- Gainesville removed 521 regulated trees overnight for Fire Station 9 construction and will plant 124 native trees, paying a $959,582.87 mitigation fee.
- Riceland residents protested the clear-cutting along SW Archer Road, objecting to loss of forest buffer the city promised to preserve.
Residents of the Riceland community gathered along Archer Road on Wednesday to protest clear-cutting at the city of Gainesville’s new site for Fire Station 9. The once heavily forested property along SW Archer Road is now an empty foundation of sand hills and barren dirt.
The tree removal took place nearly overnight for construction of the multi-million-dollar fire rescue station scheduled to break ground on Friday with city officials. Residents who live adjacent to the construction are upset by how the development has unfolded, and other city projects have also drawn scrutiny.
“This was all heavy-duty woods,” said William Toreki. “They told us they’d clear the brush and leave the trees. We’re not against having the firehouse, but they wiped ‘em all out.”
According to residents who live beside the development, the city promised to leave many of the old heritage oak trees, providing a canopy and natural stormwater absorption.
“Her sign says it all,” said Kim Prins, who lives beside the development, gesturing towards a handwritten sign that said ‘Stop clear cutting the land.’
The small but scrappy group isn’t your typical college-aged protestors. Toting a full beard and forearm tattoo, Paul Cellon held a sign that read, ‘The city can’t keep doing this.’ Another man in a sweaty Frank Zappa shirt displayed a sign that asked, ‘Tree city USA!!?’
After a timing error, Gainesville recently reinstated its recognition as a Tree City USA with an impressive 59% tree canopy coverage—the highest of any city in Florida, according to a county press release in 2023.
According to a city statement from Rossana Passaniti, Gainesville’s public information officer, construction on the new fire station required the removal of 521 regulated trees. In accordance with city ordinance, the city paid a tree mitigation fee of $959,582.87. The completed site will include the planting of 124 native trees.
Gainesville will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for Fire Station 9 at 10 a.m. on Friday at 4320 SW 47th Way. The city held a groundbreaking ceremony for the replacement of Gainesville Fire Station 3 on July 22.
But other city projects also drew recent concern, including the Fire Station 3 groundbreaking, NE Ninth Street renovation, Lot 13 and NE Eighth Avenue.
Former Alachua County Commissioner Robert Hutchinson took to Facebook on Thursday to lament Gainesville’s recent tree cutting. He pointed to each of these projects and then policy changes under former City Manager Cynthia Curry as a potential cause.
“Our current City Commission may not even realize that it is presiding over the dismantling of tree protection plans, policies, and programs painstakingly constructed over the past four decades,” Hutchinson said. “Their predecessors did more than talk about protecting the environment. They adopted enforceable programs, created public processes, relied on qualified professionals, and held their managers accountable for results.”
He said the results make Gainesville’s urban forest one of the community’s defining features and one of the most respected urban forestry programs.
Later on Thursday, the city of Gainesville issued a press release that addressed some of the projects.
The Lot 13 removal was a miscommunication and mistake. Passaniti said the city would calculate the tree mitigation cost, pay it and replant trees on the site. The release said the lapse in communication had been addressed and staff had been spoken to about the error.
The city said 15 trees were cut down for the NE Ninth Street project in order to make a continuous bike lane through two intersections. The decision passed through the Tree Advisory Board in December 2023 and City Commission in July 2024. The city said the project initially only impacted eight, but the scope widened and the impact to other trees was missed.
The NE Eighth Avenue project is the same as Fire Station 3. The city said the trees were removed to make room for the public safety project.
“This is a necessary public safety project to strengthen fire and emergency response services across the city,” the release said.
The SW Public Safety Center also falls under the city’s new Safe by Design initiative with $60 million across three projects. Gainesville said the center, and resulting clear-cutting, was designed to meet stormwater and safety standards and met all local regulations in order to support the city for years to come.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with further information from the city of Gainesville.
