"Zoning For Trees”

Prof. Buck Abbey, ASLA, CELA
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Planners and zoning commissions have a great responsibility for preserving and planting trees in towns and cities.

Zoning ordinances and building codes are the two principle tools for building communities. Building codes set forth design standards, commonly accepted construction practices and agency requirements that must be met for all types of construction. Standard building codes, where most life safety issues are found, do not pertain to site design. Nor do they provide standards or requirements for development, land clearing, tree preservation, water conservation, site storm water management or landscape construction. This is largely the reason that landscape architects understand that the standard building code does not protect nature. Building codes do not provide regulations for sensitive site development or redevelopment. Building codes do not preserve trees or other aspects of nature in the city.

Zoning sets forth broad standards to promote the health, safety and welfare of the community by setting a community standards for land use, intensity of use, building, bulk, height, setback, access and parking. In recent years zoning has changed toward setting policies of urban design, quality of life and economic development.

Landscape ordinances and tree laws contained within Zoning Ordinances do that.

Building codes are closely related to community zoning laws and are often found within the same set of municipal ordinances but they are not the same. Zoning, as every planner will attest is more about density, how buildings are sited, how land use is allocated and how public health is maintained. Building codes and zoning result in the built city as we see it today. That is except, for trees, vegetation and the natural elements of a building site or community. How are these important green elements of the city regulated?

Where are regulations found that protect and preserve trees and other sensitive site features? The answer of course is within locally adopted community landscape and tree regulations? In the last four decades, this type of ordinance is being recognized for its support of nature in the city. Therefore planners, planning and zoning officials city arborists and design consultants must be knowledgeable about these new ‘green laws’ that protect, preserve and rebuild nature in the city.

Only since the 1970’s have landscape regulations come into existence in communities across the nation as a method of making up for the oversight of nature in the standard building code. Landscape codes contained within municipal zoning ordinances regulate site development though the police power of zoning.

Trees are becoming an important aspect of zoning and planners need to understand how trees are an additional site zoning concern that complements setback, bulk, height and land use. Planners need to know how to properly craft zoning regulations to maintain nature and it various elements within the city.

Nature In The City

Trees in the city are nature’s great symbol of community health. A green community is a clean community and zoning for trees can keep a community clean and healthy.

The World Health Organization lists eleven characteristics of a healthy community. One of their characteristics of a healthy community is an ecosystem that is stable in the present and sustainable in the long run and will lead to a clean, safe physical environment of high quality. Treed communities are healthy when natural systems are present and functioning. The literature suggests that nature in the city will enhance biodiversity, reduce atmospheric carbon, improve water quality, filter the air and reduce toxic chemicals in the environment. A community that is zoned for tress will allow vegetation to clean the air, cool the climate and purify the water. Healthy communities are beautiful, supportive of wildlife and environmentally efficient. That is, the energy of the sun and its ability to generate biomass is in equilibrium with forces of nature or mankind that work to destroy nature. Sustainability is the measure of a healthy city and trees do their part in keeping a community healthy. A city without trees is not as healthy primarily because the actions of mankind to develop urban land remove or alter the natural systems that sustain life. Air purity may be the best example to understand. Trees absorb carbon, urban pollution and other trace elements that are essentially harmful to human health and animal and crop production while at the same time producing oxygen, atmospheric humidity and shade through the process of photosynthesis, absorption and evapotranpiration, all essential biological functions of trees. Everyone would agree that a village is healthier than a town, a town is healthier than a city and a city is by far, a more healthy place to live than a mega-city. The more paved a city becomes; the less opportunity there is for nature’s systems of soils, water, atmosphere, vegetation, animal life and climate to work for the health of mankind. And as a bonus, a healthy city is tranquil, relaxing and refreshing to the human spirit by simply adding beauty to the surroundings.

Landscape regulations are among the fastest growing aspects of zoning. Only dating back to the late 1960’s, the first landscape regulations were first written in South Carolina and Florida. They are now rapidly being adopted as zoning law in almost every city larger than fifty thousand inhabitants.

Zoning is the tool created to ensure community health and to allow for more livable places. Trees bestow upon towns and cities social, environmental and economic benefits that make the community a fit place to live. Trees and other vegetation filter pollutants from air, provide shade for homes, buildings and parking lots and cleans contaminates from storm water. Trees and preserved habitats within a community such as a forested wetlands or stream bank buffers can detain storm water runoff, reduce flooding and abate the erosion of productive nutrient rich soils. Maintained woodlands within cities provide habitat for animals and create desirable living and working places for citizens. Plantings increase property value, attract shoppers to businesses and provide relief from summer sun and tropical storms. The simple act of planting a tree will lessen the demand for energy, decrease cooling costs for any building and the cost savings will far outweigh the original cost of the planting. Trees provide many benefits useful to society other than beauty.

