Royal palm trees become issue in Cape Coral

Two homeowners planting royal palm trees in Cape Coral’s city easement along Del Prado are causing issues with the city.

The city is pushing to cut them down because the rules state the trees can’t interfere with overhead powerlines.

Cape Coral’s planning team believes allowing homeowners to keep these trees sets a bad precedent. When neighbors heard they wondered why they were being singled out? So, these residents are ready to fight to keep the trees they love.

McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers is known for the palm trees lining the street for miles. When Ed Kimmeth, a Cape Coral resident, saw it he wanted to bring some of that to Del Prado Blvd. south in Cape Coral. “We thought, why don’t we put them in here and emulate the same thing,” Kimmeth said.

Kimmeth and his neighbor Robert Brady planted eight royal palm trees in the right of way in front of their home in 2019. The trees became popular with most of their neighbors, but not all of them. “We had a political sign up and obviously it wasn’t what someone else wanted,” Brady said.

They said that’s when someone filed an anonymous complaint. After review, the city’s planning staff concluded the trees create a safety issue by negatively impacting stormwater storage and drainage. And, palm fronds could be growing into the powerlines over time.

“We don’t see a problem with them,” Kimmeth said. “They’re not interfering with wires. They’re not interfering with drainage.”

“We stayed out of the power lines,” Brady said. “We stayed off the street and we planted them in the best place we could plant them.”

The neighbors went before the hearing examiner Tuesday morning asking to keep their trees. They displayed photos of what happens when a storm comes with heavy rain. The city planning team recommended that their request for a variance should be denied, but Kimmeth countered that, “The precedent was set a long time ago for everybody planting these trees in front of their house.”

Kimmeth told WINK News he and his neighbors were not aware of the rules when they planted the trees. The hearing examiner decided to postpone her ruling until she hears more testimony.