to lawn care, Yamaguchi notes that there’s a pretty obvious con to surrendering turf for tapestry: ‘The only major downside to this lawn type is that it is not well built for much foot traffic,’ he says.”
— Lauren Wellbank, Freelance Writer for Martha Stewart
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by TRC_Admin | Jan 23, 2023 | Billboards, City Signs, Codes
Photo: John Hart, Wisconsin State Journal
“A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit by Adams Outdoor Advertising that claimed the city of Madison’s sign ordinance is unconstitutional.
The city and Adams have been battling in court over the city’s sign ordinances for decades, with the newly decided federal lawsuit filed in 2017. Adams owns and operates many billboards in Wisconsin, including about 90 in Madison.
Adams’federal lawsuit began as a sweeping First Amendment challenge to the city’s sign ordinance under a legal standard set in a previous U.S. Supreme Court case involving another municipality. It also challenged the city’s distinction between on- and off-premises signs as well as regulation of digital signs.
In April 2017, Adams submitted 26 applications to the city seeking to modify or replace existing billboards, including raising the height of structures and installing digital sign faces. In June 2017, then-city zoning administrator Matthew Tucker denied 25 of the 26 permits, citing ordinance provisions the proposed modifications would violate. The next month, Adams filed the lawsuit in federal court.
In April 2020, a federal judge dismissed the challenge, saying there’s no constitutional problem with Madison’s sign ordinance. ‘Whether the Capitol Square should look like Times Square is a decision that Madison city government is entitled to make,’ U.S. District Judge James Peterson said at the time.
Adams appealed that decision.
Now, on Jan. 4, in a 16-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, upheld the federal district court’s dismissal of Adams’ claims.
‘The city is pleased with this outcome,” Assistant City Attorney Lara Mainella said. “It supports and reinforces our understanding of the law. The city has always been careful to enact and enforce its sign regulations in a way that honors the First Amendment speech rights of those who wish to display signs in our city…'”
— Dean Mosiman, Wisconsin State Journal
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by TRC_Admin | Jan 23, 2023 | Codes, Trees
Photo: Tony Giberson, PNJ.com
“Pensacola has won the battle to preserve a ‘heritage’ oak tree on Spring Street in North Hill.
The city and property owners Larry and Ellen Vickery signed an agreement that guarantees the 61-inch diameter tree will not be cut down in exchange for the city paying the Vickerys’ legal fees in the case.
Since 2019, the city and the Vickerys have been in a legal battle over the tree after the Vickerys sought to cut it down to build a new home on the vacant property.
The Vickerys complied with a new state law that allowed them to get an arborist’s opinion that a tree was unhealthy or posed a risk to people or property and could be removed without having to pay the city’s mitigation cost for cutting down a protected tree.
A 61-inch tree on Spring Street in North Hill has been the center of a legal battle between a property owner who wanted to cut it down to build a new home and the city, which sought to preserve it. The city won an initial legal challenge of the tree’s removal but lost two subsequent appeals, with the final ruling agreeing that the Vickerys had followed a state law as written and could remove the tree…
A city arborist inspection of the tree conducted in September found the tree to be in ‘good health,’ and while there were several dead branches in the crown, it posed a low risk to people or property…
The state law surrounding the case was changed this year to require the same standards for arborists to be used to determine the health of trees. The updated law strengthens the city’s position in enforcing its local tree ordinance, but the courts said the new law couldn’t be applied to retroactively to Vickerys’ case.”
— Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal
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