Live Oak encroachment

[Athleticman89]

Hi there, I'm new here so I hope my email comes off respectfully.

I'm planning to buy a lot (2.5 acres) in Central Florida that has numerous large live oaks located on it. The developer has placed tree preservation easements around several of the trees and it's caused me some difficulty in laying out my house plans on the parcel. Note: I love the oaks and they are all staying.

Believe it or not there's only one way the house will fit in keeping it out of the easements. That's fine with me and I like it like that.

My issue is that the driveway leading back to the house will encroach into one of the preservation area's by about 10' (at the maximum point) in a cresent shaped way. I plan to use permeable pavers in that area so that the natural water seepage will stay normal. The tree has about a 2.5' trunk and it's drip line is about 40' out and the easement is 45' out from the trunk.

What's your idea's on this? Will the permeable pavers suffice and not damage the tree/roots? There will still be 35' of grass between the two.

Email me if you'd like to see a pdf of the house on the lot so you can have a better understanding.

Thanks!

 

[skwerl]

Welcome. As it happens, I'm in Orlando (Casselberry) and would be happy to look at the property in person. With that said, 'damage' is a subjective term. I've seen trees with blacktop over 75% of the roots and live for years, and I've seen other trees die from construction traffic between the groundbreaking and final CO on the house. All depends on where the roots are and if they get broken or not.

 

[rebelman]

trust sqerl athleteicman. He makes numerous posts here, and all that I've read says he knows right and does right.

off hand I'd say if your other root zones are truly undisturbed, the small encroachment you've described might be okay.

 

[Athleticman89]

Here's some pics of my oaks

Some pics attached for reference

 

[skwerl]

Absolutely awesome trees! The first one just blows me away. They look very healthy too, lots of reserve energy for dealing with stresses caused by construction. The main thing to remember is that the stresses are cumulative, and all added up can cause a decline in tree health 5 years from now. As long as you minimize the percentage of root zone subjected to compaction (or other forms of destruction), the trees have an excellent chance of surviving and thriving for many years.

 

[Athleticman89]

Here's the Lot Layout

Skwerl and others,
Thanks for the feedback. I've gone ahead and attached the house layout so you can see the encroachment. Funny thing is the encroachment area won't actually be inside the dripline of the tree so I don't understand why they made the tree preservation area so large around these oaks.

For clarification Tree one is in the front oval looking area and Tree two is the one on the side that the driveway clips.

 

[treeseer]

the encroachment area won't actually be inside the dripline of the tree so I don't understand why they made the tree preservation area so large around these oaks.

Dripline is only a guideline; on older trees the majority of active roots are outside the dripline.

Culturing turfrgrass inside the dripline should be reconsidered See Trees and Turf in the link below, and Avoiding Construction Damage to reinforce the obvious: along with the good advice above, the biggest threat to these trees is utility trenching. DO NOT allow excessive trenching through roots.

Orlando's urban forester is familiar with this book, and your builder should be too:

After publishing The Evaluation of Hazard Trees in Urban Areas, which was reviewed in the last issue, the International Society of Arboriculture commissioned Nelda Matheny and James Clark to write Trees and Development: A Technical Guide to Preservation of Trees During Land Development.

We’ve all heard the arguments for NOT preserving trees near construction, so in their Introduction the authors provide reasoned responses to make when you hear the following:
“Too Costly!” It’s a trade-off, with costs typically recovered by faster sales, higher prices, and enduring value.
“Over-regulation!” We all have a right to life, and the clean air and water provided by trees are a prerequisite for life. Courts uphold reasonable environmental standards. Where staff is trained to fairly enforce them, needed flexibility can be allowed.
“It’s just a tactic to stop us from building!” If a community holds tree preservation as an important goal and clearly defines its expectations to developers, then tree preservation simply becomes another aspect to project planning. Once a project (and its tree preservation plan) is approved, both development team and public agency staff must act in an honest, cooperative manner.
“We can’t control our subcontractors.” If following a tree preservation program is made a part of a subcontractor’s contract (with penalties for noncompliance), then adherence will follow. For best results, developers should educate subcontractors prior to the start of work.
“It’ll makes our whole community too expensive to develop!” To be practical, projects with mature trees sell quicker at a higher price, and remain more attractive to buyers.
“We don’t know how to preserve trees.” It requires commitment and the application of specialized knowledge, just like engineering and architecture. It is for this reason that a consulting arborist should be a part of the development team.
The next complaint often heard is, “We already pay a landscape designer”. Most landscape architects get no training in tree preservation. At NCSU in particular, how to handle existing trees is not part of the curriculum. LA’s typically have too many other responsibilities to also take on tree preservation.

