Update on the 27th Avenue Project

This was sent out this week by Liliana Dones and Santiago Villegas:



We wanted to appraise you of our most recent move on behalf of saving trees on 27th Avenue, an appeal on behalf of the two mahogany trees or which permit for removal was requested immediately following a meeting we had with County Public works on the 5th of August.



We also want to give some of you who may not be as familiar, the opportunity to learn how TreeWatch works:



One of the chief reasons that TreeWatch exists is to be able to exercise appeals to save trees on behalf of any one person or persons or the entire community. In the past, individual would have to go downtown in person to file an appeal and pay a charge to do so. This changed when TreeWatch was founded in 2005 by a group of Grove residents looking for proactive solutions to save our dwindling canopy. It was brought in as a committee of the Village Council when I was named to the Council in 2007, however the decision to file an appeal to save a tree does not involve the Village Council member votes.



Due to the brief window of time involved and the often obscure ways in which notification is placed, TreeWach always needs to act fast. All it takes is one person to ask TreeWatch to appeal a tree removal and we go into action, reviewing the situation and then proceeding with an appeal within the prescribed window of time allowed. An appeal by TreeWatch is a stop action that affords us the opportunity to bring the matter up for discussion in the forum provided by the Historical & Environmental Preservation Board, allowing their valuable, unbiased input and judgement. There is also the opportunity to mediate with the applicant, if the applicant so desires, which is something Jim McMaster of Treeman Trust, and I have done with some success in the past.



In the case of this particular appeal, we will be assigned to the agenda of the HEP Board. I believe their next meeting is September 6, and I suspect the City will push for this item to be heard then, so while it is not confirmed, keep that date in mind. They meet at City Hall. We will confirm the date as we get closer.



On the date of the hearing, presentations will be made to HEP Board by the County Transportation Department as to why the trees should go, and TreeWatch and other interested residents present their case as to why they should stay. The HEP board takes a vote and presents their finding.



In this particular matter, it is the hope of TreeWatch that by not permitting the tree cuttings to take place immediately, as was intended, it will allow the time for County Transportation Dept. in charge of the 27th Avenue Project to iron out all the issues they have with the 27th Avenue project, such as situations that arose at the August 10 meeting, when the owner of Crook and Crook protested unannounced changes in the median that affect his and other businesses across from the trees slated to come down.



Our stop gap means they cannot proceed to cut the tree down right from the start, as they did in the Bayshore end of the project. Otherwise they would chop the trees down now, and it may be a very long time before they are even replaced while they go about resolving all the newly found issues with Crook & Crook and the median. And of course, it also gives us the hope the trees will remain, should the HEP Board be so inclined to vote in their favor.



Our continued involvement in the matter will also serve to improve mitigation for the trees already down.



Best regards,

Liliana Dones & Santiago Villegas

Coconut Grove TreeWatch

(a Committee of the Coconut Grove Village Council)