But perhaps the most important thing that happens when communities preserve their natural forests, meadows, wetlands, streams, marshes, bogs and trees, is that citizens of the community have a greater ecological consciousness. With a better understanding of the importance of nature in the city, urban dwellers will do their part to keep the city clean and healthy. More trees mean a healthy community and more people who understand the relationship will work to keep the city green.

Communities who manage their urban forests and preserve nature in the city do so through zoning. To keep a city healthy, it must be zoned to preserve trees and other vegetation and maintain an appropriate percentage of undeveloped land in which nature is allowed to fully function. And that is true for each and every building site as we will see later. Zoning of sensitive lands, lands containing many trees, is something that cities should do, and have the authority to do. But some communities do not, in that they do not understand how to zone for trees.

Planning commissioners and professional planners ensure that nature in the city is cared for by enacting comprehensive landscape codes that specify minimum standards for the preservation of nature in the city. This is done especially in regard to trees and rebuilt landscapes. To maintain trees it is important to have site development regulations that control land clearing, encourage habitat preservation, and require tree protection of special trees, water conservation and on-site storm water management. In recent years, city after city across the nation have turned to this type of local regulatory action as a means of ensuring better site design and acceptable community design standards for its green infrastructure.

To preserve nature in the city, tree regulations must be contained within a community’s zoning ordinance. Therefore, zoning for trees can be seen as basic zoning criterion. Zoning for trees and places on building sites in which they may grow can complement the traditional zoning prerogatives of use, density, bulk, height and setback. Cities now zone for planting spaces on development sites. These zoned ‘plantable spaces’ are now part of the primary components of modern day zoning ordinances in those communities that have enacted comprehensive landscape codes. The first step in zoning for trees is to set aside a percentage of land on each building site so trees will have a place to grow their roots and spread their branches.

Zoning for trees may be referred to as enacting ‘green laws’ within a city. Green laws are a sobriquet for regulations that preserve, protect or re-build nature in the city. Green laws are generally of three types. They include ‘landscape regulations,’ ‘tree ordinances’ or ‘comprehensive land development codes.’ All three maintain nature and promote the planting of trees as an essential element of any community’s infrastructure.

“Green Laws”

Landscape regulations, often referred to as landscape codes, essentially have been written to preserve locations on building site where trees and vegetation are allowed to grow. The fundamental truth is, without a place to grow, trees can not grow in the city. Landscape codes typically provide for the design and planting of such site facilities as street yards, parking lots, site service areas, landscape buffers, visual screens, irrigation hydro-zones, visual screens, and design of yard plantings that serve a variety of uses. They may also provide for habitat preservation areas that preserve wetlands, stream bank buffers, forest floors, waterfront yards or old landmark trees. Plantable areas are essential for any building site for which zoning regulations can be established.

Plantable areas of a building site occur in predictable locations as can be seen in Fig. 1.0. They are often referred to as ‘landscape design components,’ or design components and collectively they can be called the essential ‘geography of the development site.’^.1.Fig. 2.0 sets forth some of the more common design components contained within landscape codes and each component provides a recognizable and consistent planting location on a building site, be it a lot, tract or neighborhood. Without sufficient planting sites, trees cannot be planted.

The geography of a development site consists of a

variety of zoned spaces in which trees, landscaping,

and storm management can coexist. Understanding

this geography is important when writing green laws.

______________ __________ insert figure _ _______________________ _________

The total of all plantable areas, often called permeable areas, comprise the open space system of any building site. The open space in square footage divided by the total site area provides the open space ratio of a building site. Building site plans are better with higher the open space ratios. Open space ratios in excess of fifty percent can be considered excellent. An open space ratio of thirty percent is considered good while an open space ratio less than ten percent is poor.

But landscape codes also provide ‘standards’ for the design and planting of trees, tree species diversification, tree preservation and tree protection. Communities by zoning for trees are also creating standards to protect tree canopy, provide for shade, detain storm water run off, abate erosion, and cool hot urban environments. Trees in the city provide many services and are an important part of any building site.

In most communities, the reason for a landscape code is the protection of the public health, safety and welfare by placing regulation on lot compatibility, damages to natural systems, water use conservation, and on site storm water management. Some of the better codes, Mandeville, Louisiana for instance, encourage habitat preservation as a storm water management strategy so that their so called preserved ‘Greenbelts’ not only save trees but screen neighbors, add to the beauty of the community and filter and manage storm water.^.2. Other landscape code regulations place obligations on those that provide landscape design, grounds maintenance, arboriculture or landscape construction services. Still other landscape codes place an emphasis on tree protection during construction and proper methods of planting.

