MIAMI — A fight over tree protections is heating up in the City of Miami, with residents and activists clashing with city officials over what they say is a weakening of existing protections for mature trees.

Activists claim too many tree removal permits are being granted in order to fast-track development. City officials, however, insist nothing has changed.

At a recent City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board meeting, frustrated residents voiced concerns over what they described as a growing loss of legacy canopy trees across the city.

“The madness needs to stop,” one resident said. “I’m wondering if developers have some special hatred toward mature trees?”

Others pointed to what they called a constant issue of clear-cutting lots and cutting down large trees.

“We’ve seen this just rampant onslaught of tree slaughter,” another activist said.

Critics say the removals are happening throughout Miami, from Coconut Grove to Morningside.

“In the past six months, we’ve definitely seen an increase, and people are extremely angry,” said Jessica Johnson, a Morningside resident.

Among the examples cited by activists: a row of mature royal palm trees cut down at 1401 Brickell and four legacy native mahogany trees in Edgewater that were permitted for removal by the city despite being in the public right of way.

“And it seems like they’re on a murder spree right now,” said Edgewater resident Lindsay Cain.

Sandy Moise, conservation co-chair for the Sierra Club Miami Group, said the justification for some removals is construction activity.

“And the reason given is that trees are conflicting with construction activities,” Moise said.

Videos posted to social media documenting tree removals have fueled outrage among activists.

“It truly is a tree travesty,” Moise said. “We are losing so many of our specimen-sized trees.”

Moise and other activists accuse the city of quietly bending and reinterpreting Chapter 17 -- the ordinance meant to protect trees -- in order to speed up development projects.

“They’re failing to enforce our code,” Moise said. “They’re failing to implement the policies that are required of our code, and we’re not having it anymore. We’re fed up.”

City officials pushed back against those claims.

“That is not the case,” said Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo.

Pardo acknowledged the optics can look bad amid a wave of development and visible tree removals, particularly involving palms, but denied any internal changes to Chapter 17.

“Absolutely not,” Pardo said when asked whether there had been backroom changes to expedite tree removals. “There’s been no changes that I’m aware of.”

While officials say the code itself has not changed, city staff acknowledged there has been a directive to make the permitting process easier.

“And so they come in and they sit with the reviewer on the spot, regardless what division,” said Shawn Smith, acting chief of environmental resources for the City of Miami.

Smith said the process still follows Chapter 17 requirements.

“It’s not an approval. You conduct your review just as if there were any other review,” Smith said. “We still go through the same process. We still follow Chapter 17.”

Asked whether the city is moving at a faster clip, Smith said, “Not in regard to approval.”

Activists argue the growing number of permits tells a different story. They created a public dashboard called Miami Tree Canopy Watch to track open permits across the city. According to activists, there are currently 223 open permits.

Pardo said those numbers alone are misleading.

“If you’re only looking at those data points, it’s misleading, because we’re also planting a lot of trees, relocating a lot of trees,” Pardo said. “Something could be slated for removal, and it could be something completely different that the resident isn’t aware of.”

Still, activists and environmental experts warn the stakes are high as South Florida faces increasing heat driven by climate change.

“Trees are protecting us from the increasing heat that we’re experiencing in South Florida,” said Chris Baraloto, associate director of the FIU Institute of Environment and professor of biological sciences. “By removing those trees, we will feel the urban heat island effect even more.”

Pardo said the city is committed to preserving the canopy and pointed to a banyan tree that had been slated for removal but was ultimately spared.

“We do everything from actually relocating trees to other areas to make sure the ones that can be relocated,” Pardo said. “If they can’t be relocated, we ask for mitigation, where usually it’s two times the existing level of tree removal.”

Critics argue replacing mature trees with saplings is not enough.

“What we’re effectively doing is taking out a tree, and even if we’re following our current mitigation, we’re replacing it with this,” Baraloto said. “Is this commensurate value with that? Certainly not.”

Ian Wogan, owner of Tree Sources, warned the long-term impacts could become more noticeable citywide.

“If we scale that up to the city level, we’re going to start feeling urban heat,” Wogan said.

Wogan said Miami has an obligation to prioritize trees and nature-based solutions as critical infrastructure.

“Not for ourselves, but for the generations to come,” he said.

More than 1,200 signatures have been added to an action alert email addressed to Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins and city commissioners calling for a moratorium on all non-emergency tree removal permits until any proposed policy changes to Chapter 17 are publicly reviewed.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited tree committee is expected to go before commissioners Thursday for approval, giving residents a voice in the future of Chapter 17 and Miami’s tree protections.

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