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Activist group launches a charter amendment drive for tree protectionBy Anne Schindler For the past two months, a small band of Duval County residents has been quietly planning a democratic revolution. On Wednesday, the group plans to unveil a proposed amendment to the county's charter that would establish stricter standards for tree protection. The group will begin circulating petitions this week in order to gather the 21,000 signatures needed to place the amendment on the Nov. 4 general election ballot. The group, which includes local lawyer William Brinton, former City Councilman John Crescimbeni, Sierra Club member Maurice Coman, former Greenscape president Susan Caven and 1999 City Council candidate Audrey Gibson, began meeting shortly after the City Council's Dec. 14 adoption of Jacksonville's new tree ordinance - a law that weakened tree protection standards established in 1988, and exempted homebuilders from protecting all but the largest trees. Dismayed by the council's failure to establish meaningful preservation guidelines - as well as by the intense pressure applied by the homebuilders' lobby - the group resolved to deliver the issue of tree protection directly to the voters via charter amendment. Provisions of the proposed amendment include granting "protected" status to trees with a 3-foot circumference (the current standard is 6 feet) and giving residents the legal right to protest any violations. The county's charter can be amended in three ways: by the City Council, by state legislators or by voter referendum. This last method has been used successfully in the past, including the 1987 effort to prohibit new billboard construction and the 1991 amendment establishing term limits for council members. In both cases, the referendum process gave voters a voice in a debate otherwise dominated by legislators or lobbyists. Attorney Brinton, a veteran of both previous charter amendment efforts and architect of the current initiative, says the tree ordinance conflict bears particular resemblance to the billboard debate. In both cases, he says, well-financed special interests opposed "the clear will of the people" to improve the area's scenic environment. "As I watched the [tree ordinance] process, and saw legislators under a daily barrage of pressure from lobbyists, I thought, 'This can't be happening again. I'm seeing history repeat itself.'" The other group members, according to Brinton, "were having that same sense of déjà vu." The dozen or so members of the charter amendment team realize that their initiative will face fierce opposition in the coming weeks. Tree protection is strongly opposed by homebuilders and other development interests, who claim that the cost of saving trees is an expensive and unreasonable burden. Builders and developers can be expected to fight the initiative with their considerable financial resources and political allies - including like-minded colleagues on the council. In anticipation of this, the charter amendment group is already on the offensive. One section of a 19-page Q & A distributed this week attacks a 1999 advertising campaign, in which the Northeast Florida Home Builders Association claimed to be "stewards" of the land. Amendment advocates note that in an early draft of the tree protection ordinance, NEFBA submitted a plan that would have applied only to the Beaches and Baldwin - not to the majority of Jacksonville. Crescimbeni, who was involved in the effort to establish council term limits, says that the current effort is the best way to remove "the bad taste" left by the tree ordinance battle. "I think the council really dropped the ball on tree protection," he says. At the same time, Crescimbeni hopes that the referendum is not viewed as a personal attack on either individual council members or the administration. "I think this effort will be a great exercise in democracy. This is an avenue afforded to voters to change the charter - and it is their charter," he says. "This isn't anything personal." Group members would not discuss their plans beyond this week's announcement, except to say that their success depends on volunteer effort. "If there was one thing I could say directly to people in Jacksonville," says Brinton, "it's this: If you really want to make a difference, you will volunteer several hours of your time to help gather petitions to help put this on the ballot. It will happen, with volunteers." For more information, call 722-TREE or e-mail treeamendment@hotmail.com. |
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