Miami Tree Ordinance Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

Hi, Ava Jane, probably most well-known for historic preservation and the motels on Biscayne Boulevard, about eight of them. Maybe not everybody knows, but I've also saved a lot of trees. And with Ian, we did full green infrastructure build at Factory Town, a lot of large specimen trees. I don't think there's a citizen that would disagree that tree canopy is good. I also sit on the CRC Climate Resiliency Committee as part of resiliency. I'm actually here because I'd like to see how we improve process and transparency. So I think one of the issues we have is How do we process in transparency so

Oh, sorry. If you've taken the ethics class... You're good.

Okay. But if I didn't do it within the last year, then I... Then you got to do it.

Yeah, so public right-of-way is a little confusing for me because the city's done a taking on most properties that goes 10 feet into everybody's property line on the major streets, the DBL line, the BBL line, do you understand? The base building line? Yeah, the base building line. So I don't know if everybody realizes it, but there's basically a taking from most properties 10 feet into the property. So who's responsible for... Thank you. Who's responsible for the tree in front of the base building line?

So on Biscayne Boulevard, there's a taking of 10 feet into everybody's property line. Even though it's a 50-foot, there's a big setback. And there are trees that are in that base built that are the city's right away. And in one particular case, It's an invasive tree and I'm thinking it could fall down at the next hurricane or whatever. Is that my responsibility or is that the city's responsibility? I think we need to be clear because who's responsible for that property?

I have to deal with public works. It's just unclear, so I'm just putting it out there.

Right, but my permit, if it's a county road, is my tree permit county standards.

You know what? And I'd like to challenge the group to think about, are there solutions or recommendations? that can solve many of these things, right? Maybe there's some simple ideas that can solve for both the permitting side and the tree canopy side, and I think there are.

I'd like a workshop with staff. Like, there's still no clarity. There's not enough clarity. I mean, the presentation was very good. And that's very clear. But again, right away, state laws... public works, when is it state, when is it county, when is it this? I think that in order for us to make thoughtful recommendations, and I'm doing it, and I have so many questions, and one department says one thing, one does another, when is it county? So can we organize something with staff so that... we have a better understanding, and then maybe there's a way to incorporate that better understanding. B

Yeah, but I guess to me, there's an order question, right? So for me, it's like we're talking about trees, but if we don't understand process and have clarity on what's there, we may be talking about some things that we shouldn't even be talking, that are premature, right? So I think I'm not sure about what the order should be or the process, but I know for me personally, I'd like some clarity.