Tree Advocates Warn Against Cutting Budget for City's Prized Canopy
City officials say the canopy will still be maintained and new trees will be planted where space allows. But new state rules have gutted the ability of city officials to prevent tree removals
Sept. 24, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park City Commissioners on Wednesday gave final approval to a total $247 million budget, set to begin Oct. 1, including reductions totaling about $500,000 as the city begins to brace for the potential impact of a November ballot amendment that could significantly reduce property tax revenue if it’s approved by at least 60% of voters.
Reductions to a program to plant new trees and the elimination of a permit process meant to dissuade people from removing mature trees generated the most debate during the hearing, with residents speaking out against any changes that could reduce Winter Park’s celebrated tree canopy, considered a key ingredient of the city’s village-like charm.
“I witnessed a decline in birds and wildlife due to the loss of mature trees in my neighborhood near Lakemont Elementary School,” Cynthia Newton Edmonds told the commission. “At one time, I had a pileated woodpecker family of five in my yard. Now I rarely see one bird. Screech owls used to nest in my yard … They raised broods of owlets, and they are now gone. … One of my neighbors had 26 raccoons relocate to her backyard when the five acres on Lakemont Avenue at the end of Windsor Drive were razed for the development of a new church and townhomes … I have had two gopher tortoises come to my yard, fleeing the clearing of property … The trend seems to be everything’s cut down on the lot … We must protect our mature trees and our tree canopy.”
Members of the Winter Park Land Trust, a nonprofit supported by local residents to promote green space, urged the commission to resist succumbing to yet another pre-emption by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature — a law that went into effect in recent years that undermined the city’s tree permit process.
“I don’t think that we need to be cowering down to what the state is telling us,” said Leslie Poole, a member of the land trust and an environmental studies professor at Rollins College. “I think we ought to be doing what we can and pushing back to say that this is important to Winter Park. On your own website, this is one of the top things that the city of Winter Park touts as its tree canopy, and I want to urge you to continue to support that.”
City Manager Randy Knight explained that the new state rules mean residents can easily override the city when it denies a tree removal permit.
“The state gutted our ability to permit tree removals,” Knight explained. “They basically said that if you go out and find an arborist who says the tree’s dangerous, you can take it out even if the city says you can’t. And so we spend a lot of resources going through that process only to be undermined by the new state rules, and so we propose getting out of the permitting business. That doesn’t mean our people won’t go and talk with homeowners … we’ll still be doing that. They just don’t have to go through that permitting process any longer.”
The budget eliminates two vacant positions related to trees: a tree specialist (about $74,000) and the tree permit position (about $60,000).
The budget also reduces new tree plantings on city right-of-way by about half, or $210,000, and outsources the job of a tree-watering truck ($65,000).
In recent years, the city has aggressively planted new trees on public property and is running out of space, with more than 90% already filled.
City officials said spending on the maintenance of the existing canopy will not be reduced. In addition, the city is conducting a survey of its tree canopy and could add more funds back into the budget partway through the year if the survey shows a need.
Charley Williams, another member of the land trust, said he would like to see Winter Park attempt to come up with other ways to prevent residents from removing healthy, mature trees.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio noted that the city is also requiring homeowners or contractors to plant new trees when others are removed for construction.
“If you’re going to tear down trees on your lot before you can get a [Certificate of Occupancy], you’re going to have to replant,” she said. “And that’s something we can do. We can’t necessarily prohibit them from taking them down, but we can make them put new trees up.”
Other changes to the budget include reducing the $2.15 million allotment for the library by $25,000, canceling an annual board appreciation event to save $12,000, reducing some Easter and Halloween events put on by the parks department by $20,000, and eliminating monthly printed utility bill calendars as well as some postage and supplies for a combined reduction of about $45,000.
