Take out trees on Las Olas and you’ll turn into Anywhere, USA, critic warns Fort Lauderdale
Will that pretty tree-lined median on Las Olas stay or go?
No one can say — not yet anyway.
The three-year-old proposal to eliminate the median in favor of wider sidewalks has sparked intense controversy, with critics as far as Denver insisting the trees be left alone.
But after years of debate, Fort Lauderdale commissioners are keeping their options open.
On Tuesday night, they approved a $3.5 million deal with the consulting company WSP USA Inc. to come up with two alternate designs.
One would show Las Olas with a median as it is now.
The other would do away with the median to make way for wider sidewalks. New trees, possibly oaks, would be planted along both sides of the historic street.
Commissioners are expected to make a final decision on the median and its trees when they get the plans back in nine months. But with all five commissioners running for reelection in November, a new set of folks might be making the decision.
Las Olas will lose its famous charm if the black olive trees go, resident John Gangne warned commissioners Tuesday night.
“If you take them out, you’re going to become Anywhere, USA,” Gangne said. “You could be in Kansas or Missouri. And you’re going to lose that charm and you’re going to lose what draws people to Las Olas.”
Charlie Ladd, a developer with commercial property along Las Olas, has championed the idea of getting rid of the median to make the street safer for pedestrians.
“The plan is to replace the 16 median trees with 100 oak trees in the sidewalks where people walk,” Ladd told commissioners. “We’re talking about replacing 16 trees with 100 trees. And I think that story needs to be told.”
Mayor Dean Trantalis had a recent change of heart, saying the median should stay.
“We all realize that these trees are very decorative, they create a nice ambiance,” he said during the meeting. “It’s really beautiful to walk down Las Olas Boulevard. It’s going to be a shame that some day, that’s going to be gone.”
Even if the trees are left alone, they will eventually die, the mayor said.
“They are going to outlive their natural life and they’re going to have to come down,” Trantalis said. “This is about the future. We’re not even talking about something that’s going to happen tomorrow.
“It’s going to take many, many years before we can get the over $100 million we need to complete this project.”
The entire redesign project from the east end of Las Olas to the west would cost at least $167 million, city officials have said. Removing the repairs of two major bridges would bring the cost down to around $104 million.
Currently, there is no money in place to pay for the construction, city officials say.
Commissioner John Herbst zeroed in on what happens after the trees die.
“They are in fair to poor condition,” he said. “So within 10 years, these trees are dead. We need to be thinking about how we replace this iconic tree canopy within the next 10 years. And can we do it within the existing median?”
Herbst questioned what kind of tree might work in the median when the black olives need to be replaced.
“Are we talking a sapling?” he said. “I’ve watched what a lot of our developers will do. They’ll take down existing trees and they’ll put in something that looks like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. And about 40 or 50 years later you’ve got a respectable tree sitting out there.”
Herbst said he’d been told the city can’t plant more black olive trees.
Laura Tooley, the city’s urban forester, told him that’s not true. Black olive trees are not prohibited under the city code. As for the size of the tree, they could be up to 20 years old as long as their root system is not too massive, Tooley said.
Even a palm might work, the mayor said.
“Certain palm trees have really expansive canopies,” he said. “They’re called canary island palms. There’s all kinds of possibilities that we can consider here. We know the olive trees are not going to last forever. So let’s try to figure out a plan for what’s going to replace them (when they’re gone).”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan