Article X: Landscaping and Urban Forest Conservation is passed 14-0!

It was a rewarding afternoon at City Hall as the Council voted to pass both the Article X landscape and urban forest conservation ordinance as well as the parkland dedication ordinance.  Both votes were unanimous.  

So now, we go forward and the Article X ordinance will be enacted beginning Monday, July 2, 2018.  I need to get you ready.

I will now begin in this blog, over the course of the following weeks, to explain many of the aspects of the ordinance that have changed as well as those matters which have been retained.  The structure of Article X remains true to what has been in existence since 1994.  But much of the content is now updated for efficiency, flexibility, and improved tree performance.  There is a lot to cover so I will try to provide and format it for ease of reference and location.

First, we are updating the Building Inspection Division website for notices and to update the Irrigation/Landscape page.  We will introduce certain materials like the Approved Tree List which has been significantly updated and, more importantly, is subject to future staff review and amendment.  We will set procedures on how any trees are added or removed from the list.  Expect to see a simple list of the large, medium, and small tree categories by Monday.

The Arborist web page will also be in a process of adjustment with new FAQ's and other information related to the ordinance.  

The Landscape and Tree Manual page and attachments will be linked through both the BI Landscaping page and the Dallas Arborist page.  Keep coming back to these sites for more updates as they become available.

Also, don't forget my personal DallasTrees.net webpage for its list of resources and information.

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Executive Summary

Article X, the landscape and tree ordinance for the City of Dallas, was established in 1994 by amending the existing landscape ordinance of 1986, and by advancing a 1990 Council resolution for the preservation of large trees, into a new tree preservation, removal, and replacement ordinance.  The purpose established in this ordinance was affirmed and advanced through the environmental policies and vision represented in the ForwardDallas Environment Element.  It is here the essential primary functions of trees in the urban forest, as the protector of our air, water, soil, wildlife habitat, and livable neighborhoods, were reinforced with the direction to develop regulatory tools to preserve the tree canopy.

The current comprehensive ordinance is comprised of three distinct divisions which contain some regulations that are, at times, perceived as conflictive to developers, or impracticable for consistent application and enforcement.  After some amendments were made in 2003, representatives of City Council, city staff, the development community, and tree advocates, repeatedly discussed potential amendments to the ordinance to remedy certain regulations.  Viable solutions were sought for various regulations which are typically resolved through the Board of Adjustment; from physical landscape conflicts with trees and utilities, to the limited time required to complete tree mitigation on projects, or even the inability to comply with a single design standard.  Since February of 2015, the members of the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee, the city staff, and independent supporters comprised of professional designers, citizens, development industry representatives, and urban forest advocacy groups, have worked together to help find these suitable solutions, by reviewing numerous municipal standards and other various concepts from across the country, to form reasonable regulations to function within the integration of the three amended ordinance divisions: General, Landscape, and Urban Forest Conservation.   These amendments were introduced to provide:

• ·         a supplemental landscape and tree guide to convey urban forest education for developer and homeowner tree management, and to clarify and improve the efficacy of the zoning regulation and its enforcement;
• ·         updated tree establishment and preservation regulations to ensure the use of current professional and scientific standards and best practices for healthy tree growth and maintenance to pursue the established goal of tree longevity;
• ·         greater landscape adaptability, with more practicable and flexible landscape mandatory requirements and landscape design options which are balanced to the size and scale of the development;
• ·         additional and reasonable means of tree replacement, including methods to significantly credit the owner to physically offset their mitigation obligation on their property into a positive return for sustainable development and urban forest conservation which serves both the property and the community.

The proposed Article X landscape and urban forest conservation ordinance attempts to introduce improved regulations to provide balance with amended and clarified regulations.  The comprehensive ordinance is intended to promote a more adaptive and practicable ordinance for the community, developers, and administrative officials, by providing clear, uniform, and logical standards applied to:

• ·         Determine standard tree planting distances and space requirements to minimize utility conflicts.
• ·         Apply realistic and sustainable tree soil area and soil volume requirements to minimum reasonable standards for establishing large trees toward maturity where applicable. Apply the right tree, in the right place, and in the right environment.
• ·         Enhance parking lot requirements, by lot size, with options for expanding tree canopy coverage.
• ·         Amend mandatory requirements, and increase the number of available design standard options, to allow greater flexibility of application in site design, and to be scaled to the size and use of the property.
• ·         Introduce a landscape and tree manual, with an approved tree list, which is amendable and will provide education and guidance in best practices for planning, establishing, and maintaining trees for both homeowners and developers, and to help sustain the community urban forest.
• ·         Provide options for the replacement of trees, increased to provide more opportunities for developers to place tree mitigation as investments into their developments by using the tree canopy coverage as a goal, and that encourages development away from more sensitive and wooded land areas. 
• ·         Establish ‘legacy’ landscape trees to be planted within enhanced soil environments which provide credits toward mitigating for large scale tree removal, wherein the owner and the city attest by action, to the risk, landscape area, and maintenance demands, on the owner of the legacy tree.
• ·         Maintain the relief for homeowners who manage their established trees in their communities at a cost, and with the privilege, while providing limited incentives and mitigation relief for home builders who administer their building sites under permits and improved tree protection efforts.

The many combined elements in this one comprehensive ordinance will provide for fewer development obstacles, more adaptability, and policies grounded in a more firm foundation in arboricultural and forestry sciences, while showing a possible path in which to take strides toward the sustainable progress of establishing the urban forest canopy goals for the City of Dallas for the generations to come.