Raleigh OKs Watered-Down Tree Protections
The Raleigh City Council yesterday approved by a 6-2 vote an ordinance that aims to preserve trees on undeveloped land. The rule, which takes effect May 1, exempts pre-existing properties less than two acres in size, or about 98 percent of residential lots in the city.
The ordinance was a top priority for Democratic Mayor Charles Meeker, who criticized clear-cutting in his election campaigns. Voting against the measure were Republican Michael Regan, who felt it violated private-property rights, and Democrat Thomas Crowder, who objected to it being weakened in response to opposition from land developers.
The compromise ordinance reduces the amount of land that developers must set aside for tree preservation in some residential areas. While the rule originally would have required as much as 15 percent of land set aside in areas zoned for one to four homes per acre, the measure approved by council requires that much set aside only for land zoned for one or two homes per acre.
The ordinance also exempts planned development districts that have already been approved by the city. For more details on the measure, click here.
posted by Sue Sturgis @ 7:57 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Save the trees before we all drown in carbon monoxide. Long live the big oxygen makers.
While more trees certainly serves a public good, the legislature cannot reasonably expect to prevent landowners from building houses.
What it can expect is to encourage win-win outcomes, and to this end, the legislature could provide some incentive for converting whispy forests of rather undesirable trees into more robust forests with heirloom trees of the kind that neighborhood's, when they develop would be inclined to preserve.
So - I would like to hear from an arborists on this - but I would recommend pruning open space forests, so that the remaining trees will branch and thicken, rather than being starved for light by the density of stand.
Doing so could lead to future communities with substantial trees and plenty of both shade and leaves.
Benjamin Gatti
Benjamin Gatti
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