The rest of the Guide lays out the entire process of preservation in a reader-friendly fashion. It first reviews tree biology and the means and methods of development, then simply, step-by-step, walks the reader through the process of successfully preserving trees. Two tips stand out as especially useful:

“Brush shall be chipped and placed in the tree protection zone to a depth of six inches”
This cheap and easy step can save more trees than any other. Even outside the protection fence, a thick layer of mulch prevents compaction better than any other method. Whether turf or shrubs are going in later, they will be easier to install and need less replacement if the soil is protected. It also retains “an ecologically functional land base capable of growing trees well into the future”.

“Adjust finish grades so that the pavement section is built on top of the natural grade, using a ‘no-dig’ design.” Since roads and sidewalks are safer when water runs off faster, this tip makes sense both for tree survival and safe travel. Use of geotextile fabrics to reduce compaction and prevent the subbase from mixing into the soil also preserves trees.

Tree preservation is a job that everybody wants done, but too often it fails for lack of information. This Guide, available from the ISA, [email protected], is the best tool for getting the job done, and keeping the canopy over our communities.

 

[huggybear]

First those trees are great. Second it really great to see builders and owners taking an interest in saving mature trees.

A few couple of suggestions would be to establish tree protection zones (TPZs). This will involve spreading chips as stated earlier and putting up fencing around these zones, the higher and more permanent the better. Orange fencing could work but its too easy to cut and rip apart. A better solution would be wire mesh and to go one step further would be six foot high chain link fence. But the latter might be beyond your budget so i would go with four foot high wire mesh with fence posts about every eight feet.

Another thing to consider would be a establishing a staging area for all the consruction material. Also a parking area for the trades to build the house. These will hopefully prevent persons from entering the TPZs.

As far as the driveway cut I'll offer two suggestions.

First would be to, as stated earlier, to build the grade of the drive on top of the established grade. To go about doing this i would first vertical mulch the area with an airspade and backfill with a mix of calcinated clay and a light fertilizer. After that a layer of Root Aeration Mating and then a layer of Root Protection Matting. To hold this down a two to six inch layer of modified 2A compacted with the blade of the back hoe of skid steer. At first this would be for construction access then would become the permanant driveway.

Since most of the roots in that area should be the fine roots,i will suggest a second option as well. This will involve trenching about 2 feet deep and properly root pruning about 3 feet back from the finished line of the drive and build the driveway normally, with removing soil and replacnig it with the substrate needed for the pavers. Since the other areas of the root zone will hopefully not be disturbed this could be a good option.

In addition to this i would crown clean removing dead, dying and diseased branches and fertilze with a slow release fertilizer to ensure vigor during this process and maybe vertical mulch the whole area in the easement.

Sorry to be long winded but hopefully this helps, I would still see a certified arborist in the area with some experience in Tree preservation, because i am a thousand miles away looking at two pictures and the plans. To properly preserve trees should be considered an investment not an expense, because those mature trees just add to your property value as you may well know. Good Luck.

 

[skwerl]

Lots of good suggestions here. I would like to add that I'd suggest avoiding any heavy pruning. Nobody can help the tree health with a chainsaw, they can only remove unwanted stuff. Unfortunately most will remove far more desirable growth than undesirable deadwood, moss, etc. I see very little deadwood in those trees and most of the moss can be removed by hand or with a handsaw. All the precautions in the world won't help those trees if they end up being overpruned afterwards. And IMO the majority of tree services in this area overprune.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

DO NOT wait to set up the fences! In the first picture, it looks like you already have a truck parked in the protection zone!

I don't see a line on the plan for silt fence, but the guys that install it are notorious for running huge trenchers through tree roots, and they are one of the first contractors on site.

Talk to as many contractors as you possibly can about the preservation plan, and maintain the fences! They will get knocked down, both accidentally and intentionally. Put signs on the fences, big, mean, threatening signs.

 

[Athleticman89]

Update on my large Oaks

Guy's,
Today I was on the lot where my new home will be constructed, and noticed some red growth on the branches.
I've attached a picture, will this hurt my trees?
Thanks,
Spencer
View attachment 32585

 

[treeseer]

Coral-spot Nectria canker, N. cinnabarina. The coral spots are the asexual structures, the sporodochia, aka Tubercularia. found on p 176 of siclair/lyon disease book--buy a copy now and you will impress your clients and enrich you both.

looks like bad stuff; they say it doesn't usually kill the tree but it does not look good for that branch.

See any on the trunk?