DUNEDIN, Fla. — There's a little less shade in Dunedin this week as trees are chopped down to clear the way for Duke Energy power lines. Up and down County Road 1, work is being done to trim and remove trees that impact the powerlines.
This work is upsetting for some residents, diminishing the city's character.
"They're taking the cheapest route out and they're just taking down entire trees, like gigantic 200-year-old trees, beautiful trees that line our roads," Liz Murtagh said.
Murtagh has lived in Dunedin for 17 years, sharing she picked the small coastal city because of its beauty and quaint feel. Tree trunks roughly 4 feet wide are seen along County Road 1, clearly freshly cut.
"They just come into the neighborhood and start taking the trees down before anybody even has the ability to see what's going on," Murtagh said.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to Duke Energy regarding the tree work. The company sent the following statement.
"Duke Energy works to balance aesthetics with our goal to provide safe, reliable power to households, businesses and critical services that depend on us, such as hospitals, 911 centers and nursing homes. We take that responsibility very seriously.
"Trees are a leading cause of power outages. To provide the reliable power our customers rely on and deserve, we must ensure power lines are clear of vegetation and other obstructions. Duke Energy worked closely with property owners to perform the vegetation management activities crews conducted in this area. If customers have any questions or concerns, please contact us at duke-energy.com/customer-service."
Not all are upset with the work. Heidi Kukulski lives along County Road 1. Three trees in her backyard were chopped down to the stump. Another tree was trimmed.
"So, I mean, and I was thinking on the bright side because of the electric, so I understand why they did what they did," Kukulski said.
Her only complaint: The stumps were left behind.
"Why couldn't they take the stumps out? I don't understand that. And it's going to cost us to take the stumps out," Kukulski shared. "And they were here and they could have grinded them out. So, I mean, come on back."
Murtagh said she brought her concerns to Dunedin officials to learn what residents can do. She was told their hands were tied.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to the city to learn more. They shared the following statement:
"As you know the Florida Statute states that local governments cannot regulate electric companies’ vegetation management.
"Duke is doing this prior to hurricane/storm season to provide reliable power and minimize power outages during storms and hurricanes. Duke Energy is federally regulated and they adhere to ANSI A300 pruning standards. Federal regulations trump local ordinances."
Although Duke Energy explained the work is being done legally, with homeowner consent, Murtagh says residents should have more of a say.
"It's a typical large corporation that does not care about what any of the citizens of this town or this county or this state have to say," Murtagh said. "It's about money."
As the work continues on County Road 1, you can see which trees are next in line for chopping. They're marked with a big orange "X."
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.