The second special hearing on Miami’s surge of tree-removal appeals brought agreements in several disputes, while the contentious question of who has standing to appeal resurfaced.
A citizen’s oversight board returned Tuesday to another round of tree-removal appeals, the latest chapter in a months-long fight over the city’s tree canopy and the rules for challenging removal permits.
This time, there was more compromise and considerably less chaos.
The Historic and Environmental Preservation Board (HEPB) worked through 10 appeals in about three and a half hours, compared with just eight appeals during an eight-hour special hearing in July that stretched until 1:45 a.m. and drew more than 100 residents, developers and attorneys.
Three appeals were withdrawn on Tuesday, three were denied in part with modifications, one was continued and three were denied.
At the July hearing, the board continued several appeals and directed residents, developers and city staff to try to resolve their differences before returning. On Tuesday, some of those negotiations bore fruit.
Among them were two appeals involving the same Gifford Lane property in Coconut Grove, where residents had challenged a permit allowing seven trees to be removed.
The parties returned Tuesday with an agreement that reduced the number of trees slated for removal from seven to one. The remaining removal would be offset by the planting of two live oaks. The board unanimously approved the modified plan.
Kristin Dacey, a Center Grove resident who participated in the appeals, said negotiating directly with the property owners allowed the parties to find common ground.
“I think that the bureaucracy of city governments and everything else makes it challenging,” she said.
Other Coconut Grove disputes were resolved before Tuesday’s hearing.
An appeal involving a single-family home project on South Moorings Way in South Grove was withdrawn after environmental advocate Lindsay Cain and the contractor negotiated changes to the tree-removal and replacement plan.
“The team was very kind and open to discussion,” Cain wrote in a statement to the Spotlight. “We achieved the strongest outcome which may not have been reached if the City was involved.”
An appeal involving The Lincoln, a proposed condominium project on Southwest 27th Avenue, was also withdrawn after the parties reached an agreement.
The compromises mark a change from the board’s first special tree-appeals hearing in July, when a surge in challenges produced a standing-room-only crowd and hours of debate over individual trees, mitigation plans and who was legally entitled to appeal.
After receiving just one tree-removal appeal in all of 2025, the board had received at least 14 by July of this year, prompting the city to add special hearings to handle the increased caseload.
Read more: Tree Appeal Surge Overwhelms City Oversight Board
The appeals come as a citizen advisory committee is separately reviewing Miami’s tree ordinance and is expected to recommend changes next year.
But one of the most contentious issues from the July hearing resurfaced Tuesday: who has legal standing to appeal a tree-removal permit.
Under city regulations, appeals may be filed by the property owner, permit applicant or an “aggrieved party.” At the July hearing, the question consumed considerable time and resulted in two appeals being dismissed without the board considering the proposed tree removals themselves.
This time, the board sought to streamline the issue, announcing that appellants would be presumed to have standing, subject to a challenge by the property owner.
That happened in two appeals filed by the Miami Tree Preservation Action Committee. Property owners argued the group lacked standing because its appeals did not identify residents living within 500 feet of the proposed removals. The board agreed and denied both appeals.
The decisions come as some tree disputes are advancing beyond HEPB to the City Commission, the next level of appeal.
Last week, commissioners reversed a unanimous HEPB decision that had blocked the removal of a tree on Irvington Avenue in Coconut Grove. In another case, commissioners upheld the board’s denial of an appeal involving tree removals for a development near Legion Park.
Read more: Tree Battles Reach Miami Commission — and Residents Lose Ground
The next special HEPB meeting devoted to tree appeals is scheduled for Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. at Miami City Hall.
Anita Li is a Spotlight reporter and Report for America corps member covering government accountability in Coconut Grove and Miami City Hall. She joins us through our partnership with Report for America, a national organization that places journalists in local newsrooms across the United States. David Villano contributed to this report.
