Sometimes history, like the valiant live oak, refuses to die.
After the Anna Maria City Commission approved moving forward May 7 with plans to improve the Anna Maria City Pier Park at the corner of Pine Avenue and North Bay Boulevard, Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy requested an expert opinion of the remaining 17 live oak trees in the park.
Former commissioners, donors and others have gone back and forth about whether the trees — 21 were planted in 2012 — are dead.
Some of the trees are bare most of the year. Sometimes they sprout new leaves and again go bare.
The park has been a sore subject since the city purchased the empty lots in 2011 for $2.8 million.
In 2013, then-Commissioner Gene Aubry, also an architect, proposed a plan, it was approved and the live oak trees were planted.
Mike Miller, a self-taught landscape designer specializing in Florida native plants, was asked to present his ideas of what should be planted to help develop the park.
But, Miller said, he was asked to come in after the oaks were planted.
“Those were all Gene’s idea and it was risky to put them in,” he said. “I’d never have done oaks there.”
Aubry’s plan combined green space, walking paths, benches, restrooms and a small parking area.
“Aubry put the trees all in a row,” Miller said. “Plants don’t naturally do that. That’s one of the reasons the trees are having such a hard time growing.”
Miller said the trees were in one of their most critical stages when the island was hit with numerous storms that bombarded the trees with salt spray.
“The trees were raised on sweet water,” he said. “The salt and wind from the bay was too much.”
He said the trees essentially shut down to conserve energy. They lost leaves and appeared dead.
In June 2013, Aubry’s plan for the park was approved with a 3-1 vote of the commission.
The approval also came with a $50,000 donation from resident Rex Hagen and a $100,000 pledge from Pine Avenue Restoration, the developer of a number of new business-residential properties on Pine Avenue.
Anna Maria then held its election in November.
Aubry declined to seek re-election to his seat and Commissioner Chuck Webb became chairman.
Commissioner Carol Carter took a seat at the dais, moving up from her role on the planning and zoning board.
In November 2013, the new commission held a site plan hearing for Aubry’s plan for the park. That’s when Webb voiced concerns about the city accepting private donations for projects.
Webb said it was the first time he was learning about the few strings that were attached to the donations and he wanted to hold a public hearing for the park in December.
Hagen had said he would only support Aubry’s park design, including restrooms and parking.
On Dec. 5, 2013, the commission again voted on whether to approve Aubry’s plan for the park.
The plan was rejected by a 2-3 vote.
“Years of work killed in 30 seconds,” said Hagen.
The city declined the Hagen-PAR donations.
The live oaks slowly came back from their hibernation and began to sprout green leaves and grow.
However, the park has been called “Dead Tree Park” due to the back-and-forth appearance of the trees — going from green to bare to green again.
As the trees sprout their annual foliage, Mike Coleman, places a notice in The Islander for a “crow supper” at the park, calling out to the naysayers that the trees are alive.
Hagen said he has a live oak in his front yard and it did the same thing as the trees in the park.
“It’s flourishing.”
In January, Murphy formed a pier park committee. He gave members one goal: make a decision about what should be done with the park.
The committee presented its plan to turn the park into green space and received unanimous approval from the commissioners.
The plan included only the green elements of Aubry’s original plan — no parking, restrooms or private funding.
It’s the opinion of arborist Lori Ballard of Samnik & Ballard Expert Tree Consultants LLC of Palm Harbor that the trees are in an irreversible decline from being planted too deep and not receiving enough water during their first few months.
“If anything, they got too much water,” said Coleman. “Myself, Anna Maria public works director George McKay and Miller were all watering the trees at the beginning.”
They said Ballard didn’t account for the extra soil placed in the park when the Lake LaVista dredging project started up in January.
Miller claims the dredged spoil was spread around the park, but Murphy said there wasn’t any soil to spread. He stopped the dredge project before it began.
The city currently doesn’t have a plan to remove the trees, but if the trees continue to survive, the committee plans to keep them in their plan.