27 Palm Trees Cut Down on Perdido Key Yesterday

27 large Palms were removed by FPL's contractor in one day, yesterday, on Perdido Key.  

.....But it was known this was going to occur.

One week ago marked the 39th day since FP&L whittled-down their initial list of Palms need for removal from 70 down to 27.  In speaking with FPL in March about this topic, I asked for 45 days for the HOA's to have an opportunity to relocate any palms they wished to save.  Numerous HOA's reached out to the county, and I spoke with the Sundown HOA manager about the 8-9 Palms in front of her development twice back in March.  But they (Sundown HOA) didn't move on removing any of them.  I called and left messages for this individual asking if they were interested in relocating the palm trees, and did not receive a call back from any of my repeated messages to her after we had first initially spoken and she did initially seem interested in saving the palms.  When contacted by a resident of Sundown two weeks ago on an unrelated matter, we subsequently spoke about the Palms.  I let this individual know I was not hearing back from the HOA manager and the clock was ticking.  He said he'd have her call me, but that never happened.  Then, we received this email one week ago on Tuesday,  from the Arborist:

"Good afternoon.  This will be my final email concerning Perdido Key Drive prior to completing the work on Monday, May 2, 2022.  My Contract Arborist and I drove down this morning to recheck the road right-of-way for any changes in the count of palm trees.  I noticed none of our initial 27 palms as having been removed by anyone.  The 9 palms I marked specifically for the Sundown Condominiums HOA, at the request of Commissioner Bergosh, are still present.  So, again, in total, we are removing the 27 tallest palm trees between Lafitte Reef Rd and the state line this year under the scope of this project.  I will be on-site Monday morning." 

I received the final word yesterday, May 2nd, that the Palms had been removed via a follow-on email from FP&L's Arborist, Chris Pope.  FP&L kept their word and waited 45 days.  But then they took action.  From Mr. Pope:

"I wanted to let everyone know that Wright just removed the final palm.  All 27 palms at the locations on the list below were cut down today.  A small amount of debris will get picked up shortly as the guys drive out.  We appreciate the cooperation from the county!....We will re-evaluate this same section of right-of-way next year and will put a similar plan in place for necessary removals at that time.  The

 height class system we used this year is subject to change going forward."

The List of Palm Trees and Locations of such trees that were removed yesterday by FP&L

And again--- we had a plan, initially, to allow the county to potentially remove and replant any of these palms the various property owners and HOA's did not move after the initial 45 day period-- but after all things were considered, neither the HOA's nor the county was able to save and replant any of these 27 large Palm Trees.  So the second 45 day period became unnecessary.  According to staff, the inability of anyone (County/HOA) to remove and replant palms is/was due to the logistics of working under the utility lines and also the week's long remediation to the root system which would have been required in order to successfully replant the palms---- after removal and before replanting---which would have been cost-prohibitive.  The county went so far as to get estimates on the costs for removal-----and pretty early-on in it became readily apparent that it is much less costly to buy and plant new palm trees as compared to removing and replanting the existing ones.

The next steps include the county and FPL working on a 3-year plan for vegetation management out on Perdido Key.  One of the things I am hearing over and over is that property owners/Businesses/HOA's MUST not plant trees under the utility lines---particularly trees/shrubs that will grow to heights that will interfere with such utility lines.  If this vegetative interference occurs--FPL has the right to trim back or remove any vegetation within 15 feet of the lines.  So this needs to be considered before new vegetation is planted, along with the potential heights of such plants to be considered.

Many have asked "Why can't FP&L just bury the lines to avoid cutting down the trees?"  which seems like a fair question.  Utility lines are buried on Pensacola Beach and this problem does not happen there.  According to staff, with whom I discussed the issue of burying utilities, this has been a long-running contentious issue.  "There was a move to have the county issue an MSBU to bury the lines but there was not enough buy-in from the residents.  After Hurricane Sally snapped-off many of the old wooden poles on Perdido Key---FPL began to harden the lines by installing concrete poles.  I doubt FPL will want to bury lines after replacing the wood with the concrete---but if they do we will recycle the concrete and use it to create artificial reefs off of the coast" said one staff member with detailed knowledge and historical perspective on this matter specifically.

So at the end of the day--it looks like next year we will go through this exercise again, and more palm trees will need to come down.  If they are to be replanted by private property owners---hopefully they will be planted a minimum of 20 feet back and away from the right of way to avoid all of this having to be repeated again like  a scene from Groundhog day.