Tree Ordinances

Tree ordinances, the oldest of the green laws, date back to the 1930’s are often stand alone community regulations that are part of the municipal code, but not part of the zoning ordinance. Not being included within zoning makes these laws ineffective in maintaining nature in the city simply because they do not carry the police power of zoning. Without the power of zoning, this type of tree law is only as enforceable as the will of the community. That is about the same as enforcement of anti-litter laws. More often than not, tree laws that are not part of zoning apply only to trees on public land and are not comprehensive to the entire urban forest canopy of the city.

Tree management ordinances advocated by such organizations as the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) set standards for the care of trees in American cities and towns. Many tree laws regulate the practice of arboriculture and set up municipal urban forestry programs, establish ‘tree’ boards and institute licensing for arborist.^.3.One recent study of tree ordinances from California points out that this type of ordinance is focused entirely on single trees and their management. These ordinances fail to recognize the importance of native habitat protection, design or site development opportunities for trees.^.4.Too many tree ordinances deal with issues of jurisdiction, tree policy, citizen assistance, licensing arborists, tree abuse and street trees and fail to recognize the relationship between zoning and trees.

Tree ordinances should not be stand alone

documents in the municipal code. It is important

that tree ordinances be contained within

a comprehensive landscape code and thereby

become an essential element of community zoning.

Tree ordinances are usually one of three main types.

The most common form of tree ordinance is a street tree ordinance. This type assists in the maintenance, pruning, removal and planting of trees along streets. In some instances, this type regulated trees in parks and on other public properties. The second type of tree law is the tree preservation ordinance. These are created to protect trees, often, only public trees or in some cases landmark, historic or trees with exceptional botanical characteristics.

The least common form of tree laws but the most rapidly being adopted are ordinances that affect development. This type is included within zoning. These are generally known as landscaping ordinances because they affect trees as well as site landscaping. Planting standards in this type of tree ordinance are not very sophisticated and they are seldom tailored to specific parts of a zoned development site. In addition, they do not promote design or control the actions of landscape contractors, maintenance trades or plant suppliers. This form of tree ordinance does not stress design as much as it does tree planting.

A variant tree ordinance found in some communities is called a ‘view ordinance.’ This type of tree ordinance is created to remove conflicts between property owners when trees block views or sunlight.^.5This concern is so important in Santa Monica, California for instance that tree plantings and hedges are completely controlled from blocking views to the sea and the mountains by city administrators. Planting a hedge of grove of trees is highly restricted by zoning in some communities.

The better tree ordinances however are contained within landscape codes, not separate from them.

Tree regulations should be harmonized into landscape codes and must be related to site development, zoning and design. When tree ordinances are isolated from zoning, they are focused only on trees, and not how trees fit in with development or how the may promote community health, safety and welfare.

From a recent study of community tree ordinances made by this author it is clear that most contemporary tree ordinances have been written to protect and preserve trees rather than to support the needs of zoning, land use, development or design.

A study of tree laws was conducted for the purpose of writing this paper. The study compared tree ordinances promoted by the USDA Forest Service to author selected ordinances from other communities. The Forest Service, ‘Tree Ordinance Index’ used as the foundation of this study is thought to be representative of typical tree ordinances found in American Communities.^.6. A total of fifty community tree laws were studied for the purposes of defining the essential provisions of a well-written tree law. No attempt was made to rank them, classify them by type or to determine if the ordinances were contained with a city Municipal Code or Zoning Ordinance. Some of the ordinances were applied to public land, some to private and a few were actually model codes promulgated by agencies, universities or researchers.

The USDA Forest Service Tree Index and

LSU Green Law Web site are two important

sources of information on the Internet

for those interested in tree and landscape

regulations.

As a minimum, a well-written tree ordinance will be drafted to accomplish several things.

They will ensure that someone within the structure of government has oversight of community trees, both public and private trees. This may be an urban forester, arborist, landscape architect, tree administrator or an advisory board. Their job is to look out for trees and related aspects of nature. They may also be involved with tree removal and planting on private land and formulating tree regulations for trees on private land. Second. A well-written tree law will allow the city to understand and manage the urban forest resource. Sections within the ordinance ought to provide guidelines for tree inventories, tree planting plans. It will also be important to have sections that deal with tree installation, protection during construction, natural habitat protection, pruning specifications and tree removal permits. These are important technical requirements that should be addressed. And finally a well crafted ordinance should contain sections that address canopy requirements, tree sizes, plan submittal and enforcement. This is basic to all tree ordinances.

