Tampa rejects developer's plan to take down South Tampa grand oaks

TAMPA, Fla. - Tree advocates fighting a developer to save two grand oak trees from being chopped down were handed a win Tuesday night. The city of Tampa rejected plans to cut them down as part of a new townhome development.

It's an age-old battle: progress versus tradition. In this case, decades-old grand oak trees are in the way of plans for new townhomes in South Tampa, at the site of the now-closed Kojak’s House of Ribs on Gandy Boulevard.

Tree advocates sounded the alarm to save them, but it was ultimately up to the city to decide their fate. 

In a vote of 4-3, the city rejected the developer’s variance request. It's a major victory for the Tampa Tree Advocacy Group.

Cutting them down would be against city code. Developers who bought the land have plans to build 21 townhomes. In order to proceed, the developer had to make a request for special permission to take them down. 

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Their attorney argued saving the two trees would only allow them to build about half those townhomes because they are right in the middle of their planned development.

"We have met our burden and demonstrated reconfiguration under the city's objective criteria I just walked you through would not be reasonable. We would be losing over half the project," attorney Mark Bentley said.

The deciding factor hinged on the term "reasonable." The city's Natural Resources Department told the advisory board the developer’s variance request was inconsistent, arguing the developers could reasonably reconfigure their plans.

Two alternative plans submitted by developers show they could save the trees by building fewer townhomes.

Their attorneys say that's not reasonable. Tree advocates disagreed.

Members of the Tampa Tree Advocacy Group said keeping them benefits the entire community.

"This person bought that property knowing the trees were there. They knew what the laws were. They knew what they could legally build. If they didn't want to build it within the code, then they should have bought something else," said. Carroll Ann Bennett with the Tampa Tree Advocacy Group.

The city says they received at least 76 letters in opposition to the developer's plans, asking the variance review board to deny the variance request.