MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – A neighborhood feud is carrying on over property lines and vegetation.
In the Palmetto community where neighbors can watch otters in their backyards and surround themselves in even more nature, Rose Bray suddenly found some of the lush bamboo cut to the ground.
“It’s all laying on the forest floor,” she showed Merritt Island Community Correspondent James Sparvero.
Bray said FPL did that because Todd Tilford, who lives in the neighborhood next to Palmetto, lost power.
“And they just were destroying everything,” Bray described the tree-trimming.
Tilford told Sparvero he did trimming of his own when the woods grew over his fence.
Bray complained Tilford’s fence in on the property of her HOA.
“The HOA is supposed to maintain this, and they don’t,” Tilford said about the woods.
In a letter to Tilford from Bray’s HOA, the board of directors threatened to get the sheriff’s office involved if he completed work on his fence.
Sparvero asked Brevard County about Bray’s complaints, and the planning and development director, Billy Prasad said Tilford’s fence was properly issued based on provided surveys.
“All this fence has done is go to the property line,” Tilford explained.
Bray said the county’s ruling has consequences.
“And now, there’s no way for FPL to get under the utility lines to cut,” she said.
Bray said she’d at least like to see FPL pick up what they cut down.
“Clean up the mess,” she said. “We’re trying to take care of the forest and the animals back here.”
FPL said power lines are scheduled for maintenance next year, and the company is committed to providing safe and reliable electricity to customers.