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From YouTube: Tree Protection Ordinance
Description
The Asheville City Council recently adopted amendments to the City's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to enact new requirements to protect the City's tree canopy during many types of land development activity. This presentation provides guidance on what the new protections entail and how they work.
A
A
First
off,
why
did
we
need
a
tree?
Canopy
preservation
ordinance?
Well,
we
are
looking
to
implement
several
goals
of
the
comprehensive
plan
living
asheville
to
slow
and
reverse
tree
canopy
loss
to
equate
tree
canopy
production
to
canopy
lost
by
development
activity
and
to
create
a
positive
change
in
land,
surface
temperature
and
urban
heat
issues.
A
First,
let's
talk
about
what
this
ordinance
applies
to
and
then
in
a
few
minutes,
we'll
take
you
through
the
nuts
and
bolts
of
how
it
works
one
of
the
first
things.
This
ordinance
applies
to
is
subdivisions
of
land,
and
that
is,
for
example,
when
someone
has
one
larger
lot
and
they
apply
to
break
that
into
smaller
pieces.
A
In
this
example,
you
see
one
lot
went
to
five
when
that
action
is
taken,
an
area
will
be
need
to
be
designated
for
tree
protection,
it's
also
applicable
to
steep
slope
zones
and
aquatic
buffer
zones
and
on
a
permanent
removal
basis.
That
is
something
that's
already
been
required,
but
we've
formalized
through
this
ordinance.
A
The
first
concept
here
are
resource
management
districts.
This
is
an
overlay
district
that
has
been
applied
to
the
city.
There
are
three
of
these
districts,
as
you
can
see
on
this
map
in
front
of
you,
the
red
area
is
our
downtown
resource
management
district.
That
is
the
area
that
is
familiar
to
most
of
you
as
downtown
asheville.
The
yellow
you
see
represents
our
urban
resource
management
districts.
These
are
our
more
developed
traditional
neighborhood
corridors
and
areas.
A
The
green
represents
our
suburban
resource
management
district
and
those
are
our
areas
that
correspond
to
our
highest
percentage
of
current
tree
canopy
coverage
and
also
have
less
of
an
urban
form
to
their
developments.
Currently,
there
is
an
interactive
map
located
at
treemap.ashevillenc.gov
that
will
help
you
determine
what
resource
management
district
a
property
lies
in
and
also
show
you
the
current
tree,
canopy
level
of
that
property.
A
So
the
first
step
here
is
to
determine
what
resource
management
district
a
property
lies
within
then
that
resource
management
district
is
cross-referenced
by
the
type
of
land
use
someone's
proposing
to
do.
This
table
is
pulled
straight
from
the
ordinance
and
does
show
that,
depending
on,
if
it's
a
residential
subdivision
multi-family
in
office,
institutional,
commercial
or
industrial
development,
there
may
be
different
requirements
for
each
resource
management
district.
A
Once
a
class
has
been
attained.
There
are
certain
tables
that
tell
us
how
much
tree
canopy
must
be
preserved
on
a
site
as
a
percentage
of
the
site
area
for
each
class
of
tree
canopy
requirement.
This
table
shows
you
the
class,
a
requirements,
and
the
important
thing
to
note
here
is
that
those
requirements
are
different.
If
you
are
preserving
existing
tree
canopy
or
installing
new
tree
canopy,
for
instance,
in
class
a
you
can
preserve
five
percent
of
your
site
and
canopy
and
meet
the
total
requirement.
A
So
the
more
you
preserve,
the
less
you
have
to
maintain
that
trend
holds
into
class
b
and
also
the
trend
does
hold
into
our
class
c
sites.
The
only
difference
with
these
class
c
sites,
which
are
mostly
those
green
or
suburban
sites
that
we
saw
on
the
map
a
minute
ago,
is
that
this
is
also
based
on
the
current
canopy
level.
A
A
Now,
how
do
we
arrive
at
the
number
of
what
each
tree
equals
as
far
as
tree
canopy
square
footage?
Will
we
use
table
719-4
in
table
7195,
which
you
see
in
front
of
you
now
you'll
see
there
are
square
foot
credits
given
for
trees
when
you're
preserving
on
the
table
on
the
left
and
then
also
a
credit
of
canopy
assigned
for
new
canopy
trees
that
are
installed.
A
Now
we'll
take
you
through
how
this
might
work
on
an
actual
site
within
the
city
of
asheville
and
the
first
disclaimer
is.
We
all
know
that
a
flat
square
site
in
the
city
is
a
hard
thing
to
come
by,
but
we're
going
to
use
that
for
this
example,
the
assumptions
we're
going
to
operate
off
of
here
is
that
this
is
within
the
suburban
resource
management
district.
The
site
contains
35
percent
existing
tree
canopy
and
the
developer
intensive
commercial
use.
Here
you
can
see
right
now.
A
The
first
scenario
here
is
full
canopy
preservation,
so
this
would
be
a
developer
meeting
the
requirement
fully
through
preserving
existing
tree
canopy.
