MOUNT DORA BUZZ
  • Home
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Business & Real Estate
    • Outdoor Life
    • Real Estate Buzz
    • Government & Education
    • Profiles
    • Newsworthy
    • What's Hot...
    • Development Buzz
    • Who Knew?
    • Buzz Polls
  • Calendar
  • Festivals & Events
    • Annual Festivals
    • Monthly Events
    • Fall Festivals & Halloween Events
    • Best Local Pumpkin Patches
    • Holiday Event Guide
    • Mount Dora Community Toy Drive
  • The Best of....
    • Best of Mount Dora
    • Best of Eustis
    • Best of Tavares
    • Best of Mount Dora Take-out
  • Things to Do
  • Dining
  • Live Music
  • Lodging
  • Photos
    • Doors of Mount Dora
    • City Scenes
    • Colorful Cottages of Mount Dora
    • Holiday Lights
    • Views from Above
    • Palm Island Boardwalk
    • July 4th Americana
    • Vintage Photos
    • Donnelly House
    • Sydonie Mansion
    • The Howey Mansion
  • History
  • Mobile App
  • Contact
    • News Desk
    • Advertising Inquiries
    • Writing Services & Content Marketing
    • Design Services
    • Social Media Services
    • Suggest a Restaurant Visit
    • Submit Pic of the Day
  • Subscribe

editorials

A ROAD MAP TO DOWNTOWN SHADE

5/18/2015

11 Comments

 
The route isn't complicated or treacherous.  The good news about restoring downtown's shady street trees is that the solution is reasonably easy.   

A net loss of 11 canopy street trees, 10 oaks and 1 Sycamore, in a small pedestrian area with increased cement understandably evokes emotion and doomsday alarms. However, a fix is readily available.  Mount Dora City Council, along with its landscape architect, can choose to modify the plan by selecting viable canopy shade trees used in awarding-winning, narrow urban streetscapes to replant along the streets. These include a canopy mix of hardy, yet compact Skyclimber live oaks, Highrise live oaks, and mixing in a few deciduous trees like Winged Elms, Nutall Oaks, Shumard Red Oaks and Sand Oaks.   

The Skyclimber and Highrise Live Oaks are cultivars specifically designed to fit in tight streetscape designs.  They are much more wind, pest and disease  resistant than Laurel Oaks and the Drake Elms the city installed on Highland Street a few years ago.  "The Skyclimbers are more wind resistant than the Highrise because they genetically have a better root system. They have better wind resistance than Southern Live Oaks because Skyclimber's tops have much less drag in the wind", said Adam Cannon, the patent holder of the cultivar and owner of the mother plant in Brooksville.  The Skyclimber cultivar was not readily available when Mount Dora's streetscape planning process began.


Highrise Live Oaks have been used in the recent downtown streetscape of Sanford, as well as downtown Winter Park fifteen years ago. Accordingly to Public Works Director, Rick Gierok, Eustis used Cathedral Live Oak cultivars in its 2010 streetscape to create the vibrant downtown aesthetic they envisioned.   

Understory trees with a mature heights of 15-25 feet can also be mixed among the canopy trees where there are overhead utilities.  Zone appropriate varieties include Weaver's White Flowering Dogwood, Japanese Blueberry, large single-trunk variety of Crepe Myrtle Trees, and others.

Prices vary for the shade trees according to size, type and demand.  According to Southeastern Trees' current pricing, a 4" caliper deciduous Winged Elm costs $265, while the Skyclimber Live Oak cultivar is in high demand for urban landscapes and costs $500 for a 5" caliper.   Mount Dora could install 4" caliper trees if funding is an issue. The 3-4" caliper trees catch up to the 6" trees within 3 years due to the stress on the larger trees, according to certified arborist and Winter Park's Urban Forestry Manager, Dru Dennison.

Funding the correction to the streetscape is also uncomplicated.  The individual costs of the viable shade trees are significantly less than the individual date palms in the current approved plan.  Remaining funds up to $120,000 are readily available via a budget amendment that is on Tuesday night's agenda for a new assistant city manager position.  A portion of those funds can instead be allocated for the street trees, since the incoming city manager has not determined whether an assistant is needed. 

Mount Dora's new city manager, Vince Pastue, has extensive city finance experience and will start the first week of June. Getting to know the specific needs of the town and its financial priorities can understandably take months. Therefore the decision of whether an assistant city manager position is needed in such a small town and what the appropriate salary is could be left to the incoming expert.

Future root damage to downtown's underground infrastructure, sidewalks and foundations will be mitigated because all new downtown trees will be installed with root barriers, according to acting city manager, Mark Reggentin, at the May 5th city council meeting.  Those barriers are a commonly used and effective practice in streetscapes to drive the roots down instead of out.  "Tree roots are lazy.  Once a root hits an obstruction, they divert themselves", said Dennison, City of Winter Park's arborist.

The council can also vote on Tuesday night to adopt a timeline to replace a significant portion of the palm trees planted in the previous phases of construction with the appropriate shade trees.

