FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The Tree Committee voted this week to recommend that the city of Fairhope issue municipal offense tickets against two property owners for unlawful removal of trees in front of The Shoppes at Fairhope Village.

“There has been some trimming in front of the Publix site,” City Horticulturist and Public Works Director Jennifer Fidler said at Thursday’s meeting, referring to the cutting of some trees in the buffer area on the state-owned right of way along U.S. 98 in front of the Publix Super Market and shopping center. “Nobody knows who did it, but I’ve contacted four different companies who each denied it.”

The committee discussed the issue of whether any laws were violated, and the appropriate governmental agency to enforce any possible violations, for more than an hour before voting unanimously to send letters to Mayor Tim Kant and the Alabama Department of Transportation. Those letters will recommend that both the city of Fairhope and the state of Alabama seek enforcement actions that could lead to financial penalties and restitution against the two property owners whose businesses stood the most to gain from the unlawful removal of the trees.

“They just started whittling away on the trees at that corner after the new sign went up,” said committee member Walt Bolton, about the reason a business under construction there might have sought to remove trees in front of its new sign. “If we don’t do anything about this, what are we good for?”

The two companies in question are Regency Centers Corp., the Florida-based developer of the Publix and shopping center, and Iberia Bank, currently under construction at the corner of U.S. 98 and Parker Road.

“I don’t how much support I’m going to be getting,” said Fidler, regarding any recommendation she might make to the city’s administration, regarding taking any action against the companies for the alleged unlawful removal of trees.

Fidler said she had been instructed by the administration not to take any further action in tree-cutting enforcement issues,while the committee revised the city’s tree ordinance.

The committee is making significant revisions to the existing ordinance, which might include changes in how appeals are taken in tree ordinance-violation cases and the amount of fines and restitution amounts.

One current case, in which restitution of $10,000 was initially ordered for the alleged unlawful removal of a 24-inch magnolia tree, has been put on hold while the committee completes its recommended revision of the ordinance.

Although the Tree Committee normally meets every three months, a special meeting will be held before the next regularly scheduled meeting in order to finalize the revised ordinance. Those recommended revisions will then be submitted to the City Council for consideration and possible adoption.

A time and date for the special meeting will be announced in the near future, the committee chairman stated Thursday.