1730 Ocean Grove (Mitigation assessment draft) 05.15.2008
May 15, 2008
Michael Altenbach – by certified mail
Ocean Boulevard Development, Inc
60 Ocean Boulevard, Suite I
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233
RE: 1730 Ocean Grove Drive / tree removal
Mr. Altenbach:
This letter is notification of assessment for violation of provisions of Chapter 23,
Vegetation, of the City of Atlantic Beach Municipal Code of Ordinances. In particular,
subsequent to approval by the Tree Conservation Board and issuance of a tree removal
permit (TREE 08-00100011) by this department on April 10, 2008, the City received
notice that a number of trees beyond the scope of the original permit were marked for
removal, and in fact, were being removed from the subject property. You were notified
of this violation, in addition to the inadequate marking of property boundaries, inadequate
marking and barricading of trees in the 17th Street right-of-way, and lack of display of
site address and issued permits, as required by this chapter [Section 23-17(f)] and Chapter
6, Buildings and Building Regulations. As a result, you were asked to correct the on-site
issues and to submit a revised tree survey accounting for all trees removed or proposed
for removal.
A first revision to the tree survey was received by this department from you on April 28th,
and review was scheduled for the May 14th Tree Conservation Board meeting. A second
revision to the tree survey, received on Wednesday, May 7th, was immediately forwarded
to Tree Board members, again for consideration at the May 14th meeting. Staff made
visits to the site on both Saturday, May 10th, and Monday, May 12th, finding no evidence
of correction of on-site issues.
At the May 14th Tree Conservation Board meeting, Chairperson Maureen Shaughnessy
and board member Carole Varney shared findings from their independent site visits
earlier that same day. Both reported that on-site issues previously described had not been
resolved, and both expressed concern that the current version of the tree survey is still not
an accurate representation of pre-development site conditions. Further compounding the
issue is the fact that a number of trees have been removed and a true accounting of the
original state of the lot is now unattainable.
City of Atlantic Beach
800 Seminole Road
Atlantic Beach, Florida 32233
Phone: (904) 247-5800
Fax: (904) 247-5845
www.coab.us
1730 Ocean Grove Drive / tree removal mitigation assessment
May 15, 2008
Page 2 of 3
As administrator of the Tree Protection Ordinance, I advised board members at the
meeting of their options according to Chapter 23. The first option would be to accept the
second revision of the survey before them and assess mitigation on that basis, according
to the provisions of Section 23-17(g)(3)a, b. The second option would be to find that it
was impossible to determine with reasonable certainty the number of protected trees
removed from the exterior zone (the area of dispute), and assess mitigation on that basis,
as provided in Section 23-17(g)(3)c.
The Board held discussion with you and received comment from adjacent property
owners. This was followed by a lengthy debate amongst board members, before they
finally came to the conclusion that they were unable to reach a decision based upon the
available evidence. Thus, a motion to defer this item to the next regular meeting,
scheduled for Wednesday, May 28th, was unanimously approved, with a new request that
the on-site issues be resolved and a further-revised survey be submitted for consideration
at that meeting.
However, based upon previous response on your part to such requests, and the exorbitant
amount of time and energy that staff has already invested in the processing of this
application, including site visits, phone calls, emails and meetings with you, adjacent
property owners, board members and other staff, I am taking administrative action, under
the direction of Community Development Director Sonya Doerr and City Attorney Alan
Jensen, to bring this item to resolution. According to Section 23-17(g)(3)c:
If the site has been cleared and the trees have been removed from the site so that the
director is unable to determine with reasonable certainty the number of protected trees
removed in violation of this subpart [section], the violation shall be corrected by paying
a civil fine of up to five dollars ($5.00) per square foot of land cleared, which fine shall
be assessed by the code enforcement board. The contributions and fines assessed
under this subsection shall be payable to the city immediately within seven (7) days
after assessment. All amounts received by the city pursuant to this subsection shall be
deposited in the tree replacement account. No work shall continue on the site until the
tree replanting plan has been approved or the contribution and/or fine has been
collected.
As designated director charged with administration of the Tree Protection Ordinance,
I hereby find that removal of trees from the interior zone of the subject property was
previously approved by issuance of tree removal permit TREE 08-00100011, and is
consistent with the requirements of that permit. Further, I find it is not possible to
determine with reasonable certainty the number of protected trees existing in the
exterior zone prior to the commencement of tree removal, and I hereby apply the
provisions of Section 23-17(g)(3)c to the sum total area of the exterior zone as
follows:
1730 Ocean Grove Drive / tree removal mitigation assessment
May 15, 2008
Page 3 of 3
EXT ZONE
(SECTION)
LENGTH
(FEET)
WIDTH
(FEET)
AREA
(SQ FT)
MITIGATION
($5.00/ SQ FT)
East 70.74’ 20.00’ 1,414.80 $7,074.00
West 77.01’ 20.00’ 1,540.20 $7,701.00
North 85.00’ 7.50’ 637.50 $3,187.50
South 85.16’ 7.50’ 638.70 $3,193.50
TOTAL $21,156.00
As further clarification, this amount is in addition to the mitigation requirements (27.5” of
hardwoods) for the tree removals from the interior zone, demonstration of which is due
before issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy. Payment of this assessment ($21,156.00) is
due and payable to the city as prescribed above, within 7 days of this notice. Finally, upon
payment of this assessment, work on the subject property may resume.
This information is being forwarded to the Code Enforcement Board to ensure collection
according to their authority. Additionally, this information is being conveyed to the
Building Official who has the authority to enforce compliance with the on-site requirements
of construction site management throughout the development process.
Contact me if you need further information regarding this decision at (904) 270-1605, or
ehall@coab.us.
Sincerely,
__________________________________
Erika Hall
Planner
__________________________________ ____________________________
Concur: Sonya B. Doerr, AICP Concur: Alan Jensen, Esquire
Community Development Director City Attorney
cc: Alex Sherrer, Code Enforcement Officer
Michael Griffin, Building Official