Tree ordinances are usually one of three main types. They include the street tree ordinance, tree preservation ordinance, post construction landscape ordinance and a variant called a ‘view ordinance.’

Of course many ordinances are written that have strictly local concerns in mind. Some of these might be focused needs such as the official town tree, special trees for streets, trees with special desirable color characteristics and protection for that old tree in the city that George Washington once slept under. These are special clauses that may be added, but are not essential for zoning community trees.

Enhanced ordinances, or the tree ordinances of the future might address new issues not commonly found in today’s brand of tree ordinances. Innovative issues, such as ‘land clearing controls,’ ‘habitat preservation, ‘storm water management,’ ‘tree banking,’ ‘hurricane preparation,’ ‘tree credits’ and ‘landmark tree protection’ might all be included within tree regulations in the future.

Fig 3.0 below illustrates the most common regulations found in municipal tree ordinances today.

__________________ ________ insert figure _____________ __________________

Planners who want to draft a community tree ordinance would do well to include most of the contextual, technical and administrative standards listed in Figure 3.0.

Few of the tree ordinances studied for this article deal with zoning issues. All of these examples deal singularly with tree care in one form or the other. Some of the better ordinances in this study regulate tree preservation and planting as well, and this is a positive step for tree ordinances to take. A reference list of good tree ordinances are seen in Fig 4.0 below. There is a distinct trend in the way that ordinances have being written over the last few decades. The earliest ordinance in this study, the Municipal Tree Manual-Standard Municipal Ordinance dates to the 1950’s and clearly shows that the first ordinances were written to support the development of the arborist industry. This MTM ordinance, as it is called, and those that followed in the 60’s and 70’s did this by establishing municipal forestry programs, developing shade tree commissions and hiring municipal arborists. The Southfield, Michigan Tree Ordinance in this study is an example of a typical American tree ordinance that follows the outdated MTM model. The Southfield ordinance applies strictly to public trees. The California Guidelines Model, a summarization of contemporary California ordinances, although broader in some respects, still puts forward the basic format of the 1950’s ordinance design in the series of goals and basic provisions that they cite. Ordinances from this study are primarily concerned with single trees, most of which grow along public streets. It should be noted that this is a model derived from a study of 159 California tree ordinances and not an enacted ordinance as most of the others are. Some of the more progressive contemporary ordinances such as Charlotte, Palo Alto and Gwinnett County and Baton Rouge are moving toward zoning and provide regulation for tree preservation and replanting.

_________________ _____insert figure_________________ ___________________

The Howard County, MD, Santa Cruz, CA, Southlake, TA and Marco Island, FL ordinances are very good contemporary ordinances that are expanding the definition of what a tree ordinance can be. In the case of Howard it is forest preservation, with Cruz it is preservation and protection of old trees and with Southlake it is enforcement and integration with the community landscape code. Marco recognizes the vegetation removal can be a problem for an exposed barrier island in the tropical region of South Florida. This code is sensitive to hurricanes and erosion so soil stabilization by restricting the removal of native vegetation is important. Tree ordinances from the LSU Tree Ordinance Index set forth in Fig. 4 is well worth studying by any planning commission wishing to write a tree ordinance from scratch.

It is common for tree ordinances to not address zoning, development or landscape design. All are measures, strongly related to the development and management of the urban forest. Some of the contemporary ordinances from this study such as Collier County, Florida, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Coral Spring, Florida and Lexington, Kentucky, while not making the LSU Index are becoming better integrated with landscape codes that have become part of municipal zoning regulation since tree ordinances came into popular use in the 1960’s.

While many communities enact ordinances merely for beauty or economic development, there are other important reasons why these codes are written. In recent years Davis, California enacted a landscape ordinance for solar control, particularly in regards to parking lots. Near by Irvine, California, enacted an ordinance to promote sustainability that is a form or recycling natural resources and energy. Santa Monica, California in Los Angeles county, is known as the ‘sustainable city’ and recovers all rain that falls that on the city to recapture pollutants before they find their way into Santa Monica bay. They use planting areas on building sites to soak up storm water to minimize run off.

Many communities in Florida, such as Lake Mary and St. Lucie County, base their ordinances on the need to conserve and reuse irrigation water. Collier County on the west coast and Volusia County on the east coast of Florida both require on-site storm water management and have standards that call for storm water facilities. Some of the new Georgia codes are directed toward sustaining tree canopy and preventing soil erosion. These codes call for a certain density of trees on all development sites. Texas codes are being written to include more shade within vehicular use areas. Austin recently drafted new language that will make parking lots cooler. Louisiana is exploring on-site storm water management and green parking lot design. Too much water is a problem in Louisiana so the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is working on a ‘model landscape code’ that will green cities and help clean the state’s coastal waters. Maryland and Virginia have recognized the same problem for over a decade so many of their local codes call for forest preservation. Carolinas codes are being written to provide for stated numbers of trees per acre. These codes are concerned with canopy standards, shade requirements and tree preservation. They tend to regulate by adding quota standards and not solving fundamental problems associated with zoning.

