How

to address land that is currently devoid of trees

remains the sticking point as Fayette County

planning commissioners work to finalize their

recommendations on a proposed tree protection

ordinance.

The

group next week will try again to come up with a

document for presentation to the County

Commission. Their work session is scheduled for 7

p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16 at the County

Administrative Complex.

In

an effort to discourage developers from stripping

construction sites bare before they start

construction, the commission is considering a new

ordinance that would give existing trees twice as

much weight as new ones in meeting a requirement

that each development have at least 100 tree

density units per acre.

Tree

density units are simply inches of diameter

measured at breast height, but under the proposed

new rules, if a developer bulldozes all the trees

prior to construction, each inch of diameter on

any new trees planted will count as a half inch.

In that case, the developer would have to plant

200 inches of new trees; for instance, 100

two-inch trees.

The

idea is to provide an incentive to preserve

existing mature trees, to give the county a more

forested look and improve both air quality and

drainage. But some commission members and members

of a special advisory committee that has been

studying the ordinance are concerned that the

burden might be unfair if a developer buys a

piece of land that has no trees to start with.

"You

could end up with an absurdly expensive bunch of

trees that probably have little chance of

surviving," said Lawrence Ottwell, a member

of the advisory committee, during the

commission's called work session last week.

Some

have suggested counting new trees the same as

existing ones on sites that are basically pasture

land. And commission Chairman Bob Harbison

suggesting going even further, giving pasture

owners no tree planting requirements at all,

other than the usual landscaping requirements.

Others

argue that either solution would encourage land

owners to harvest their trees in advance of

making plans to develop the property, having the

opposite effect of what the ordinance intends.

Equally

baffling is what to do when a property has some

trees to start with, but not nearly enough to

satisfy the ordinance.

County

commissioners have given the Planning Commission

a January deadline for coming up with a

recommended ordinance. Following its meeting

tomorrow night, the County Commission will skip

its regular fourth Thursday meeting, due to the

Christmas holiday. The next meeting at which the

governing body could consider the new tree

ordinance is Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.

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