Texas: Austin city beholden to developers no matter how many old oaks they cut without authorization
A year after a subcontractor bulldozed 150 protected trees at an Oak
Hill apartment complex under development, a jury acquitted the
president of the company responsible. Barry Gillingwater, owner of
Gillingwater Excavation, was acquitted after saying he was authorized
to remove the trees, despite the fact that representatives of Cadence
McShane Corp. insisted that the destruction was unauthorized at the
site between Highway 71 and Old Bee Caves Road.
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Many local residents expressed outrage at the destruction of scores of
healthy trees supposedly protected by the City’s tree ordinance, which
states: “A permit is required for the removal of any tree larger than
60 inches in circumference — measured at 4.5 feet above the ground.
Fifty-nine and a half inches in circumference is equivalent to 19
inches in diameter.” “From the very beginning, the tree death has made
me very frustrated and sad.
The poor response and lack of interest
from the City is especially troubling. Is this city so beholden to
developers that they can’t even hold them accountable for their own
misdeeds and mismanagement? Even if it was a mistake, the responsible
parties must be fined to the maximum amount and the city must adopt
new rules in an effort to prevent this from ever happening again. It’s
time for Austin to stop greenwashing itself and to start getting
serious with its environmental policies.” Not everyone is convinced
that the City’s response was as vigorous as it should have been.
Karon Rilling, an Oak Hill resident and former principal of Covington Middle
School, told the Gazette: “I believe the City’s investigation and
pursuit of truth and justice was lukewarm at best. In the meeting I
attended at the Pinnacle, the first official to speak indicated that
the City accepted the clear-cut as an unfortunate mistake and that the
developer was really sorry. Outrage within the City’s environmental
group and among concerned citizens prompted the City to take action,
perhaps too little too late. If the City continues to cozy up to
developers while losing sight of the environment and all that makes
Austin great, we will soon lose our natural resources, becoming
another Dallas.”
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