FL - Santa Rosa revised its development codes. What's changing about clear cutting - and what's not
The Santa Rosa County Land Development Code contains a whole set of guidelines governing the protection of trees, and a fairly extensive list of trees that are considered protected by county ordinance.
So how is it that in seemingly every county location at which developers are at work, there never seems to be a tree in sight? Clear cutting is the term local conservationists use for the phenomenon, and they have long cried out for county commissioners to put a halt to the practice.
"I am so sick of clear cutting. They (developers) are convinced you cannot build a subdivision without clear cutting," said Dara Hartigan, the president of South Santa Rosa-based Save Our Soundside. "I don't know how to talk to these people. They don't understand the need to protect the quality of life and the character of communities. There's no incentive to save anything. They say 'this is our property and it's our right to do what we want.'"
Clear cutting, and ways to regulate the practice, was debated at some length Monday as the county commission discussed some of the more controversial issues it was facing in debating final approval of revisions to its Land Development Code.
Though Commissioner Kerry Smith proposed forcing developers to leave 25% of trees on a given lot being developed, the most drastic change approved to minimize the impact of clear cutting was actually a plan concocted by the Northwest Florida Water Management District as a way to improve storm water runoff during construction.
Smith said he's tired of driving past one or another "nice little desert" created by clear cutting.
"Let's quit telling people, 'Here's your new house with a nice little sapling in the front yard,'" he said.
As Commission Chairman Colten Wright stated, the new provision to the code won't put an end to clear cutting, but will ensure that land is cleared in phases so that storm water infrastructure can be put in place as development occurs.
It is hard to avoid clear cutting in the south end of Santa Rosa County, according to Shawn Ward, the county planning director. The water table is high — ground level in the vicinity of the sprawling Holley By the Sea development — and in order to install infrastructure, fill dirt must be brought in to meet a state requirement that septic systems must be covered by at least four feet of soil.
There's no point in leaving trees standing in a location where you're bringing in four foot of fill dirt, Ward explained at a recent meeting of the county Zoning Board.
"Putting fill in around a tree would cause the tree to die," he said.
Hartigan said she doesn't buy the argument that nothing can be done. She accused the county of letting developers self police when it comes to land clearing.
