Key resident seeks to trim Australian pine requirements

The town considers Australian pines a nuisance. So does the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council, which lists the trees on its Category I list of the most invasive plants, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which prohibits the possession, collection, transportation, cultivation and importation of the species.

The town requires the removal of all Australian pines, along with Brazilian pepper trees and carrotwood to develop or redevelop properties. Opponents of Australian pine removal argue that the trees provide shade and habitat for a variety of nesting birds.

Now, Key resident Tom Churchill is hoping to change the town’s policy and is seeking input from other residents who support the idea.

“All I’m asking the commission to do is use a little common sense and not mandate that every single property that is developed has to be torn down,” he said.

A Club Longboat resident, he lives next to the property at 5005 Gulf of Mexico Drive that is currently being cleared for the planned nine-home Bonaire subdivision. Churchill said that Club Longboat surveyed owners of its 84 units several years ago and found 80% supported keeping the Australian pines.

According to Ralph Hunter’s “From Calusas to Condominiums,” the trees “created a beautiful canopy of green over the road in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, but they soon became a nuisance.”

Dried pine needles often became a fire hazard, and the trees are tall and have a shallow root system that causes them to fall over during storms and high winds. They tend to crowd out native plant species when left unmanaged, causing monocultures — i.e. eliminating other types of plants.

Senior Town Planner Steve Schield said the town’s policy has historically been to require developers to remove Australian pines and other non-native species.

“If you drive the south end of the properties, there aren’t many Australian pines,” Schield said, referring to the part of the Key that Arvida Corp. developed.

The town extended the requirement for removal on newly developed or redeveloped single-family lots in 2010.

Churchill plans to speak to the commission at its April 7 regular meeting.

About Australian pines
Introduced in the 1800s, these trees are commonly found near beach dunes and shorelines, and are commonly used as landscape buffers. The problem is that although they provide shade and habitat for nesting birds, they crowd out native plants and emit compounds that prevent new native plants from growing.
Source: Sarasota County

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected]