Dallas Trees

One of the new requirements in the 2018 Article X amendments placed on new developments is the provision for a soil resource plan.  This plan is essentially a map showing zones of general soil types, quality, compaction, and other factors considered for planting and preserving trees.  It is designed to reveal zones reserved for development from those for landscaping.  And for the landscape areas, the plan will reveal how each zone is either protected from construction or restored from the heavy compaction of most development impact areas.  Our goal is for the contractor to have a recognition and a plan to identify the areas on a building site where a healthy tree will grow on the development site with or without soil preparation. Let's go over the process for this document.  We will address the soil resource assessment later. (b) Soil areas.  Except as provided in this section, required landscape areas must include the following:    (1...

The three divisions of the ordinance are balanced to help build a sustainable Dallas. When it comes to the purpose of a landscape and urban forest ordinance, I believe it's about holding together the integrity of a community.  The considerations we must make as citizens in this community are what we hold important in the community.  As individuals, we define our homes differently, as self-interests or as a whole neighborhood.  We include only the people close to us, or people we don't even know, or perhaps we may even include the animals and the wild things living and growing around us.  For me, the latter - the whole - is our community.  Our neighborhoods are small incremental forest areas which affect the lifestyles and health of our individual homes and shared homes.  For me, we must include our trees and properties in our concept of community.  A home is what we value.  We value our trees.  Our ordinance helps us reme...