Raleigh Council Meets Monday on Tree Ordinance

Is saving Raleigh’s trees worth getting out of bed early – or showing up to work a little late?

The Raleigh City Council will hold a special session on Monday, Dec. 20 at the rather unusual hour of 8:30 a.m. to discuss the proposed tree conservation ordinance. Long in development, the ordinance requires developers building houses on large, tree-covered lots to keep 15 percent of the land in trees. For other developments, whether residential or commercial, the requirement is 10 percent. The proposal would also preserve trees along waterways and thoroughfares.

But of course, the powerful development lobby doesn’t like any restrictions on its business, so it’s been fighting the regulations tooth and nail. The Raleigh Planning Commission has taken developers' side and recommended the ordinance be denied as “too complicated.”

Monday’s meeting is especially important, as it will be the last one before at-large representatives and ordinance supporters Neal Hunt and Janet Cowell leave to take their seats in the state Senate. With Hunt and Cowell there, the needed five votes to pass the ordinance are possible if Southeast Raleigh representative James West joins Mayor Charles Meeker and Southwest Raleigh’s Thomas Crowder in approving the ordinance. Without them, only four approvals are likely. For more details on the ordinance and the politics involved, read this story by Bob Geary at the Independent.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex Council Chamber at 222 W. Hargett St. in downtown Raleigh.