The front yards of Hammock Trace, a subdivision in Viera, Florida, look very different this fall. Brevard County crews have removed 62 mature oak trees that lined the right-of-way strips in front of homes, and some of the people who live there say the street no longer feels like the one they bought into.
The county says the roots had buckled the sidewalks. It also says it offered the neighborhood’s homeowners association a way to keep the trees, an offer the HOA turned down.
Sixty-two oaks along the right-of-way
The trees stood on county right-of-way easements, the strip of land between the sidewalk and the street that many homeowners think of as part of their front lawn. WKMG News 6 reported on Oct. 2 that all 62 had been cut down across the neighborhood, and that crews were still clearing stumps and debris.
Don Walker, Brevard County’s government communications director, told the station the problem had been building for years. “Over the years, as those trees have matured, the root systems have started buckling some of the sidewalks,” he said…