A Villages couple retroactively obtained a tree removal permit after a horrifying accident Tuesday afternoon outside their home.
An 89-year-old Villager had been traveling on Del Mar Drive when her golf cart struck a rope strung across the roadway by a tree removal company. She suffered a head injury and was airlifted from the scene.
One week ago, Iain and Glynis McEwing won permission from the Architectural Review Committee for the removal of a large Live Oak tree located on the side of their house at 1201 Del Toro Drive in the Village of Del Mar.
The couple complained to the ARC that roots from the tree had damaged pipes at their home, according to their application for removal. An arborist sided with the couple, noting the tree was within six feet of the home and some of the roots were sticking up five to six inches.
“The tree is too close to the house to be cutting any roots,” arborist David Van Vleet Jr. wrote in the report considered by the ARC when it granted the couple’s request to have the tree removed.
The couple, who are from the tiny village of Frampton in the Borough of Boston in Lincolnshire, England, followed the proper procedure in their interaction with the ARC. But they missed a step by not applying for a tree removal permit from the Town of Lady Lake.
Lady Lake, which takes great pride in its Tree City USA designation, has some strict rules when it comes to tree removal. But what the McEwings wanted would have been approved if they had applied prior to Tuesday. The couple obtained a permit at Lady Lake Town Hall, after the accident.
The permit cost the couple $50.
