The call came from a tenant, and the tenant was panicking. A crew clearing the lot next door to Stefan Pizzi’s duplex in Miami’s Little Haiti had cut down the roughly 50-foot oak that stood on the property line. Pizzi, who bought the duplex in 2023 with his girlfriend, Adriana Ocampo, is now suing the neighboring property owner, others involved in the construction and the notary who stamped the paperwork that cleared the way.
At the center of the case is a consent letter submitted to the City of Miami with the couple’s names on it. Pizzi says neither of them wrote or signed it.
A 50-foot oak beside an orange fence
The tree came down last year while crews were clearing the neighboring land for a new single-family home, according to WSVN 7News, which reported on the lawsuit Oct. 20. Several trees on that lot were removed at the same time, and the oak on the shared line went with them.
Pizzi told the station the oak was a defining feature of the home, standing out against the orange fence along the property. With it gone, he and Ocampo ground down half of the remaining stump, closed a gap in the fence and planted bamboo to block the view of the new house going up next door.
A consent letter the owners say they never signed
When Pizzi asked how the tree could be taken, the owner of the neighboring property, JF Property Holdings LLC, told him it had a permit and a signed consent letter. The letter, filed with the City of Miami by the developer of the neighboring lot, says Pizzi and Adriana Victoria Ocampo had been informed that the tree was scheduled for removal because of the new house…