In 2000, a year in which Florida earned a reputation for divisive elections and razor-thin margins, 76 percent of Jacksonville voters came together in favor of one thing: citywide tree protection.
In January, the will of those voters could be undone by the Florida Legislature.
A bill proposed by Sarasota Republican Senator Greg Steube would eliminate local tree protection laws across the state – including in Jacksonville.
Senate Bill SB 574 removes the ability of local governments to regulate tree removal on private property.
“It will literally take away any kind of local control,” says Greenscape of Jacksonville’s Executive Director Anna Dooley. “We need to have local people in charge of local issues.”
Dooley spoke at a tree planting event Monday held to protest the bill, calling it an effort to usurp the autonomy of local governments.
In fact, the Florida Legislature has rescinded local ordinances on a number of local issues in recent years, including guns, marijuana dispensaries and drones. Steube, himself has been behind the push to limit local regulations of short-term vacation rentals.
“I think you’ve seen a lot of instances where local governments are, in my opinion, going way above and beyond what they should be doing,” he told the Herald Tribune.
Steube told the newspaper he has heard complaints from property owners and the building industry but was also frustrated with his own recent attempt to remove trees to build a 3-car garage on his property.
Jacksonville’s tree ordinance permits removal of trees on private property, however, developers must either replace them or contribute to a fund used to plant new ones. The Tree Protection Trust Fund is credited with helping the city maintain its tree canopy in the face of population growth and urban sprawl.
A local resolution introduced by Jacksonville City Councilmember John Crescimbeni “strongly opposes” Steube’s bill and urges the Duval Legislative Delegation to do the same. It comes up for a second reading at Tuesday’s Council meeting.
City Council President Anna Broche has signed on in support of the resolution and attended Monday’s event.
“We’d like to keep it local,” she says. “This is about folks making sure we keep things local and we govern ourselves.”
John Henry November, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute, said the idea of overturning tree ordinances across the state was “unthinkable.”
“We will not stand for Tallahassee coming in and telling our local delegations exactly what needs to be done with our tree canopy,” he says. “This is a local issue.”
Janet Stanko with the Sierra Club of Northeast Florida, echoed that, noting that the state’s patchwork of rules reflect Florida’s varied and diverse environment.
“We’re not Miami, we’re not Orlando,” she says. “There is not a one size fits all answer for whole state.”