Tampa Riverwalk<\/a>, prompting local tree advocates to ask the developer to reconsider its design.<\/p>\nMembers of the Tampa Tree Advocacy Group gathered along South Parker Street over the weekend to protest the planned removal of the trees near the Manor Riverwalk District construction site.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re asking that, for the benefit of the community, that they don\u2019t cut the seven down,\u201d group member Donna Date Smith said.<\/p>\n
The group says the trees are healthy and have been growing there for decades. However, advocates said the trees fall just below the size required to qualify as \u201cgrand trees,\u201d a city designation that provides greater protection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like to see that changed because these trees represent decades of growth that cannot be replaced,\u201d group member Carrol Ann Bennett said.<\/p>\n
Advocates are asking Related Group, the developer behind the project, to incorporate the trees into its design. Bennett said other developers have demonstrated that new construction and tree preservation can coexist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are plenty of developers and individual builders who understand the value of our tree canopy, and they work hard to preserve it and design buildings that can accommodate it,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n
Construction is underway on the first phase of Manor Riverwalk District. Plans call for a 24-story building with 369 apartments, approximately 18,000 square feet of retail space and an 805-space parking garage.<\/p>\n
The larger development is expected to include five buildings with more than 1,200 residences and approximately 37,000 square feet of retail space. Related Group has said its plans also include a natural shoreline and an extension of the Tampa Riverwalk.<\/p>\n
The protest comes amid a documented decline in Tampa\u2019s tree canopy. The city\u2019s 2021 Tree Canopy and Urban Forest Analysis found tree cover had declined continuously since 2011, falling to about 30% of the city.<\/p>\n
The study found the canopy area lost since 2011 was approximately four times the size of Davis Islands. It also found South and Central Tampa\u2019s tree canopy was at a 20-year low.<\/p>\n
Researchers estimated Tampa\u2019s urban forest prevents approximately 560 million gallons of stormwater runoff. The study also associated the city\u2019s trees with $7.5 million in savings, primarily from cooling buildings, and $9.5 million in reduced health costs related to air pollution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last report said that we had lost four times the size of Davis Islands in our tree canopy,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cAnd that was before the hurricane season, where we also lost significantly more trees.\u201d<\/p>\n
A separate post-storm analysis found Tampa lost about 1,200 additional acres of tree canopy during the 2024 hurricane season.<\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s office told 10 Tampa Bay News that changes made by state lawmakers have made it more difficult for cities to limit tree removals on private property. The office said expanding the city\u2019s tree canopy remains a top priority for Mayor Jane Castor and members of the Tampa City Council.<\/p>\n
The city surpassed the halfway point in Castor\u2019s goal of planting 30,000 trees by 2030 in July, according to the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
The advocates acknowledge the necessary approvals are already in place and that their protest may not prevent the seven trees from being removed.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, we may not be able to save these trees,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cBut we\u2019re hoping that by speaking out and making an effort, maybe we can prevent the loss of future trees.\u201d<\/p>\n
10 Tampa Bay News reached out to Related Group to ask whether any of the seven trees could be preserved but had not received a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local tree advocates are urging a developer to reconsider removing seven live oak trees for a $1 billion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-399263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}