North Port commission directs staff to develop unimproved‑lot registration program to speed tree, vegetation abatement

The City Commission of North Port voted to direct the city manager to develop an unimproved‑lot registration program aimed at speeding removal of hazardous trees and invasive vegetation on vacant parcels and providing a dedicated funding stream for abatement. The motion, made by Commissioner Langdon and seconded by Vice Mayor Emerich, passed 4–1 with Commissioner Duvall opposed.

Commissioners directed staff to return draft ordinance language and implementation options that would: establish annual registration for unimproved parcels; define exemptions for conservation lands, government property and adjacent‑owner maintained lots; evaluate fee mechanisms (including a non‑ad valorem assessment); and further specify how “impinging growth” and fire‑risk vegetation would be qualified and addressed.

The directive follows a presentation by Elena Ray, director of Development Services, who framed the problem as growing and costly. Ray told commissioners the city has “around 40,000 vacant lots” and currently receives roughly 35 calls a week about vegetation encroaching on neighbors and about 15 hazardous‑tree calls each week. She said the program would “collect current property owner information and emergency contact” and could be implemented either via an online annual registration portal or through a non‑ad valorem assessment; Ray said many comparable programs nationwide use non‑ad valorem collections to reduce ongoing administrative enforcement costs.

Ray cited historic experience: North Port ran an impinging‑growth program from 2017–2020 that led to about $570,000 in abatement costs and more than 300 liens; she said roughly 270 of those liens remain outstanding and that the city’s lien recovery rate is about 30%. She said the city’s current code‑enforcement budget includes approximately $60,000 a year for tree removal and that a single pine can cost roughly $1,000 to fell (and another $300–$500 to remove if hauling off‑site).

On likely fee ranges Ray said cities she reviewed charge between $100 and $500 annually; a $100 annual fee on North Port’s roughly 40,000 unimproved parcels would hypothetically generate about $4,000,000 a year. She explained the fee pot would operate like an insurance pool: abatement and contracted removal would be paid from a collective fund rather than billing each lot owner for specific removal costs.

Public safety and practical impacts figured heavily in the discussion. Fire Rescue Chief Scott Titus said the program would reduce risk from trees and accumulated vegetative “fire load,” adding that “when those trees catch on fire…they create widowmakers,” and that reducing…