New Directions for Tree Ordinance

There are new directions that tree laws might take that will bring them more in line with zoning theory and put the police power of zoning to work preserving nature in the city. There are several directions that that might be considered.

‘Tree ordinances’ and ‘landscape codes,’ both working to preserve, protect and replant nature in the city need to be combined rather than competitive or overlapping. This is a problem. The two types of green laws do not work together smoothly in many communities. The Chapel Hill Ordinance is a good example of how tree ordinances need to be integrated in their approach to preserving nature on a building site. Chapel Hill’s ordinance for example is based upon integrating the tree and landscape code into the zoning ordinance in the form of site design standards. These standards including regulations for critical areas, habitat preservation (especially of ‘significant stands’), tree care, tree protection, landscaping, screening, buffering, parking lot design, open space, integrated management practices, lighting, storm water management and erosion/sedimentation control. They are all integrated into the zoning code so they become tangible elements of any building program from the very beginning.

This code utilizes a more low impact development (LID) approach to tree issues and is much more integrated in concept.

Contemporary tree ordinances need to be “harmonized” or woven together in an integrated way to be part of the same body of municipal law. All green laws need to be contained within zoning laws and must emanate from land use and not be just part of a community’s general body of law that dictates regulations. In other words, green laws need to enhance zoning, not just put limits on land development which is what many tree laws tend do.

One community in Texas for instance contacted the University recently to say they needed help in drafting a tree law. When asked if they had a zoning ordinance to place the law within context, they demurred. This little community does not have zoning so their tree law would not have the backing authority of zoning, and hence could not be properly enforced. This tree law will dictate rather than enhance zoning and land development. Under this circumstance it is a ‘feel good tree law’ at best and un-enforceable at worst.

One further observation is worthy of note. The majority of municipal tree law pertains to trees on public land or simply street trees and do not even approach the zoning code! This very common form of tree law pertains to tree care, primarily pruning, shaping, removals and treatment for insects, disease and systemic problems. Now this is important, but do you see the point?

The second message is that tree laws need to be more concerned with root space rather than canopy area.

Many newer tree laws that focus on tree density are based upon canopy standards, drip line calculations or shadow pattern and not available planting area. What is really needed is space to plant trees. To get root space, areas of building sites need to be set aside for planting or tree preservation. The Fulton Country, Georgia ordinance is a case in point.

The purpose of Fulton is to cultivate and encourage a high level of tree preservation through administrative guidelines rather than implemented regulations within the zoning ordinance. The code is designed to provide standards for the preservation of trees as part of the land development, building construction and timber harvest processes. It is not the intent of this ordinance to regulate individual properties that follow the rules of zoning. The requirements kick in only when activities require a land disturbance permit, a building permit or timber harvest permit. Zoning has nothing to do with this ordinance so every action is voluntary. Certain benefits are cited to the citizens of Fulton County. They point out that preserving trees will control soil erosion, moderate storm water runoff, improve water quality, intercept airborne particulate matter and the reduce air pollutant loads. Enhanced to wildlife habitat is also mentioned as are the reduction of noise and glare, climate moderation, aesthetics, scenic quality and increased property value. No mention is made of zoning or how the tree preservation ordinance increases the community’s ability to zone effectively for trees or even land use, bulk, height, set back, screening and buffering.^.7.

Rebuilding the urban forest by moving the

forest around development is easier

to do than preserving trees within

development areas.

A third message is the arborist’s meditation on the single lone specimen tree. This might be a tree found standing by itself in a parking lot, along a roadway, in a park or on someone’s lawn. A perfect tree to an arborist stands tall with a significant straight bole, prominent central leaders and delicate branching with medium texture leaves. Trees in nature do not grow like this. Ordinances that focus on the single tree rather than the grove or forest miss the point of zoning for trees. Writers and crafters of tree laws should be at least equally concerned with conserving habitat and a mixture of vegetation and its dependent wildlife rather than just preserving specimen trees to be pruned and maintained on a regular basis by those in the aboricultural industry. Nature in the city needs to be in its natural configuration as much as practical. Irregular meadows with substantial tree groves, treed forest edges, wetlands, stream banks, marshes, recharge areas wildlife habitat and general open spaces provide places for trees to grow in the urban forest. Habitat preservation should be a prime goal of most tree laws, specimen tree preservation a secondary goal. Better tree laws can be written to protect existing treed areas or to replant natural forests in places where development has changed conditions. Rebuilding the urban forest by moving the forest around development is easier to do than preserving trees within development areas. This might be a tree policy worth pursuing

