Editor:

If a $10,000 tree fell on the Publix site, would anyone hear it? Evidently not, but how about scores of trees within an established and enforced fine rate that has been levied on other developers for the same infractions?

For example, the Shellbrook development on Twin Beech Road submitted a tree survey of their proposed development (as required by the city of Fairhope), which was approved. Clearing and construction began and was nearing completion when it was discovered that several large trees near the edge of the property (not included in the approved survey) had been cut down in the development process. The developers were told that their all-important Certificate of Occupancy would not be issued until they paid what amounted to approximately $140,000 in fines and onsite tree mitigation. Did you know that the trees planted in the median on Section Street are courtesy of this fine?

Now we find that a full tree survey was delivered to the city of Fairhope dated Jan. 8, 2008, before the clearing of the Publix site and that somehow it disappeared into the depths of the bureaucracy, to surface only after repeated requests for documents connected to the Publix site (made by a concerned citizen) yielded a bonanza of material that included a dated copy of the tree survey, which a city official had told the Tree Committee did not exist.

When this document was distributed to the city’s Tree Committee on April 16, the reaction was one of consternation, to say the least, and the feeling, expressed by several of those present, that a double standard was being used. Though the city official responsible had been publicly denying that a survey existed, and that same official had stated at the July 17, 2008, Tree Committee meeting that when she met with property owner/seller Arthur Corte at the site, they found no significant trees at all, the survey shows differently. Bobby Green, chairman of the Tree Committee and an active participant in establishing the $140,000 fine for Shellbrook, estimates that, if similar criteria were used, the fine for the Publix site would be approximately $930,000.

Now the city accepted the Tree Committee’s recommendation and used it as the basis for denying Shellbrook its Certificate of Occupancy until the city’s terms were met. Since these developers were fined based on the recommendations of the Tree Committee, why shouldn’t the city use the same criteria regarding the Publix site? Until everyone is treated equally according to the rules, are we going to continue having to pay for lawsuit after lawsuit, which has and will cost us millions, or are some developers just more equal than others?

Dean Mosher, a Fairhope resident for 35 years, has chaired numerous committees and boards. He currently serves as vice president of the Fairhope Single Tax Corp. and is a professional artist known worldwde for his epic historical paintings.