OVIEDO, Fla. – Homeowners in Oviedo tell News 6 they love the big, beautiful oak trees in their neighborhood, but they don’t love the work being done by crews that they think could be damaging those trees.
The city of Oviedo hired a contractor to fix sidewalks and roads in both the Kingsbridge West and Alafaya Woods neighborhoods where the root systems have started to lift and crack and concrete.
Residents who saw the tree roots being cut back shared their concerns on social media and with the city. One post in a Facebook group claimed “they have essentially killed all of our trees that line our streets.”
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Jessica Wolfe met our News 6 Team in Kingsbridge West on Wednesday to show us what she had seen.
“They’re somewhat being, in my opinion, careless,” said Wolfe. “They’re just botching these huge roots.”
Our crew saw several people at work throughout the neighborhood where parts of the sidewalk had been torn up, roots had been cut back, and easements had been replaced with new concrete.
“In the last two years we’ve had major hurricanes in October. This is going to effect, you know, the vulnerability of these trees,” Wolfe said.
A spokesperson for the city of Oviedo explained that the repairs are necessary because when the roots of the trees start to lift and crack the sidewalks or damage infrastructure, it can be a liability.
“This causes a tripping hazard for pedestrians or people on bikes or skating,” said Lisa McDonald. “You have to be able to mitigate what the roots are doing and in order to do that, in order to smooth out the sidewalks, we have to be able to cut or shave down the roots of these oak trees.”
McDonald said ultimately the city is responsible for what’s in their right-of-way, and the mature oak trees should be able to handle it.
“Their root systems grow out in various different directions,” said McDonald. “It’s a vast root system. So, cutting the roots and shaving the roots are ok for the trees. They can come back from it.”
You can read the full response from the city of Oviedo below:
The tree roots are causing issues with the safety of the sidewalks. The roots push up and crack the sidewalks, causing tripping hazards that are a liability to the City. These roots are in the City right-of-way and are being removed to smooth out and correct the sidewalks to eliminate the hazards.
Mature trees have broad root systems that run in multiple directions. These mature trees are usually able to adapt to a section of roots being pruned.
The work is necessary to provide safer pedestrian access for residents.