Neighbors lose effort to save tree buffer next to new Tallahassee police headquarters

The trees fought the law — and the law won.

After a week-long effort by local residents to save them, the city tore down 20 oak trees next to what will be the site of the new Tallahassee Police Department headquarters.

Tree cutters chopped down the towering oaks Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after city staffers concluded the reconstruction of the old Northwood Centre required their removal.

"In this case, it is not possible to retain the trees and also preserve an adequate amount of land for new residential dwellings in the northern parcel," City Manager Reese Goad said in an email to the mayor and city commissioners.

A few Parkside and Park Terrace neighborhood residents, joined by Leon County Commissioner David O'Keefe and Tallahassee City Commissioners Jeremy Matlow and Jack Porter, watched as the trees — which had long been a buffer between nearby houses and the old mall — were uprooted before their eyes.

The trees were scheduled to be cut down to make room for a new stormwater pond that the city is required to build. But public outcry briefly paused the removal and led to a reconsideration of options.

In an interview with the Democrat Wednesday morning, Goad said the city has worked very closely with the neighborhood alliance.

"We're being very respectful, listening," Goad said. "That's what we've done the entire time on this project — we want to be in good dialogue with them.

But engineers reported back soon after that keeping the trees would require shifting the facility's location 32 feet up the hill. That was to leave room for a wall around the pond and still be outside the trees' critical protection zone, according to the assessment report that was provided to city staff.

Contractors would lose as much as half an acre of land, leaving them with a 0.75 acre parcel, according to the assessment. "With this small of an area, the potential development of housing appropriate for the area would be negated," the report said.

Residents expressed disappointment in the abrupt removal.

Randie Denker, a member of the Alliance of Tallahassee Neighborhoods, who led efforts to get the city to reverse its plans, said the city "has not been transparent in this process" and the officials have provide "conflicting information at every turn."

"For over a year, we have been routinely meeting with staff about the City’s plans for the Northwood Mall," Denker wrote in a letter to commissioners. "We have consistently been told that nothing is written in stone yet. But now, we are being told that nearly 2 dozen old live oak trees have to be needlessly destroyed because every square inch of that land is needed for a housing project."

"The trees are gone now, but the bad taste this has left in the public’s mouth has not."

Goad told the mayor and commissioners that contractors are continuing with the original plan and the stormwater pond construction is expected to last around five months. Additional work on the headquarters' foundation is to begin in February and is expected to be finished by June.

Goad told the Democrat current plans call for increasing green space once the land is developed. The number of trees on the 30-acre site and both ponds will be a community amenity once it's constructed, he said.

"This work is quite extensive," Goad wrote in the email to commissioners. The entire project "is currently estimated to be completed by the end of 2025."

Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X @elenabarreraaa.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: City takes down 20 trees to continue Tallahassee police HQ work