SPAHA

Trees

Neighborhood Treasures

We are fortunate to live in an area that has an abundance of beautiful trees. It's important that we care for and protect our trees.

Trees provide many benefits

The following are some statistics on just how important trees are in a community setting.

"The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day." -U.S. Department of Agriculture

"Trees can boost the market value of your home by an average of 6 or 7 percent." -Dr. Lowell Ponte

"Landscaping, especially with trees, can increase property values as much as 20 percent." -Management Information Services/ICMA

"One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people." -U.S. Department of Agriculture
"There are about 60-to 200- million spaces along our city streets where trees could be planted. This translates to the potential to absorb 33 million more tons of CO2 every year, and saving $4 billion in energy costs." -National Wildlife Federation

"Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20 - 50 percent in energy used for heating." -USDA Forest Service

"Trees can be a stimulus to economic development, attracting new business and tourism. Commercial retail areas are more attractive to shoppers, apartments rent more quickly, tenants stay longer, and space in a wooded setting is more valuable to sell or rent." -The National Arbor Day Foundation

"Shade from trees could save up to $175 per year (per structure) in air conditioning costs." -Dr. Lowell Ponte

"Healthy, mature trees add an average of 10 percent to a property's value." -USDA Forest Service

"The planting of trees means improved water quality, resulting in less runoff and erosion. This allows more recharging of the ground water supply. Wooded areas help prevent the transport of sediment and chemicals into streams." -USDA Forest Service

"In laboratory research, visual exposure to settings with trees has produced significant recovery from stress within five minutes, as indicated by changes in blood pressure and muscle tension." -Dr. Roger S. Ulrich Texas A&M University

"Nationally, the 60 million street trees have an average value of $525 per tree." -Management Information Services

City of Tampa Tree Code

The City of Tampa has a ‘Tree and Landscape Code” (Chapter 13). This code specifies information regarding the requirements for the removal or trimming of trees in the city of Tampa. The following highlights information that should be useful to the average homeowner. Chapter 13 should be reviewed in detail if your questions are not answered below.

First, Lets get some definitions that are adopted by reference in Chapter 13.

Protected tree - Is any tree over 5" DBH (4-1/2 ft. above grade), and all Cypress trees regardless of the DBH. There are certain trees that are not protected, see Appendix.
Grand Tree- Is a protected tree that is of sufficient size and character that when measurements are added together equals or exceeds a predetermined point total. See appendix on how to determine a Grand Tree and point total for different species.
Trimming- All references to trimming are to the specifications of the American National Standard for Tree Care Operations A-300, 1995, commonly called ANSI 300. Selectively removing branches without irreversibly altering the natural shape or form of a tree or irreversibly damaging or destroying the tree. Information on getting a copy of ANSI 300 included in the appendix.
Permits are required for the removal of all Protected trees, even if the tree is dead.
Permits are required for trimming trees that are located in the right-of-way.
Permits are not required for trimming protected trees on private property. However, trimming must be in accordance with the ANSI 300 standards.

Grand Trees:
Permits are required for Grand Tree removal.
Permits are required for trimming a Grand Tree. This includes root pruning as well as canopy trimming.
These are the two biggest changes that were made. In the old code, the Urban Forestry Coordinator(UFC) could allow removal of a Grand Tree only if the tree had less than five years life expectancy. The change allows the UFC to utilize a hazardous tree evaluation. If the tree is deemed hazardous, the UFC can administratively approve the removal. This is where things get complicated.
Procedures for permits:
Application for permits will be filed out at the Construction Services Center (CSC) located at 1400 North Boulevard. A project number will be assigned to the permit application. The application is then forwarded to the Parks Department.
For Grand Tree removal, the tree will be evaluated using industry standards and given a Hazardous rating from 1 (little risk) to 12 (high risk). Based on this rating the UFC can approve the request for removal, Disapprove the removal request or disapprove the removal request and recommend trimming to reduce the risk.