Fourthly, the USDA Forest Service recently released a study concerning the size of trees within the urban forest. This so called “large tree argument” indicates that large-stature trees are better within the city than small trees, simply because the benefits of trees are multiplied as the tree grows bigger. When it comes to trees, size, they claim, really does matter. The authors of this philosophy argue that increased benefits in regard to trees result in reduction in storm water run off; improvement in local air, soil and water quality; reductions in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Further they point out big trees provide more wildlife habitat; increase property values and enhance the attractiveness of a community.^.8.They make a strong case for big trees with their position that large trees are what urban forests need but this is a faulty argument in light of zoning practices.

Large trees only is a mono-culturist’s way of thinking, not indifferent from the way Indiana corn farmers think about their rural landscape. In the city, a variety of planting spaces exist and various growing conditions result from land development activities largely as a result of zoning. It is better to use trees and other landscape materials of different sizes, textures and character and then layer them into tree groves within available planting spaces. From a wildlife and ecological biodiversity point of view this is certainly more beneficial Again, the argument for large trees or small trees fails to think about zoning and land development issues but concentrates on saving the perfect tree. Many of which may not be perfect.

Finally, even contemporary tree laws and recommendations for their drafting fail to recognize the importance of harmonized codes and codes based upon zoning, site development and design. Single issue landscape codes that deal only with trees fail to see new trends that are developing in community design, These new trends, on-site storm water management, green parking, low impact development, smart growth and new urbanism may completely undo the way we presently think about writing tree ordinances. They will offer new possibilities for writing creative harmonized tree ordinances and will be much different in message than the MTM ordinance mentioned previously which is the foundation to most of the history of contemporary tree laws in this country.^.9.

The future of tree ordinances is to become more

‘integrated’ with community landscape codes,

habitat protection regulations and on-site

storm water management requirements,

The best way to insure that trees are seen as green infrastructure is to make sure that tree laws recognize design and are contained within landscape codes and landscape regulations both of which are codified within community zoning laws. This will not be an easy task but the trend has started. Communities such as Baton Rouge, LA; Collier County, FL; Columbia, S.C; Fairfax County, VA; Greensboro, N.C.; Gwinnette County, GA; Howard County, MD; Lexington, S.C.; Orlando, FL; and Marco Island, Florida have enacted some comprehensive green laws that see trees as an important element of zoning that have implications for environment, conservation, storm water management, open space and civic design. This is a positive trend for the future for tree laws.

How to harmonize community landscape codes tree ordinances? The answer is complex but we know for sure that it will be the role of planning officials, landscape administrators and municipal arborists to make it happen. ^.10.

In Summary

As more and more cities enact ‘integrated landscape codes’ that incorporate tree preservation, habitat protection and storm water management regulations code administrators, planners and arborists will need to improve their knowledge of plant materials, habitat protection measures, urban planting technology, irrigation, storm water and design issues. Perhaps, even more importantly, planners, urban foresters, or arborists who work as code administrators, many will need to go through vigorous on the job training to learn how to interpret landscape plans, tree preservation plans, landscape construction drawings, tree surveys, design details and written landscape specifications that will be submitted for permits. In Florida for instance, there is an association of landscape code inspectors many of whom are landscape code administrator, inspectors, code enforcement officers who work together to increase their understanding of landscape code regulations. Many of these members work as planners.^.11.Planners will also need to understand how to write, review and make needed improvements to the landscape code they will be called upon to draft, revise or administrator. Help is available at www.greenlaws.lsu.edu.

5653 Words not counting figures below.

__________________ ______________________ ________________________

…………………………………………….….…………………………...…………..…………….

Fig 1. Landscape Code Design Components.

_________________ ______________________ _________________________

Designation ……………………..Location…………………………..Purpose……………..

Street Tree Planting Area Along Street ROW Public Tree Plantings

Street Yard Between Building and Street Beautify Street

Street Wall Adjacent To Building Facing A Street Screen, Soften Building

Foundation Wall Between A Building And A VUA Improve Pedestrian Areas

Vehicular Use Area Interior Islands, Medians, Bays In Parking Lots Shade Pavements & Cars

VUA Screen Between Cars And Conflicting Land Use Screening Vehicles From View

Side Yard Buffer Buffering Conflicting Land Use At Side Screening Neighbors

Rear Yard Buffer Buffering Conflicting Land Use At Rear Screening Neighbors

Habitat Preservation Area Preserved Wetland, Tree Grove or Forest Protecting Sensitive Land

Irrigation Hydro-zones Site Irrigation Conservation Zones Reduce Waste Of Water

Stream Bank Buffer Between Development and Streams Filters Storm Water

_________________ ______________________ _________________________

Fig. 2.0 Geography of a Development Site, Zoned Locations For Trees

_________________ ______________________ _________________________

Code Provision …………………..Purpose…………………………………….……………..

