An Ordinance By The Pasco County Board Of County Commissioners Amending The Pasco County Land Development Code; Amending Section 802 Tree Preservation And Replacement; Section 802.1 Intent And Purpose; Section 802.2 Applicability; Renaming Section 802.3 Tree Removal To Exemptions; Creating Section 802.4 Tree Canopy Standards; Section 802.5 Tree Removal; Section 802.6 Problem Trees; Section 802.7 Tree Replacement And Mitigation; Section 802.8 Tree Protection Requirements; Section 802.9 Trees Of Special Significance; Appendix A Definitions; And Other Sections, As Necessary, For Internal Consistency; Providing For Applicability; Repealer; Providing For Severability; Inclusion Into The Land Development Code, And An Effective Date.

56:58Please please staff please get with the customers in back. Okay, now we're gonna move to public hearing. We'll proceed with public hearing starting with ordinance P fifty one.

57:10That's good. K51, proof of publication. Tampa Bay Times, January twenty eighth, two thousand twenty six.

57:18Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Octarios Pitos, Planning Development Economic Growth Department. Item P fifty one is PDE 26004. This is an ordinance by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners amending the Pasco County Land Development Code, amending section eight oh two tree preservation and replacement. The request for today is to continue this item to March 24, 2026 at 130 P.M. or as soon thereafter as may be heard. Yeah.

57:46We have a continuance on this one.

57:47Move to continue. This is the last continuance I will vote for. This has got to get done. We are losing trees by continue and continuing. We

57:57have a motion, a

57:57second. I think I said that last year.

57:59I have two people signed up to speak.

58:02Doing it's on the agenda as a continuance. All right. So folks

58:07since this was on there as a continuance. Do you want to wait to speak to it when we hear the item at the next meeting?

58:18So you guys wanna wait? We're not gonna hear this item today.

58:22Yeah. How do you mean they're not gonna hear the tree item today?

58:31Yes, ma'am, you can come up come up and speak. But if you speak today, you can't speak in the

58:37future. This is legislative, so they're they can speak every time. Oh they can't? But they can't your normal rules are that you don't take comments.

58:48Well they pass too. We've we've continued this off and on. It's confusing and it's confusing folks. Go ahead, ma'am.

58:54Okay. My name is

58:56name and address for the record, please. What

58:58I

58:59name and address for the record?

59:00Yes. My name is Jean Fehey. I live at [address removed].

59:10First. I wanna thank you all. For what you are doing for all of us in Pasco County, I really want to thank you.

59:21It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my neighbors.

59:26We purchased our home in Tall Pines. Because of the trees. And the Florida Wilderness that surrounded us there. Up and tall pines. We knew then as now. that trees mitigate climate change. Прен север storm damage. and maintain environmental health. Our youngest son. was fourteen

59:56years old. He is now forty six. We came back home to the US. From Victoria, British Columbia. Where I was the director I've training and development for the province's Ministry of Lands and Forests.

1:00:21Just between you and me. Don't you sometimes yearn? To see once again. the enchanting forest and wilderness of old Pasco County. Don't you wish your grandchildren? I could see that. You can make that happen. By putting preservation. back into our tree ordinance as a priority. has a major

1:00:51priority. Has the priority.

1:00:56This will ensure all future generations yours and mine. And yours. See and experience the beauty and magnificence of the Pasco County we we love. Because As Theo of Golden says. For anything to be good, truly good. There must be loving her. There must be love in it. So my lovely gratitude

1:01:27to you. Thank you.

1:01:29Thank you, ma'am. Next.

1:01:33Julia Bartunik, [address removed]. And I won't take much time here. Thank you for giving us a moment to speak on this, even though it was continued. And I just wanted to thank everybody, especially Pasco County, for all their hard work that they've put into developing. Developing this tree ordinance, and it we love the strength of it. We love the uh saving 20%

1:02:03of the tree canopy, and we also love the mitigation credits that are going to be uh issued in addition to the 20% that is being saved. Um, I'm not familiar if there's been a new updated revision. I would like to stay in awareness of any revision that we're gonna do. That are made, or I'd like to ask, will there be more revisions made to it before March 24th? If so, of course we do not want any cap because $3,500 to

1:02:34mitigate and clear cut an acre of trees in Pasco County will really hurt Pasco County. Um it'll hurt residents, it'll hurt taxpayers. The long run, it will be so expensive to remediate this clear-cutting because trees provide stormwater benefit, biodiversity, economic benefits, increase property values, and help with community health and mental health. Lastly, we also don't want the five-acre exemptions

1:03:04that will potentially for residential commercial loss. Any residential and commercial lot can be included in maintaining twenty percent of the tree canopy. Today when I parked here for this meeting, of course, I looked under uh for a tree to park under because trees provide shade for our community. Thank you so much.

1:03:33Hi, my name is Jasmine Forkin. I live in Clearwater. Uh

1:03:38address please.

1:03:40[address removed].

1:03:45Thank you.

1:03:46I have 10 acres in Hudson. I bought them 25 years ago. I take a trip from Clearwater to Hudson every day. When I first bought this land, there were cow pastures on each each side of Little Road. and there was basically nothing on Hudson Avenue. Now when I go up there every day there is a new parcel, totally deforested, completely bulldozed

1:04:16over.

1:04:19I don't recognize the place anymore. And if we continue this discussion, can we stop cutting trees until we make this decision? Because There will be no trees to protect by the time we make this decision. Uh I have a presentation but I'll save it for the next time.

1:04:43Thank you,

1:04:43Matt. Thank you.

1:04:44Thank you. All right. So a motion and a second.

1:04:49Um under discussion. Yes,

1:04:51ma'am.

1:04:52Um just the reason it's being continued is not continuing to work on it is because we don't have two commissioners here and we want everyone to be here when we vote on it. So commission Commissioner O Mariano is out of state on county. Business. So that's why it was continued. Because I asked the same question. Okay.

1:05:13All in favor? Aye. Commissioner Yeager, is she online?

1:05:16Oh yeah, roll call vote.

1:05:17She's not. She's not? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, continuous pass. P fifty two.