Orange County announces DP Tree 100 Project

Orange County District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson announced a new project that seeks to add more than 100 trees to the Dr. Phillips area at a recent Rotary club meeting. The meeting was held Wednesday, June 21, at Bay Hill Country Club. 

The project is a first-of-its-kind partnership among Orange County staff, the Dr. Phillips Rotary Club and the Dr. Phillips Foundation.

Rich Maladecki, who has lived in the Dr. Phillips community for 27 years and is the new president of the Rotary, said the Rotary board has been working to have conversations with Orange County officials about a beautification project for the community for the last year.

“That conversation turned into the reality we are going to be hearing about today,” Maladecki said. “There are stretches of land that do not have any type of brush, do not have any type of trees, so we started looking at that. … This is a moment to be proud.”

DP TREE 100

The project, coined the DP Tree 100 Project, aims to add more than 100 trees to the Dr. Phillips area medians, hopefully beginning in August.

Jennifer Cummings, project manager for the county, kicked off the presentation.

Cummings said the county had a landscape program in 1994 but the program was placed on hold in 2010 because of the recession and other financial complications.

The program was on hold until 2012, when the Roadway Median Grant Program started.

“It was really a grant program so that HOAs could come in and get a grant and do like a gateway to their subdivision,” Cummings said. “That program had complications, because, honestly, our attorneys got involved. They wanted the HOAs to accept the liability, because some of the HOAs did not want to necessarily follow safety standards.”

In 2015, the County Commission approved the new Roadway Median Tree Program. 

The program aimed to evaluate the 92 miles of roadway median that were placed on hold in 2010. Of those, 37 are located in District 1.

So far, more than 60 miles have been landscaped with more than 7,000 trees.

The specific areas targeted to receive trees via the project include stretches of Apopka-Vineland Road, which currently has 464 trees; Dr. Phillips Boulevard, which currently has 44 trees; and Conroy-Windermere Road, which currently has 91 trees.

Turkey Lake Road also is set to receive trees, although the discussions currently are ongoing due to the complications of the I-4 Ultimate project.

Maladecki said through the project, a minimum of about 100 trees will be planted, but the number could increase after the I-4 situation is completed.

Cummings said there have been various difficulties with roadway plantings, including trees lost in recent hurricanes.

She said the county worked to find trees that could be placed in the roadway that would not be susceptible to high winds and disease. She said the county also kept the tree’s leaf fall in mind to prevent water-quality damage from nutrients.

“We wanted to take all these lessons to develop a good contract and a good basis of trees,” she said. 

Cummings said the county came up with a list of about 20 trees to plant. 

However, some of those trees have now been removed, such as Sylvester palms, because of the browning of the trees caused by salt water spray — something more common in the South — which started mostly after Hurricane Ian.

Cummings is hopeful the county could use the Sylvester palms again in the next five to six years, but for now, the county is utilizing the single palm system, which is native.

Maladecki said he is hopeful the trees will be planted within the next year.

Although Cummings wanted to start the planting in February, she said there is a repaving project happening in the area. But barring any setbacks, the goal is to start implementing the trees in the Conroy-Windermere Road area in August.

COMMUNITY EFFORT

Wilson said the project would not have been possible without the crucial role of longtime Rotary member and community advocate Maladecki.

This is the first partnership project the county has done under the program.

Maladecki said not only did the foundation agree to financially support the project, but also the organization has offered one of its executives to help guide the project.

Under the contract, the county will purchase, install and establish the trees. 

The establishment period lasts for two growing seasons — 24 months — before the trees are turned over to the county’s road and drainage division, which takes over the maintenance. 

Dr. Phillips has worked to design the project and provide funding.

The foundation donated $10,000, the Rotary donated $10,000, and the county public works department will be donating about $40,000.

Wilson spoke on the value a tree-planting program can bring to the community.

“We have so many things that we know our community really believes in,” she said. “Things happen; there are emergencies, there are setbacks in our overall tax base. … But what that means is we look toward organizations, foundations, partnerships, civic partnerships — like this one — to make things happen. The leadership of this Rotary, the incoming leadership, every leader that’s been here has established this tradition of making sure they’re making a difference in their community.”

Wilson said the program is near and dear to her heart.

“My hope is that … this project in particular becomes a model for what we can do across the county and hopefully across the region,” she said. “I don’t think that the government is always efficient or can really move on things we know are really important to our community. But you all do. You know what’s important to you all, and you know what’s important to your neighbors and your community.”