A dozen black olive trees that have shaded State Road A1A for decades will be cut down starting Monday and replaced by coconut palm trees, swapping out an Old Florida feel for that of a beach resort.

So far, 43 tress have been planted during Phase II, including canopy trees like live oak, magnolia, slash pine, "shady lady" black olive, gumbo limbo and royal poinciana.

We have ten "Shady Lady" trees and a couple are suffering severe leaf loss. As the trees are relatively close to each other, ... we occasionally get reports of defoliation of black olive trees.

A proposal submitted by the county calls for planting 83 green buttonwoods, 10 gumbo limbos and 10 shady lady black olive trees. Michael Sturm, project manager for the county, ...