FPL hopes to trim tree problems

Regulations could limit storm damage

Toppled trees left many South Florida residents in the dark after Hurricane Irma.

So for the upcoming hurricane season beginning June 1, Florida Power & Light Co. is looking to county and city governments to restrict tree plantings that could affect the electric grid and to allow the company greater access to trim overgrown trees on homeowners’ and commercial properties near its equipment.

“In order to truly tackle this problem head-on, legislation at the state or local level is needed to prevent instances where the wrong tree is planted in the wrong place, or [to allow] energy companies to appropriately take action when it occurs,” said FPL spokesman Chris McGrath.

The Juno Beach-based electric utility recently told state regulators that fallen trees were the “primary cause for distribution pole failures and outages during hurricanes Matthew and Irma” in 2016 and 2017, and that tree branches were a “significant barrier during restoration, as uprooted and fallen trees and branches blocked roadways.” Ninety percent of FPL’s customers, or 13 million people, lost power as a result of Irma.

One of those people without power for 10 days was Broward County Commissioner (and former Broward Mayor) Barbara Sharief, and she’s determined that’s not going to happen again — at least not because of overgrown trees.

Sharief is proposing an ordinance that would fine property owners who violate FPL’s “Right Tree, Right Place” program. Expected to be on the Broward commission’s agenda in April or early May, the ordinance would fine owners $500 if they fail to relocate, replace or remove trees that don’t meet the “Right Tree” code, and $500 if a property owner fails to properly prune an existing tree that may violate the code, or fails to notify FPL of a tree that can’t be brought to code.

New or relocated trees would have to be planted 20 feet to 30 feet away from power lines, depending on their size at maturity, according to the proposed ordinance.