ORLANDO, Fla. — Residents in an Orlando neighborhood said the city mistakenly chopped down a massive oak tree.
The city, which admitted to mistakenly cutting down the tree in Colonitaltown North, said it intends to replant a similar size tree.
Residents said they don’t understand how the city could possibly bring in a tree as large as the one that was cut down, but they’re hoping for the best
Laura Pender said her block on Illinois Street looks bare without the massive laurel oak and her home is exposed.
“To our shock, the tree was gone and we could see our whole house at that point,” she said.
Pender called city officials to find out why the tree was cut down.
“They apologetically said that it was a mistake. The tree was to be trimmed, not totally taken down,” Pender said.
On its website, Orlando proudly touts the title “Tree City USA,” with an initiative to make City Beautiful even more so by providing free or discounted trees.
But some of the city’s oldest oaks have been coming down on their own.
In the past month, two large trees crash landed on Orlando roads and homes.
Channel 9 asked a city spokesperson if the oak was removed to keep that from happened again.
She said that wasn’t the case and added that a tree 30 feet from the one that was cut down was supposed to be removed instead.
The city said in a statement, “We are reviewing our internal procedures to see if any improvements or changes could be made to further prevent from happening.”