Draft recommendations for a new tree ordinance were presented to the City Commission during a work session on January 6th. Recent community concerns have brought an increased level of urgency to the subject, prompting city commissioners to pass a 90-day moratorium on tree removal in October, 2013. Additionally, they fast-tracked the development of a new tree ordinance that would reflect current best management practices in the industry.
That effort has been underway with the assistance of tree consultant, Connie Head of Technical Forestry Services, the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board, and engaged stakeholders who have provided their input to the process.
A recording of the presentation is available online at decaturga.com
The presentation documents are provided below, which accurately reflect the policy goals and operational structure of the proposed ordinance. The ordinance draft is currently being revised to ensure consistency with these goals, and will be available shortly. We apologize for the delay.
Proposed Tree Ordinance Documents
- Trees! Work Session Presentation
- Flowcharts demonstrating how the ordinance applies –> Residential and Commercial
- Summary of Proposed Ordinance
Tree Factsheets
Questions or comments can be submitted online at DecaturNEXT.com or by contacting Amanda Thompson at amanda.thompson@decaturga.com, or 404-370-4104
The presentation seems very detailed and I appreciate the efforts to make clear what our current situation is. If trees are removed during a construction project, are the same size trees required to be replanted? Or will that be addressed in the ordinance?
Exellent question. Many of these details are subject to change, so please note that this answer relates specifically to the proposal as it stands today. There are two questions the proposed ordinance would ask any of residential construction project. (1) Does the site meet or exceed the canopy coverage goal? and (2) Is the impervious cover of the site increasing by less or more than 10%?
1. If the site will exeed the canopy goal after the tree removals, no replanting would be required. We would require a plan to protect the existing trees during construction. If the site is below the goal, we would then move to the next set of questions.
2. If the impervious surface is increasing by less than 10%, replacement planting would be required. Increases in impervious surface of greater than 10% require that the entire site be brought into compliance with the canopy goal.
The number, size, and species choices of replacements trees will be guided by the ordinance. Essentially, the ordinance moves to a canopy measurement, so the trees need to have the potential to grow and replace the canopy of the removed tree(s) or achieve the canopy goal. In general these trees will need to be bigger than 2.5 inch caliper at the time they go in the ground. This ensures their viability.
The rule of thumb we are using is that a large tree creates 1,600 square feet of canopy coverage, a medium tree creates 900, and a small creates 400. A species list will be included in the ordinance which includes the estimated canopy coverage for each tree at maturity.
If you have more comments/questions, we are encouraging people to leave their comments at DecaturNEXT.com