SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. — The City of Safety Harbor is making a push to preserve Baranoff Park, a city-owned park.
In 2019, the city commission purchased Baranoff Park. In the upcoming municipal election for the City of Safety Harbor, a referendum appears on the ballot stating that Baranoff Park shall remain a public park.
If it passes, no sale, lease, transfer, donation, or trade may happen without a referendum. It would preserve the park and the largest live oak tree in Pinellas County, known as the Baranoff Oak.
The tree is estimated to be 300 to 500 years old.
"I just love that we as a community are seeing the tree as important enough to make sure it has protection into the future," said Laura Kepner.
Laura Kepner considers herself an amateur historian and wrote two books on the history of Safety Harbor.
In 2004, the tree was named after Dr. Salem Baranoff to honor his impact on the community.
"There were all kinds of names, and they finally named it after a town philanthropist who owned a spa, Salem Baranoff, and thanks to him, we had the property donated for our library. It was much smaller back then," said Kepner.
In 1945, Baranoff purchased the Safety Harbor Sanitarium, an 18-acre health facility including 5 mineral springs, and named it the Baranoff Health Resort, now known as the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa.
He also purchased land for a new library on 2nd Avenue North in 1946 and donated land for the American Legion building on Main Street and 9th Avenue South, according to a plaque in the park. Dr. Baranoff died in 1977 at the age of 96.
In 2004, the tree was added to a national registry of oak trees maintained by the Live Oak Society of the Louisiana Garden Club Federation and assigned Registry Number 4760.
The Baranoff Oak is believed to be the oldest live oak in Pinellas County.
The municipal election is on March 19. The deadline to register to vote is February 20.
For more information on the upcoming election, click here.
