Pensacola council members concerned over planned tree removal on Creighton Road for car wash

Another development set to take down trees is sparking concern among some members of the Pensacola City Council.

Caliber Car Wash, an Atlanta-based car wash company, was granted a permit to cut down trees along Creighton Road to build a new location at 2660 Creighton Road.

As part of the city's tree protection standards, the company had to pay a $10,000 mitigation fee to obtain the permit to remove the trees, and the council member for the district was notified about the permit.

That's how the permit came to the attention of Councilwoman Sherri Myers, who asked the council to hold an emergency discussion on the issue during its agenda conference Tuesday evening.

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"This is an emergency because time is of the essence," Myers said.

Myers said the development plans call for the removal of 19 trees, but she wanted the City Council to vote on sending a letter to ask the developer to keep the six trees along Creighton Road.

"I realize they have to take down trees to build the facility, but they don't have to clear-cut it," Myers said. "They don't have to take them all down."

The location where the car wash is planned last operated as Church's Chicken.

"Being eco-friendly is a top priority for Caliber Car Wash as we look at ways to support the locations and communities we operate in," Mac McCall, a spokesperson for Caliber Car Wash, told the News Journal in a written statement on Wednesday. "We are happy to follow local guidelines and provide beautiful locations for our neighbors and customers."

City building officials told Myers on Wednesday that landscaping plans submitted by the developers indicate the trees along Creighton Road would be kept, however the permit allows their removal.

Myers told the News Journal that the trees in other parts of the property that will be taken down have been marked with pink plastic ribbons, as have the trees along Creighton Road.

During the meeting Tuesday, Councilwoman Jennifer Brahier pointed out that when Walmart first developed the shopping center, there was an effort by the company to save the large trees on the property.

The Walmart was developed in 2001 after the city passed its first tree ordinance. Rather than cutting the trees down, Walmart opted to spend $225,000 to relocate 10 large trees on the property, including a 500,000-pound live oak, according to News Journal archives.

Many of the trees relocated are still alive today.

Walmart sold the out parcels of the shopping center in 2005 to other developers. Caliber Car Wash bought the Church's Chicken property in November for $1 million.

"I think it's hokey and goofy that we're doing all this research about street calming everywhere else to putting trees there (along the street) so that we calm things," Brahier said. "And then when we've got trees, we're just like, screw it, take it down."

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Councilman Jared Moore said he supported Myers or other individual council members contacting the developer to talk to them about their plans, but he didn't think it was appropriate for the City Council to take action when it was the legislation the council passed that allows the company to remove the trees.

"If we are now looking at the fruit of our legislative boundaries and saying that is not the fruit we intended to grow, in some ways, that's a damning indictment upon us," Moore said.

The city's tree ordinance was updated last year to include a notification requirement for council members about tree removal permits 14 days before the trees can come down.

Myers told the News Journal that this episode raises questions if it's too easy to mitigate the removal of trees, but she said it also shows the notification process works to give a chance to potentially save the trees.

"It gives us an opportunity to say, 'Hey, we know you're from out of town, and just wanted to ask you, if you would consider making some changes,'" Myers said. "'I think your property would look better, and people would feel better about the project. We're excited that you're here.' And most of them want to be good neighbors. I honestly think they do."

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola council members hoping company won't clear cut for car wash