The only remaining factor in this road map to a solution is whether the city council will demonstrate the leadership necessary to connect to its citizenry and implement its will.    Other central Florida communities have succeeded in lining their downtown streets with shade, but it took the vision of city council.  According to Michelle Neuner, Winter Park's Assistant  City Manager, their award-winning streetscape  was "a collaborative effort.  The city and residents all had a shared vision of downtown and shade trees were a huge part of it."   Mount Dora has it's own identity, however the example of  how Winter Park's city government connects to its residents is a positive one.

The city council meeting will be held on May 19 at the Mount Dora Community Building at 520 N. Baker Street at 6pm.  Each member of the public will be allowed up to three minutes to address the council with their views on this issue. Proponents of the shade trees have been encouraged to wear green. 

For more information on the issue go to:

http://www.mountdorabuzz.com/articles/fact-checking-downtowns-tree-issue

http://www.mountdorabuzz.com/articles/the-economics-of-mount-doras-trees

For more local news and events subscribe to www.MountDoraBuzz.com/subscription 
Picture
11 Comments
Larry Reimer
5/18/2015 11:36:26 am

Please fix this horrific tree, shade problem. Bring back the charm that the oak trees brought to our beautiful town

Reply
John Prete
5/18/2015 11:37:59 am

Excellent article. I like the plan and the positive approach to get the proper trees in place. Thank you!

Reply
Tracy Post link
5/18/2015 03:07:15 pm

Another great article laying out the FACTS. Trish you have done an incredible job investigating the WHOLE situation and bringing it to the residents. The City Council must hear the community.

Reply
Martha McBride
5/19/2015 07:04:17 am

You have certainly done your due diligence in preparing this roadmap. The shade trees are not only an integral part of the charm and character of our Business District, they are necessary to provide some cooling shade for the 8 months of heat in Central Florida. Summers are already slower due to less tourist traffic, but if we don't provide a comfortable place to stroll, people won't shop during the summer months. Thank you Trish for continuing to educate all of us.

Reply
Frank DRIGGERS
5/19/2015 07:11:16 am

Wow. Now we have GMO oak trees.

Reply
Dr. Richard Sheldon
5/19/2015 10:58:55 am

Mr. Driggers, you should educate yourself about flora cultivars before spreading ignorant misinformation in a public forum. While you're at it, educate yourself on GMO's and get back to me when you can substantiate anything negative about what you think you know.

Reply
Mary Sholl link
5/19/2015 09:01:02 am

My vote is to avoid all GMOs. That said, if comfort is all people are after, such may be accomplished without un-known future threat to life of all kinds by using anything that is a GMO. Personally, I've not conducted the necessary research to identify nature-made offerings, but, back to basic comfort: you could enclose the entire downtown Donnelly area and install air conditioning.

Reply
Frank Driggers
5/19/2015 10:19:25 am

Mary, I understand that is plan C.

Reply
Dr. Richard Sheldon
5/19/2015 11:04:30 am

"Personally, I've not conducted the necessary research..."

It's generally bad form to admit ignorance on a topic and then render an opinion in the same breath.

Reply
FrankDriggers
5/19/2015 12:33:28 pm

Doctor, heal thy self.

Reply
Kathy May
6/2/2015 11:58:37 am

this sounds like an excellent plan..Mount Dora will be so changed by no shade trees and tall,skinny palms..People come and shop etc for the charm of strolling around..Otherwise you can go to a lot of other towns with more to offer..I want to keep amount Dora viable and desirable.

Reply



Leave a Reply.


    Mount Dora Buzz

    Editorial Page

    Archives

    May 2015
    April 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Terms of Use
Copyright Mount Dora Buzz 2022
​All rights reserved.



  • Home
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Business & Real Estate
    • Outdoor Life
    • Real Estate Buzz
    • Government & Education
    • Profiles
    • Newsworthy
    • What's Hot...
    • Development Buzz
    • Who Knew?
    • Buzz Polls
  • Calendar
  • Festivals & Events
    • Annual Festivals
    • Monthly Events
    • Fall Festivals & Halloween Events
    • Best Local Pumpkin Patches
    • Holiday Event Guide
    • Mount Dora Community Toy Drive
  • The Best of....
    • Best of Mount Dora
    • Best of Eustis
    • Best of Tavares
    • Best of Mount Dora Take-out
  • Things to Do
  • Dining
  • Live Music
  • Lodging
  • Photos
    • Doors of Mount Dora
    • City Scenes
    • Colorful Cottages of Mount Dora
    • Holiday Lights
    • Views from Above
    • Palm Island Boardwalk
    • July 4th Americana
    • Vintage Photos
    • Donnelly House
    • Sydonie Mansion
    • The Howey Mansion
  • History
  • Mobile App
  • Contact
    • News Desk
    • Advertising Inquiries
    • Writing Services & Content Marketing
    • Design Services
    • Social Media Services
    • Suggest a Restaurant Visit
    • Submit Pic of the Day
  • Subscribe