If the removal request is denied, the property owner or their representative can make an appeal through the Land Development Office in City Hall Annex on the 3rd floor.
If the request to remove a Grand Tree is approved based on the hazard tree rating, then there is a 14 day hold on the permit and the following must occur before permits are issued,
1. You will have to contact the Parks Department and get a sign that states there has been an approval for Grand Tree removal, the date and the project number. The sign has to be posted in a clear and unobstructed place so that it. is visible from the street. The sign will be in place for 14 consecutive days.
2. You will have to notice the abutting property owners according to the latest ad valorem tax records. This can be acquired from the Hillsborough County Appraiser's Office.
3. These notices must be through the US Post Office by "certificate of mailing".
4. You also have to notice the registered neighborhood organization for the area the property is located. A list of the neighborhood organizations can be obtained from the Neighborhood Liaison Office at 306 E. Jackson or call 274 7835.
5. You will have to provide an affidavit that you have taken the required steps as outlined in code, the certificate of mailing and pictures that the sign had been posted, before getting permits.
If there is an appeal by a neighbor or the neighborhood organization, the appeal would get a hearing date before the governing board for that area. As an example, if the property with the Grand Tree is in Ybor City area, then the Barrio Latino Committee would here the appeal. If the property is in the north part of Tampa then The Variance Review Board would hear the appeal. No permits would be issued during the appeal process.
If after 14 days there are no appeals, then the UFC will release the hold on the permit and you can pick up the permits at CSC.
Grand Tree trimming:
You must apply for permits to trim a Grand Tree at the CSC. The request would be forwarded to the Parks Department.
The Parks Dept. representative would then contact the applicant and arrange for a field meeting.
At this meeting, the licensed tree service doing the trimming must be present.
The city requires that, if the trimming is associated with construction, the building and other
structures requiring the trimming be rough staked at the time of the meeting.
The limbs that are to be trimmed will have to be marked at the time of the meeting. It is the tree services responsibility to mark the limbs to be trimmed.
If everything is okay, then the permit hold would be released and you could pick up the permit at CSC.
After the trimming is complete, you must notify the Parks Dept. within 48 hrs. The tree will be checked to confirm that the trimming was completed correctly.
Penalties:
A triple permit fee shall be assessed.
A Minimum $10,000 fine for the removal of a Grand Tree. Remember that improperly trimming a Grand Tree to the extent that the UFC determines the tree as irreversibly damaged constitutes a removal and subject to the penalties.
Inch for Inch replacement equal to the diameter of the removed tree.
If the trees cannot be placed back on site a contribution to the tree trust fund can be made. The donation is $300 per 2" caliper tree that would be required to replace the removed tree. Example, a 30"DBH tree is removed. To replace that tree would require 15-2" trees @ $300/2" tree = $4,500.
There could be additional civil penalties. . There could also be criminal penalties.
The City realizes that this change in procedure and may cause problems for homeowners and tree trimmers.
Tree trimmers may have to increase the price to cover additional cost that may be incurred by following the code. We also realize a homeowner may not want to follow code and hire a '.'fly by night" person and avoid the regulations. Included below is the phone numbers that can be called in the event of an illegal tree removal or trimming.
Provide as much information as possible, address of the illegal work, name of company or person doing the illegal work or a license plate number, type of tree and location of tree on the property. During business hours call 259-1820 or 259-1824. After hours or on weekends call 259-1821. You may also try the supervisor of inspections Rick Del Rio at 493-0078.
Thanks to David Reilly, Forester Examiner of the City of Tampa for providing this information.

Appendix
Exempt trees: The following is a list of trees that are not protected and do not require a permit for removal.
1 Male Mulberry- BroussonetiaPapyrifera
2 Australian Pine- Casuarina spp. 3 Ear Tree- Enterolobium Contortisiliguum
4 Eucalyptus Tree- Eucalvptus spp. 5 Punk Tree- Melaleuca Ouingueneroia
6 Chinaberry- Melia Azedarach 7 Cherry Laurel- Prunus Caroliniana 8 Brazilian Pepper- Schinus Terebinthifolius
9 Monkey Puzzle~ Auracaria Wrightii 10 Silk Oak- Grevillea Robusta
11. Mimosa Tree - lbizia 12 Queen Palm- SvagressRomanzQ(tiana
13 Wild Cherry- Prunus Serothina 14 Citrus- Citrus spp.
15 Chinese Tallow- Sf!l2iumSebiferum 16 Lead Tree~ Leucaena Leucocephala
17 Rosewood- Dalberf!ia Sissoo
18 Earleaf- Acacia
19 Surinam Cherry- EuJ!enia Uniflora
.
How to determine if your tree is a “Grand Tree”.

Grand trees are determined by adding three measurements together that equals or is greater than a predetermined point total. You get 1 point for each inch of circumference. You get 1 point for each foot of height. You get 1 point for each 4' of average spread. Circumference + height + (average spread/4) = total points
Circumference is measured around the outside of the tree. Height is from the highest point in the tree to the ground.
Average spread is a combination of two measurements. Measure from drip line to drip line in one direction and then in a second direction. Add these to numbers and divide by 2. Now take
the average spread and divide by four to get the number of points for the spread. ~
Grand Tree Point Totals:
Camphor - 200 points, Maple - 175 points, Magnolia - 175 points
Cypress - 200 points, Oak - 175 points, Sweet Gum - 200 Points, Elm - 200 points, Pine - 175 points,
Sycamore - 200 points, Holly -125 points, Red Cedar - 200 points