You
can
see
that
there
are
some
trees
that
have
been
planted
to
meet
other
requirements
that
are
in
the
unified
development
ordinance
highlighted
in
red
and
in
the
top
right
of
the
site.
You'll
see
dark
green
area
where
15
percent
of
tree
canopy
has
been
preserved
to
meet
that
requirement.
A
The
second
scenario
for
this
site
shows
partial
canopy
preservation.
So
this
is
a
mixture
of
planting
new
trees
and
preserving
existing
trees
to
meet
the
requirement
again
highlighted
in
red
you'll,
see
the
trees
that
are
required
by
other
parts
of
the
unified
development
ordinance.
Those
trees
are
still
required.
A
What
you
get
in
addition
with
this
ordinance
is
the
preserved
tree
canopy
on
the
top
right
and
the
new
canopy
trees
that
have
been
planted
on
the
top
left.
The
third
scenario
we
run
into
would
be
no
canopy
preservation.
This
would
assume
that
the
developer
has
removed
all
the
existing
trees
from
the
site
and
has
to
plant
new
trees
to
meet
that
requirement
again
highlighted
in
red
are
the
trees
that
are
required
by
other
elements
of
the
unified
development
ordinance.
Those
trees
are
still
required
at
the
top
of
the
site.
A
Another
way
a
developer
could
meet
the
requirement
for
tree
canopy
would
be
payment
in
lieu
of
planting.
This
is
based
on
in
the
tables
that
show
canopy
classifications
on
the
new
tree.
Canopy
installation
is
required
and
can't
be
based
on
the
existing
preservation
numbers,
but
this
does
allow
the
payment
of
a
fee
to
meet
the
requirements
when
the
requirements
are
too
difficult
or
not
able
to
be
met
in
another
manner.
A
There
are
three
components
of
a
fee
and
lieu
determination:
that's
the
average
per
square
foot
land
cost
within
a
resource
management
district.
Those
are
our
downtown
urban
or
suburban
districts.
The
average
cost
of
tree
installation
broken
down
per
square
foot
of
tree
canopy
and
an
administrative
fee
to
cover
the
cost
of
administering
this
program.
A
Here's
an
example-
and
this
is
using
the
numbers
from
our
example
site
that
we
just
looked
at
again.
This
is
a
one
acre
site
and
you
can
see
down
below
in
the
table
the
requirements
for
tree
canopy
preservation
in
this
case,
if
the
developer
were
not
to
propose
to
preserve
any
trees
and
propose
all
new
canopy
installation,
but
then
take
that
a
step
further
and
propose
to
pay
a
fee.
A
Instead
of
installing
those
trees,
you
can
see
how
that
fee
would
break
down
for
eight
thousand
seven
hundred
twelve
square
feet
of
tree
canopy
with
a
land
fee
of
thirty
thousand
eight
forty,
an
administration
fee
of
two
thousand
one
hundred.
Seventy
eight
dollars
an
installation
fee
of
six
thousand
five
hundred
thirty
four
dollars
for
total
fee
and
lieu
cost
of
thirty
nine
thousand
five
hundred
fifty
two
dollars.
A
Now,
while
this
fee
is
based
on
objective
numbers
such
as
the
land
cost,
it
does
tend
to
represent
a
very
large
proportion
of
project
budgets
as
far
as
the
size
of
a
site,
and
it
is
not
likely
to
be
the
option
most
developers
gravitate
to
as
it
will
be
the
most
expensive
option
for
complying
with
the
ordinance
some
details
about
that
fee.
When
it
is
paid,
those
funds
must
be
used
in
the
resource
management
district
where
the
money
is
collected.
A
So
if
the
project
was
in
the
downtown
district,
the
funds
must
be
used
downtown
and
so
on.
The
funds
must
be
tied
directly
to
the
installation,
administration
and
maintenance
of
the
city's
tree
canopy,
and
it
does
give
us,
as
a
city
the
opportunity
for
equitable
maintenance
and
distribution
of
tree
canopy,
based
on
where
these
funds
are
expended.
A
We
are
offering
calculation
assistance
for
the
requirements
and
fees
to
meet
the
requirements
of
this
ordinance
and
that's
in
the
form
of
an
online
calculator
which
can
be
found
at
ashevillenc.gov
tree
calculator
as
staff
we've
committed
ourselves
to
an
8
to
12
month
cycle
for
feedback
on
this
ordinance.
So
we
can
evaluate
the
effectiveness
of
it.
We'd
also
like
an
opportunity
to
incorporate
any
new
recommendations
that
come
to
us
from
the
public
and
our
urban
forestry
commission
as
we
move
forward.
A
Some
takeaways
from
this
lesson
is
that
this
ordinance
creates
a
new,
predictable
and
flexible
requirement
to
preserve,
install
or
pay
a
fee
in
lieu
of
tree
canopy
for
many
development
types.
It
provides
heavy
incentives
to
preserving
valuable
existing
tree
canopy
over
planting
new
canopy
or
paying
a
fee
and
applies
requirements
for
shade
and
canopy
to
all
developments
within
the
city
outside
of
one
and
two
family
residential
units.