Article Courtesy of Sarasota
Herald-Tribune
By Carrie Seidman
Published April 12, 2023
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Few residents in the 103 households of Greenfield, a subdivision at the corner
of Wilkinson Road and Honore Avenue, attend the monthly homeowners' association
(HOA) meetings. Desiree Moulton and Roger Metz have rarely gone since they built
their home in 1994 – when Honore ended at Bee Ridge Road and didn’t run behind
their back yard, as it does today.
But in late February, they learned a “repair” of the subdivision’s perimeter
retaining wall mentioned in meeting minutes would entail something much more
significant: The HOA had targeted for removal 37 mature oak trees, most of them
planted by the developer more than 30 years ago. A contract to cut them to
stumps had been negotiated at a cost of $70,000, to be paid, in part, by a
special assessment to all residents. Work was scheduled to begin in April.
Two of the threatened trees are in Moulton and Metz’s back yard.
“They called it a wall repair,” says Metz, “then all of a sudden it was ‘37
trees have to come out.’ Most people didn’t even know about it – some still
don’t. Everybody seemed pretty surprised that, in this day and age, anyone would
even think about doing something like that.”
Moulton, 70, and Metz, 62, attended the next HOA meeting in March. The board
said five arborists had confirmed the trees were the cause of several points of
wall damage and that they had considered, but rejected, other solutions. Those
included repairing just the damaged segments in the wall (incurring risk of
future deterioration and/or liability); cutting the tree roots (rendering the
trees unstable and a hurricane risk); or tearing down the wall (which, according
to deed restrictions, the HOA is required to maintain).
To allow for more “discovery,” they had postponed the removal to June.
Moulton and Metz are among the residents
who pushed back.
Step into their back yard and you’ll
understand why. The two oaks – approximately 60 feet tall
and 40 inches from the wall – offer a shady haven for birds,
squirrels and insects. Their wide branches, which form a
canopy with the trees in the median of Honore, keep the
house and yard cool and buffer the sound and smell of
traffic. A waterfall cascading into a pond where carp the
size of a grown-man’s forearm swim in circles is surrounded
by colorful orchids.
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Desiree Moulton and Roger Metz stand next to one of
the two Grand Oaks in their backyard targeted for removal by the
Greenfield HOA Board.
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“These trees are a complete and total pain in my (expletive) once a year
when they drop their leaves and those fuzzy things,” admits Metz, who filled
38 bags with leaves this year. “But they are so worth it. If they took these
trees out against our wishes, I wouldn’t want to live here anymore.”
Moulton, an admitted “tree hugger” whose father once owned an oak farm in
the east county, was more combative.
“If they take them out against my will, they will have a lawsuit,” she says.
The couple rejects the notion the trees caused the vertical crack in the
wall behind their home. That was from a vehicle that crashed into the wall
from the Honore side years ago.
To bolster their case, they hired Teri Graham, an International Society of
Arborists (ISA) certified arborist – and a former consultant to the city of
Sarasota on the Pink Floyd Grand Oak in Arlington Park – to look at their
trees and walk the subdivision perimeter. Based on her assessment, Graham
says, “I don’t believe the trees are causing the damage.”
“It’s not consistent with anything I’ve seen before where a tree has caused
wall damage. Typically, a crack from a root comes from the bottom up . . .
and if it’s major, you will clearly see the root that caused it and the
ground lifted. There’s no indication of roots there at all.”
Graham also executed the formula involving circumference, height and canopy
to confirm Metz and Moulton’s trees are Grand Oaks. Grand Trees require a
permit for removal that can only be granted if every attempt to work around
the tree has been exhausted.
An arborist for the HOA requested a “pre-application assessment” with
Sarasota County staff to determine if permits were required, but according
to the county, no application has been filed to date. Regulations state
trees on owner-occupied lots are exempt from permits – unless the trees are
Grand Trees – but can only be removed with owner permission.
The board has encouraged residents’ acquiescence since “the HOA will never
again fund removal of the trees” and any future damage or liability will be
at the expense of the homeowners. An email sent to all Greenfield residents
this week said the board was “meeting with impacted homeowners,” but Metz
and Moulton say no one has contacted them.
The board declined an interview request. It also demanded I leave an HOA
meeting I tried to attend to better understand its position and sent an
email stating “this is a matter that deals with private property owners and
a private Homeowners Association so the project will be handled in that
manner.” Residents who asked to see the report from the “five arborists”
were told to submit their request in writing, by snail mail.
“Frankly, I’m just flabbergasted the HOA thinks they can just determine they
will take out that many trees, charge the homeowners, not share the reports
from the arborists, assess everyone extra for covering it, and then leave
the stumps and who will pay for mediation to replant other trees,” Graham
adds. “None of it really makes sense. I’ve never seen an HOA do something
like that.”
Meanwhile, as Moulton and Metz watch the dogs they foster chase each other
around the scattered oak leaves in their back yard, the resolve to preserve
their green oasis grows ever firmer.
“I’m willing to die on this hill,” says Moulton.
Echoes Metz: “They are not taking out our trees. Period.”
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