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‘Like we lost a family member’: Brevard County starts severe cutting of Rockledge Drive trees

15 trees overhanging scenic road cut for large vehicle clearance, county says

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – They signed petitions and took legal actions, but after years of fighting Brevard County, some people living on scenic Rockledge Drive can now only watch as their beloved trees are being cut.

Minor trimming of a few dozen trees started last month.

This week, heavier equipment is now clearing the narrow, winding road along the Indian River for large vehicles like school buses and garbage trucks.

The county said 15 trees needed to be ‘severely’ cut to allow for a 14-foot vertical clearance.

Tuesday, workers cut a tree near the McIver Lane intersection where Kathy Wade has lived for 34 years. Wade said watching the tree get cut was heartbreaking.

“It felt like we lost a family member today,” she said. “It’s really sad because we’ve lived here 34 years and now our big tree is gone.”

Wade said the tree in front of her house was over a hundred years old.

She disputed the county’s stance of cutting trees for clearance for large vehicles.

“We have a group that checked with school bus people, emergency people, and with the garbage company,” Wade said. “None of them said that it was a problem for them.”

Wade then told News 6′s James Sparvero she can only accept reality now.

“There’s nothing we can do now,” she said. “Our tree is gone.”

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