Fined for cutting trees?

[Steve]

Can you imagine cutting down some trees in front of your business and getting fined by the city for over $20,000 !! Now that is something to think about. Sarasota tree-cutter apologizes - The business owner who cut down a grouping of palm trees on St. Armands Circle apologized and pledged to work with the city to correct her mistake. But as the story unfolds, the city is still concerned over several issues, including that she cut the trees in the cover of darkness and without permits, including a right-of-way permit, and that the tree service she used may not have held a business license. Potentially, a $20,700 mistake, the fine the city estimated in a citation mailed to her this week.

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Sure sounds like there was an effort to skirt the laws. But a $20K fine? Beating somebody up and putting them in the hospital is lots less than that! We are talking about trees, they can be replaced for crying out loud.

[NickN]

This happened in our city,except the city council had it done.The homeowners comlained and come to find out,it didn't have city council approval.ONE of the councilmen had it done.
So,I wrote to the newspaper and offered to replace them all at no charge,b&b 8-9 footers.
Never heard a word,but it would have been some great publicity.
A landscaper,in this case,could do the same.

I agree that the fine is a little too high. Perhaps fine here $100 per tree instead.

But the way it sounds, she knew she was breaking the law by doing it at night time

ahahahaha, I am from this town and this is so typical.... This town needs to get their stuff straight... I was pretty much out in the woods today, not close to any residential area and came across a fire station I never knew about. It looked like a mediteranan mansion with ornate garage doors. So that is their justification for charging this business owner a 20k fine....

[LawnMoore]

Yea there are strict fees in the my nearest city as well, they are pretty expensive as well, if she cut a grouping and it cost her 20k, she must have cut quite a few of them, really it is against the city regulations, all she would have had to do is plant some different plant/trees etc n her property to be able to cut those down, thats the price you have to pay for destroying the plants that help keep pollution down in the city, cutting out erosion control, and among other reasons im sure.

[picframer]

The fine seems a little stiff, at the same time she cut trees that we not on her property, I suspect or would hop a registered company would have known this and probably passed, they were cut at night makes me wonder if she probably knew. If this were to happen where I live, and the owner of the home or business hires an unregistered company, then the home owner/business is responsible for any damage, accidents and fines.