‘Octopus tree’ to be discussed by Historic Preservation Board

The Boca Grande Historic Preservation Board has just one item on the agenda this month for their meeting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 14 in the Community Center auditorium, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be brief. The saga of the property at 161/181 Gilchrist Avenue, owned by the Adam family of Texas, continues with a discussion about the validity of attempting to name a tree there as historic. At the Board’s last meeting, one of their members, Becky Paterson, expressed concern for the banyan tree on the east side of the property by the sidewalk known to some as “The Octopus Tree.” It was named as such back in the 1920s and ’30s by the island children who used to climb it.

The Boca Grande Historic Preservation Board has just one item on the agenda this month for their meeting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 14 in the Community Center auditorium, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be brief. The saga of the property at 161/181 Gilchrist Avenue, owned by the Adam family of Texas, continues with a discussion about the validity of attempting to name a tree there as historic.

At the Board’s last meeting, one of their members, Becky Paterson, expressed concern for the banyan tree on the east side of the property by the sidewalk known to some as “The Octopus Tree.” It was named as such back in the 1920s and ’30s by the island children who used to climb it.

At the May meeting, Paterson said she was in favor of nominating it as a heritage tree and made a motion as such. It was seconded and voted on unanimously by the Board. However, she also wanted to make a motion that no one could touch the tree prior to the investigation into the nomination. Lee County Attorney Peter Blackwell said he was pretty sure the Board didn’t have the authority to do that, and Paterson’s motion failed for the lack of a second.

Board Member Jerry Edgerton said that the State passed a law last year that addressed the fact that a property owner has to give permission for a structure or, in this case, a tree, to be named historic. Blackwell agreed with that and said the law was “heavily predicated” on the owner’s acquiescence.

Paterson asked the County to investigate what could be done to protect the tree. As it turns out, after the County did their investigation they determined that the tree is not eligible for historic nomination.

Notes attached to the next meeting’s agenda state that “staff has reviewed the Historic Structure Form, Florida Site File 8LL0832, the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form (NRHP) for the 181 Gilchrist Avenue residence, and the Design Guidelines Manual for the Boca Grande Historic District, and concludes the proposed designation is not consistent with the Criteria for Designation in Lee County Land Development Code (LDC) Section 22-204. Therefore, staff recommends the Historic Preservation Board:

• Conclude that the proposed designation is not in compliance with Lee County LDC Section22-204, Criteria for Designation; and

• Discontinue the Historic Designation process pursuant to LDC Sections 22-201 through 22-207 to designate the subject banyan tree on property located at 181 Gilchrist Avenue.”

The report goes on to state that because the subject of the report is a tree rather than a built structure, Lee County staff found that Chapter 22 criterion does not apply.

All of this fretting may be for naught, as representatives for the property owner have already stated at a past public meeting that the tree will stay. An arborist was hired a year ago to assess the tree and to create a plan for the safety of the tree. At that meeting, representatives said that it will be a focal point in their future plans.