Fayetteville

City Council will discuss a proposed new tree

protection ordinance tonight with plans to

consider its adoption Monday night.

The

city Planning Commission recently voted to

recommend approval of the new law, designed to

encourage developers to save existing trees

rather than stripping construction sites and

replacing large, old trees with young, smaller

ones.

Under

the proposed ordinance, existing trees would

carry twice as much weight as new ones in

determining whether a developer has met the

requirement that each development have at least

100 "tree density units" per acre. The

law would provide rules for digging and grading

around the preserved trees to prevent their being

damaged in construction.

Developers

also are required to identify "stands"

of trees that can be preserved together. A stand

is defined as a group of trees that have grown up

together and therefore depend on each other.

"If

you thin it out and just save all the oaks or all

the sycamore trees and remove all the others,

then you have tall, spindly trees that, left on

their own, look out of place," said Maurice

Ungaro, city planner, during recent discussions

of the Planning Commission.

Council

will discuss the ordinance during its work

session at 7 p.m. tonight and is expected to vote

on it Monday in its regular business meeting,

also at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Council

also will consider a new law restricting the

parking of trucks, tractors and semi-trailers in

residential zones.

During

Planning Commission deliberations on the new

ordinance, tractor-trailer owner/operator Kevin

Adams warned that such a law would be a blow to

working people.

`I

don't think this takes into account the needs of

the working man," he said. He parks the cab

of his rig at home and performs minor maintenance

on it, Adams said, and his neighbors don't

object.

The

Planning Commission recommended solving Adams'

problem by allowing those who are already parking

their rigs at home to continue, but prohibiting

any future residents from doing so. Existing

home-parked rigs would have to be registered with

the city to avoid falling under the ordinance.

Also

on the agenda Wednesday and Monday will be Jan

Trammell's request to change the zoning at 355 N.

Jeff Davis Drive from a subdivision category to

O&I (office and institutional).

Council

also will consider a list of 18 streets to be

resurfaced under the state Department of

Transportation's Local Assistance Road Program.

Included are 3.27 miles of roadway.

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