See our other coverage of the Winter Park City Budget here:
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Commissioners Propose Cuts and New Spending Ahead of Budget Vote
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Winter Park Residents to Pay More for Electricity and Water in Proposed Budget
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On the Chopping Block: Police, Fire, Community Groups, Trash Collection
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Winter Park Contends with Higher Police and Fire Costs and How to Maintain Roads
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Gov. Ron DeSantis Vetoes Winter Park Police Request but Allows Mead Garden Project
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
I was invited to join The Winter Park Land Trust years ago. I felt honored to be asked, but I was meeting myself coming and going with what I had on my
Preservation plate on any given day. That has changed little.
We need to send the strongest possible message to The DeSantis
Administration that our tree canopy, unique to Florida, must be preserved. And I have the right to say that without being sued!
Will Graves
Recipient of The Florida Trust’s 2019
Individual Distinguished Service Award.
A six-person, statewide jury made the
award decision.
The habitat loss Ms. Edmonds describes is happening on all of our streets. It is tragic and we should all be alarmed enough to take immediate action to ensure our trees have the chance to become mature enough to sustain healthy communities of native wildlife – mammals, birds, reptiles, insects… all of it. While the majority of the homes on my street have been torn down and replaced with giant homes with very little greenspace (greenspace consistently doused with poisons), we are one of the last holding out with a backyard forest refuge. As Dr. Poole said, WP has always held pride in our trees, but that is now becoming sort of a joke. A sad one.
Not to get too wonky—-re Tallahassee’s preemption of local control—-but …. it’s important to understand how we’ve lost control of protecting our own trees in our cities across the entire state as well as the consequences we are seeing before our very eyes.
The two key words “ actively used” in 163.045 1(b) Residential Property—are the trouble makers.
Case in point: when any city takes a residential land owner/ home owner to Court for clearing their lot of trees, their claim is that yes, the lot is being “actively used”.
The original intent of the term was to imply that the home was being lived in and not abandoned. However, in court, on appeal, the land owner has argued that, in fact, the lot even in an intended teardown state is being “actively used”.
The end result—Cities often lose on appeal —-a very sad situation. And another case of state preemption of local control.(just like the Amendment 3 ballot initiative this November).
(Partial Statute)
Title XI
COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS
Chapter 163
INTERGOVERNMENTAL PROGRAMS
View Entire Chapter
163.045 Tree pruning, trimming, or removal on residential property.—
(1) For purposes of this section, the term:
(a) “Documentation” means an onsite assessment performed in accordance with the tree risk assessment procedures outlined in Best Management Practices – Tree Risk Assessment, Second Edition (2017) by an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) or a Florida licensed landscape architect and signed by the certified arborist or licensed landscape architect.
(b) “Residential property” means a single-family, detached building located on a lot that is actively used for single-family residential purposes and that is either a conforming use or a legally recognized nonconforming use in accordance with the local jurisdiction’s applicable land development regulations.
(2) A local government may not require a notice, application, approval, permit, fee, or mitigation for the pruning, trimming, or removal of a tree on a residential property if the property owner possesses
We don’t even need to put all the blame on the State stealing our ability to exercise home rule. Another issue is emerging through lot splits. Unfortunately, when many lot splits are granted and 3 homes take the place of the previous 2 smaller, ranch-style homes, there is no room left on the new lots for anything but “understory” trees versus canopy trees. We have done this to ourselves to our detriment. As for re-development, the developers care about return on investment. Land and tear downs in WP are expensive. BIG trees in the wrong place for maxing out FAR on a lot are just so much collateral damage. The very notable decline in birds (barred owls/pileated woodpeckers) and wildlife in my neighborhood is a direct and predictable result of lot splits and intensive redevelopment that have destroyed very long standing habitat. And where churches in WP sell land and downsize to survive, numerous canopy trees are lost to the multi-family development that ensues. And I know no city commission has ever had the gumption to say no to Rollins, but how many specimen trees have been lost to Rollins’ ambitious, never-ending growth? “We” have allowed all these things without any push from Tallahassee. Heck darn. Even our new library resulted in a tree massacre. Judging by our behavior, trees do not seem to be a priority any longer in WP and it shows.