Article Courtesy of The St. Petersburg Times

By ANNE LINDBERG
Posted May 3, 2006

PINELLAS PARK - Park Plaza Homeowners Association leaders had long wanted to raze the palm trees in front of the condo complex, so when the city tore up the street for drainage repairs, they decided the time was right.

They figured the city would replace the "ugly" trees with a nice, green lawn.

Trouble was, they neglected to get a permit. Now the city and at least one condo owner are unhappy with the loss of the trees. Pinellas Park may be easier to appease, provided the association plants replacement trees.

But condo resident Mary Czarnik is still upset and has roused some other owners to complain about more than the loss of palm trees. The complaints range from alleged wrongdoing with association funds to failure to keep the property in good shape.

Association president Tom Beckett denies those charges and said the fight is really all about the trees.

"I am rigorous about following the law. I frequently quote the law," Beckett said Monday, stressing that no association money has been mishandled.

"We are very careful about how we spend money," Beckett said. In fact, he said, some projects have been delayed because of fiscal restraints.

For Beckett, the problems started with the palm trees that lined the city right of way in front of the condos at 5060 76th Ave. N.

"We all thought they were kind of ugly," Beckett said.

The association leadership had talked about taking down the trees "for three or four years" and decided the time was right because the city was doing drainage work in the street outside. If the trees came down while the street was torn up, the group figured Pinellas Park would replace the right of way with a lawn as part of its street repairs.

Czarnik was outraged when the trees disappeared about three months ago and says she thinks the decision did not come from the association board but was made unilaterally by Beckett. Especially irritating, she said, was the fact that birds had nested in one of the palms.

"How could they kill birds?" she asked. "I don't understand. My thing is the trees."

Beckett said Czarnik is overreacting.

"They were just ugly palms ... but this lady is obsessed by palms," he said.

Czarnik complained to the city, which cited the association for failing to get a permit to take down trees in the right of way.

The association had three ways to solve the situation: Replace the trees elsewhere on the property; pay into the city's tree fund; or a combination of both.

The association has chosen to replace the trees with hardwoods, such as American holly, red maple and live oaks. The city and the board are working out the details of where the trees will go and how many there will be.

Those trees, Beckett said, will look better than the "crummy palm trees."

But now it has gone further than the palm trees, Czarnik said. "It's about everything else they do," she said.

That includes removing walkway stones, replacing evergreens with Boston ferns, replacing washing machines with "pieces of garbage for washing machines" and not replacing the "P" that fell off the name of the building, making it appear to be "ark Plaza."

It also includes not consulting residents about what's going on at the condominium.

"I questioned them about it. They said it's none of my business," resident Roger Radjeski said. "These people on the board are not giving us an opportunity to say yes or no."

Beckett said that's not true, although he concedes he has had to make quick decisions in recent months. The problem, he said, is that he has spent a lot of time with his ill, hospitalized mother.

"It falls on me and I've got important personal business to attend to," he said.

But all decisions, he said, have been made properly and are reflected in "meticulous" minutes kept by the association board. He also denied that meetings were held in secret.

As for any repairs and upgrading, they will be done as the association can afford them. The association, Beckett said, "is planning to replace the 'P.' "