FORT WALTON BEACH — Twelve stately old pine trees have been removed from the front of Elliott Point Elementary School.
Principal Janet Norris requested that the trees be removed because their roots were damaging the school’s parking lot and their sap had become a nuisance.
“People were refusing to park in the spaces because of the sap dripping from trees,” said Bill Smith, director of facilities for the Okaloosa County School District.
Norris could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Steve Bolton, program director for the school system’s maintenance department, said his crews removed everything but the stumps last week. The stumps will be ground down sometime before students return to school Aug. 19.
The school sits on Hughes Street across from Ferry Park. Some people who use the park’s walking trail got a jolt when they noticed the trees being removed.
“At first I was just shocked. Those pine trees are pretty darn big,” said Tisha Maraj, who has walked at Ferry Park nearly every day for nine years. “It’s a shock when you don’t see them.”
The cost to remove the trees well short of $1,000, Bolton estimated. The wood was carted off to a landfill.
Bolton said along with the damage the 12 trees were doing to the parking lot, tall pines like the ones removed also are susceptible to lightning strikes.
Maraj said when she saw the downed trees, some of which appeared to be about 100 years old, she hoped they had been taken down for a good reason.
“In my mind I trusted whatever reason they had was a good one,” she said. “I wouldn’t think they would just cut them down.”
An Elliott Point administrator said Norris has formed a group that will re-landscape the school grounds surrounding the parking lot with “more appropriate foliage.”
“We’re recommending something that is low maintenance,” Bolton said.
Although the root damage to the parking lot is evident, Bolton said the school district does not have money in its budget to resurface the lot at Elliott Point or anywhere else in the county.
“Funding will go to things like roofing and keeping things running,” he said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
