(A) Property owner shall utilize tree installation and maintenance practices that follow guidelines set in The Florida Friendly Landscaping Program; such as staking, palm pruning and tree shaping while avoiding hat racking and over-lifting of the tree canopy.
(B) Property owner shall maintain their lawn, hedges, trees, plants, ground covers and all other landscaping components free of refuse and unsightly debris, and present the property in a healthy, neatly trimmed fashion. Hedges shall be properly maintained to keep a neat orderly appearance and shall not exceed six feet in height for residential and eight feet for nonresidential properties.
(C) In no case shall trees, hedges or other foliage visually or physically obstruct the right-of-way.
(D) The duties of the property owner extend to landscape maintenance of adjacent right-of-ways, all easements, waterways directly abutting public right-of-ways, and where the ingress and egress from a property is over the waterway.
(E) All fertilizer applicators will adhere to the standards set forth in the Florida Friendly Landscaping and Green Industries Best Management Practices from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
(F) Property owner shall remove dead trees and their stumps, hazardous trees, or hazardous part(s) of the tree from the owner's property or the swale abutting owner's property upon notice by the city. The property owner shall apply for a tree removal permit prior to the removal of any tree. Upon the approval of the tree removal permit, you will have 90 days to remove and mitigate the tree as per permit specifications.
(G) For the purposes of division (F) of this section, dead trees shall be defined as follows:
(1) A palm shall be considered dead if more than 80% of the fronds are dead, leaving no more than three fronds remaining.
(2) Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa). The trees shall be considered dead if all of the pine needles are dead (red rusty color) or have fallen from the tree, and no new needles are budding out.
(3) All other species of tree: the tree shall be considered dead if all of the leaves or fronds have fallen or are dead and clinging to the tree. For species other than palms, the following criteria shall be applied in determining that the tree is dead:
(a) No new buds are appearing.
(b) The twigs at the ends of the branches are dry and brownish in color, both in the cambium and the pith (outer and inner layers of wood respectively), and snap when broken.
(c) The cambium layer (just beneath the bark) is brown and dry when cut to a depth of one and one-half inches at three and one-half feet above ground level for mature trees, and to a depth of one and one-half inches for smaller saplings.
(H) For dead and hazardous trees, in the event the property owner does not uphold their duties, the city shall cause the tree or tree parts to be removed and shall bill the property owner for the cost of removal. In the event the property owner shall not pay the cost within 30 days, the city shall file a lien against the property for the cost of removal. Code Compliance shall have the discretion to allow property owner to pay the bill for removal in installments, in which event he shall apply interest at 6% per annum on the unpaid balance until paid in full.
(I) Property owner shall remove all species as defined as category one invasive material in the most recent document compiled by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (FLEPPC) for the south region, except where, in the opinion of the city licensed landscape arborist or professional landscape inspector such a Category I species will not be harmful in that particular area or to the immediate surrounding environment.
(J) Property owner shall restore canopy loss as a direct result of natural causation. Canopy restoration shall occur 120 days from notice of violation for residential, commercial, and common area property. Any homeowner's association or condominium association may petition the Code Compliance Department for an extension of the timeframe set forth herein by submitting a plan detailing their efforts to comply with the terms of this section and consistent with the terms set forth in § 155.677.
(Ord. 2021-02, adopted 3-17-21; sought to be reconsidered, Commission passed 4-21-2021)