More houses, fewer wooded lots

The steady beep-beep-beep echoed down the street at 7:15 am. Not just one, but two excavators were at work clearing lots for new homes on my street. The heavy Case equipment easily uprooted thirty to forty foot tall pine trees, leaving behind an impressive pile of logs ready to be hauled away.

Twenty-eight years ago, as we slowly drove up and down these streets in search of a place to build our home, there were twice as many wooded lots as houses. Ironically, most of the trees in Palm Coast were tall, skinny slash pines, accompanied by a few cedars and palm trees, and surrounded by palmettos. From what I remember, all the lots pretty much looked the same. We picked one on a street where most people took good care of their homes.

When we built our house, we were surrounded by undeveloped lots. While schools, church, and stores weren’t far away, we were living in the woods. There was plenty of space for BMX bike trails, forts, and wildlife. The surrounding trees provided welcome shade in the summer, dusted our cars with green pollen in the springtime, and dotted the yard with pine cones in summer.

We knew it wouldn’t stay this way forever. Every once in a while a lot would be cleared for new construction. New neighbors gradually filled in the spaces between existing homes. More cars drove down the street each day. Little by little, the woods disappeared.

Besides trees, I’m interested in what contractors find on the property. Once a lot is cleared, a pile of old tires often appears, along with furniture, boards, buckets, metal and pieces of concrete. Vacant lots are popular dumping grounds for all kinds of trash.

When we cleared our lot, we left about fifteen feet of wooded area in the back yard. Now, every single tree is taken away. The land is stripped bare to become a blank canvas for fill dirt, concrete, sod, and landscaping.

On the plus side, there are fewer trees for hurricanes to blow around. But I miss the green. The deer and bunnies have moved out, too, as relentless waves of people continue moving to Florida.