__________ CONTEXTUAL______________________ ______________________________

Short title Ordinance title and location within the municipal code

Policies Regarding Trees General policy toward preservation, .protection, plantings and tree care

Tree Care License Licenses, qualifications, fees

Definitions Technical definitions concerning the code

Purpose And Intent/Applicability Specific purpose of the tree ordinance

_ ________ TECHNICAL____________________________________________________

Tree Inventory/Tree Survey Tree Inventory and Analysis

Tree Disposal Requirements for disposal of vegetation

Hazardous/Diseased Trees Definition of hazardous trees

Tree Protection/Protective Fencing Tree protection during construction

Tree Preservation Credits Incentives toward preserving trees

Pruning/Planting Standards Technical operations toward trees

Tree Care Specifications Arboricultural operations

Tree Planting Tree planting operations

Tree Species Botanical and horticultural operations

Landmark /Heritage Trees Special tree protection and preservation

Planting Yards Required planting locations on development sites

Landscape And Tree Plans Tree plantings plans and specifications

Tree Protection Areas Preserved habitats for trees

Canopy Requirements Standards for replanting of trees

Landscape Requirements Standards for other plantings on development sites

Street And Park Trees Special requirements for public tree care

Public/Private Trees Policy toward public and private trees

ADMINISTRATIVE

Submittal of Plans Procedures for submitting review documents

Permits Required permits for tree removal/planting/pruning/disposal

Duties of Urban Forestry/Arborist Administrative staff responsibility

Duties of the Administrator Administrative staff responsibility/procedures

Tree Advisory Board Citizen Oversight/Advisory Tree and Landscape Commission

Enforcement & Penalty Corrective Mechanisms

Hearings and Appeals Public Notice and Due Process Proceedings

Emergency Waiver Requirements concerning trees under special conditions

Severability/Repealer Disconnection of Faulty or Contested Language

Effective Date Time That Ordinance Takes Effect

__________________ ______________________ _________________________

Fig. 3.0 Common Tree Ordinance Provisions

_________________ ______________________ _________________________

………………………..…..…..Community…………Title………………………….…………

Austin, Texas- Ordinance 960328-B

Boca Raton, Florida- Article II Trees

Baton Rouge, Louisiana- UDC Chapter 18 Landscape And Trees

Charlotte North Carolina- Chapter 21, Trees

Georgia Forestry Commission- Framework Ordinance

Gwinnett County, Georgia-Tree Ordinance

Howard County, Maryland- Subtitle 12 Forest Conservation

Miami-Dade, Florida- Tree Protection Ordinance

Palo Alto, California- Chapter 18-10 Tree Preservation

Raleigh North Carolina- Chapter 8 Trees And Vegetation

Santa Cruz, California- Chapter 9.56 Preservation of Historic Trees

Southlake, Texas- Ordinance 585-B Tree Preservation Ordinance

__________________ ______________________ ________________________

Fig. 4.0 Selected Tree Ordinances, LSU Tree Ordinance Index 2005

NOTES .

The Landscape Ordinance Research Project at Louisiana State University has conducted studies of landscape and tree laws since 1987. Visit their web site that provides useful information about community landscape codes, code vocabulary, design components, and technical standards. Visit LSU at www.greenlaws.lsu.edu.

Mandeville, Louisiana Landscape Code, Section 9, Parking, Landscaping and Open Space Regulations, Comprehensive Land Use Regulation Ordinance (CLURO). October 23, 2003.

Visit the International Society of Arboriculture at www.isa.org This organization support research into the science and biology of trees and provides services to arborists, urban foresters, municipal officials and others who seek more knowledge about the protection, preservation, planting and maintenance of trees.

4. Bernhardt, E., Swiecki, T. J. 1991. Guidelines for Developing And Evaluating Tree Ordinances. Prepared for: Urban Forestry Program, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Sacramento, CA. 76 p.

5. IBED, Bernhardt, E, Swiecki,T.J.

The USDA Forest Service makes available a data base of tree ordinances which is found on the Urban Forestry South Expo web site at http://www.urbanforestrysouth.org/Resources/Ordinances. This is a searchable data base that is organized by subject and keyword.

