I noticed this evening that Coles Crossing does not use the “To the trees” slogan on their website. The slogan they are using now is “come and see”.

Come and see?!?! What does that mean?

To be honest, I’m not sure if that is better or worse than “To the trees”. At least with “To the trees”, I understood the point they were trying to get across. The issue with that slogan was that seemingly every time I drive out of the neighborhood (I am a Coles Crossing resident) I see a new batch of land getting clear cut. So maybe that is where the slogan came from! Come and see trees getting cut down!

The new batch of land is on the corner of Jarvis and Barker Cypress bordering Cypress Creek. That batch of trees used to make the entrance into the neighborhood very grand. Huge oak trees overhanging the road right before you got to the big “Coles Crossing” sign across the pond at Jarvis. That entrance is one of the reasons my wife and I decided on this neighborhood in 1999. We figured it would be a little less grand once they made Barker Cypress a divided 4 lane road, but we never imagined they would cut down ALL of the trees. But no longer. Now it is just another empty patch of land that is destined to be a strip mall, pharmacy, or bank.

I do give the community credit for actually planting quite a few trees of late. That will make the community look nice in 10 or 15 years. However, the irony with that especially in places like along Coles Crossing North that goes between Coles Crossing drive and Telge is that they cut down all of the trees when they put in the street. If they kept those and the underbrush around them, we would not have had to spend home owner’s dues to plant more trees! I definitely think that Longwood did it right in terms of keeping all the trees and underbrush in the greenbelts between the homes and main community streets.
Even with the tree issue, I really do love the neighborhood. Even though a lot of trees have been destroyed, it is still one of the few neighborhoods off of Hwy 290 that actually has trees which is nice. The people are very nice, the community is active, and I love the weight room and tennis courts. I do wish we had another pool or at least a bigger one, but that is a story for another day.

Coles Crossing — Come and see….something or another.