HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 4 - Loosley (Received During Meeting)Good morning Matt,
I want to reach out to you in advance of the next Tree Committee meeting on Monday,
June 24, as I will be on vacation and unable to attend. Thank you for providing the
updated draft tree ordinance for the committee to review prior to the meeting. I have
reviewed the changes made since our February meeting and am happy you have
included the items we requested be added/changed. I believe the new ordinance will be
a better document for the Tree Committee to assess removal requests and that the
City's arborist will have authority to review and rule on development application
requests. There are several issues I would still like to address.
In Section 12.24.090(D,2,a) there should be a stronger requirement for a "tree
protection plan" for trees on a development site that will not be removed. There
are several references to a "tree protection program" in the document and these
should be renamed to "tree protection plan", as this is part of the architectural
landscape plan set that should be submitted for arborist review.
The participation of an arboriculture professional on one of the other advisory
committees (i.e. ARC, Planning) should still be considered by the Council. If the
staff arborist is brought into the review process early, this may not be necessary,
but there should be a forum for the public to address tree removal if the Tree
Committee will not participate in these development applications. Notifying the
public that this will be the new process to address tree removal for development
is strongly recommended.
With the increased number of development applications, the staffing of a full-time
planning arborist should be strongly considered. It has been my experience that
municipalities dedicate resources specifically for this purpose, as there is
insufficient time for a part-time tree professional to review plans and perform site
inspections to assure compliance by developers. The current staffing is
insufficient to meet the requirements of application review, plan checking and
inspection that will be needed with the new ordinance.
would again like to thank you for your work to improve the city tree ordinance, as it
should make all of our efforts more consistent for the community. I hope the Tree
Committee meeting goes smoothly and the new ordinance is voted on for adoption.
Jane Worthy, the vice -chair of the committee, will lead the meeting in my absence. I will
have internet during my vacation, so I will be able to respond within a day if
communication is needed prior to the meeting.
Scott Loosley