Standards for tree preservation in Fulton County, Georgia supersede and replace those contained in the former Fulton County Tree Preservation Ordinance, adopted and approved on January8, 1986, and codified as § § 26-396 through 26-403, Fulton County Code of Laws (1997). Adopted by the Board of Commissioners, December 1, 1999, effective date of January 1, 2000 and revised January 2003 by the Department of Environment and Community Development, Plan Review Division.

8. The large tree argument is advanced by the Center for Urban Forest Research (Davis, CA), working with the Southern Center for Urban Forestry Research & Information (Athens, GA) See the document at http://www.urbanforestrysouth.org/Resources/Library/Citation.2004-04-13.0724/file_name/

Center for Urban Forest Research (Davis, CA), Southern Center for Urban Forestry Research & Information (Athens, GA) 04/13/2004 USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station Davis, CA. 2004

9. Hoefer, P.J., Himelick, E.B., DeVoto, D.F., Municipal Tree Manual, Municipal Arborists and Urban Foresters Society, International Society of Arboriculture, Urbana IL. 1990.

10. Charles Weber writing in Shading Our Cities, Island Press, 1989 (Developing A Successful Urban Tree Ordinance makes the argument that well written tree ordinances are often written by committees who cut and paste from other community codes but he argues that that each code should be unique and tailored to local conditions, a workable compromise with de-regimented terminology. He makes no statement that the ordinance should be part of community zoning.

11. Florida Landscape Inspectors Association is the only landscape code enforcement association of its kind in the United States that is devoted to increasing members knowledge of standards for landscape inspection by improving on the knowledge and qualifications of landscape inspectors who strive to standardize landscape related codes and ordinances. Members inspect and approve landscape installations, manage and recommend landscape ordinances and review landscape and development plans that ensure proper tree care as required by ordinances. More information is about this organization is available at www.landscapeinspectors.org

BACKGROUND READING ON GREEN LAWS

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "Green Laws, Building Landscapes In The Twenty-first century". Proceedings 1999 ASLA Annual Meeting, American Society of Landscape Architects, Washington D. C.. 1999.

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "Green Laws In Three Communities". Proceedings 2003 National Urban Forest Conference, American Forest, Washington D. C.. 2003.

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "U.S. Landscape Ordinances". John Wiley & Son, Inc., New York, NY. 1998.

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "Guide To Writing A Landscape Ordinance". Louisiana Association of Nurserymen, Baton Rouge, LA. 1988.

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "Guide To Writing A City Tree Ordinance". Louisiana Association of Nurserymen, Baton Rouge, LA. 1993.

Bernhardt, E.A. and Swiecki, T.J., Guidelines for Developing and Evaluating Tree Ordinances, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Urban Forestry Program, Sacramento, CA. 1991.

Bowen, C., Landscape Ordinances: To Define and Protect, Zoning Practice, American Planning Association, April 2004.

Fazio, James., How To Write A Municipal Tree Ordinance, Bulletin No. 9. National Arbor Day Foundation, Nebraska City, Nebraska. 1991.

Garber, Melvin., Components of a Tree and Landscape Ordinance, University of Georgia, November, 2000.

Duerksen, Christopher. J., Richman, Suzanne, Tree Conservation Ordinances, PAS Report Number 446, American Planning Association, Chicago, Il. 1993.

Duerksen, Christopher. Tree And Vegetation Conservation Ordinance Annotated Outline, Citizens For A Scenic Florida,Jacksonville, FL. 2002.

Moll, Gary, Ebenreck, Sara., Shading Our Cities, Island Press, Washington D.C., 1989.

Robinette, Gary, O. "Local Landscape Ordinances." Agora Communications, Plano, Texas, 1992.

Wolfe, K.L., Trees, Parking and Green Law: Strategies For Sustainability, College of Forest Resources,

University of Washington, Seattle, WA. 2004

__________________., International Zoning Code, International Code Council Inc., Country Club Hills, IL, 2002.

__________________., Manual For Hurricane Resistant Construction, Southern Building Code Congress International, Birmingham, Alabama, 1993.

__________________., Standard Building Code, 1997 editon, Southern Building Code Congress International, Birmingham, Alabama, 1997.

Biography

D.G. ‘Buck’ Abbey is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at LSU and Principal of the Louisiana, landscape architecture - planning firm, Abbey Associates, Inc. He has taught design, construction, graphics and computer technology courses at LSU since 1974. Abbey received his terminal degree from Harvard University. He is a recognized authority on municipal landscape codes and is author of the book, U.S. Landscape Ordinance, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. As associate editor of Landscape Architect & Specifier News Magazine, he writes regularly on landscape codes and related municipal planning law. He provides consulting services on landscape codes and site planning nationwide.