Fayette

County's Planning Commission will have a public

hearing with plans to take a vote on its proposed

new tree protection ordinance tomorrow at 7 p.m.

in room 212 of the County Administrative Complex.

The

group normally meets in the County Commission

meeting room, but the County Commission will

occupy that room tomorrow for its special public

informational meeting on plans for a new county

jail and courthouse.

Designed

to save more mature specimen trees from

developers' bulldozers, the law has been the

subject of discussions by the Planning Commission

since May, and more recently by a special study

committee. County commissioners asked for a

review of the county's existing law after

Chairman Harold Bost brought the matter up for

discussion, saying the ten-year-old law might

need more teeth.

If

Planning Commission members vote to recommend the

new ordinance Jan. 6, the Board of Commissioners

can take action in its zoning meeting Jan. 27.

Public comment will be accepted at both meetings.

Concern

over rules for tree preservation in subdivision

construction sparked spirited discussion in the

planning panel's final work session last month.

Developer Jeff Ellis said a requirement that

developers submit tree protection plans for their

subdivisions would cost too much.

If

a surveyor has to identify each tree worth

saving, and then the entire tree protection area

must be protected using orange plastic fencing,

cost could be more than $800 per house just for

that, he said. He presented a breakdown of the

cost using Horseman's Run subdivision as an

example, and said the requirement would add

almost $50,000 to the developer's cost.

And

the developer disturbs only about 12 percent of a

subdivision, he said. After streets and other

infrastructure are built by the developer,

individual builders buy lots and put homes on

them.

But

county engineer Kirk Houser said Ellis' fears are

misplaced. Black silt screen, already required,

would suffice to section off tree save areas, he

said, and identifying specimen trees to be saved

could be accomplished by simpler methods than

having a surveyor show exact locations.

Environmentalist

Dennis Chase had a completely different concern.

The ordinance states that the county engineering

staff has "the authority" to stop work

and cite developers who destroy trees in

violation of the ordinance, he said, but doesn't

state in no uncertain terms that penalties

"shall" be meted out.

"Without

a real hard and fast statement, we've just got a

lot of words on paper," he said. "It

says that he can do this or not do it, based on

the circumstances, and I've been `circumstanced'

to death on a lot of these issues," he

added.

But

engineer David Borkowski said enforcers have to

have some leeway. "I just don't want to get

to the point where if they knock a tree down by

accident we've got to shut their site down,"

he said.

Commissioners

promised to revisit that issue later if

enforcement becomes a problem, but said they

don't think it will be. "I kind of like [the

engineers] having that leeway," said

commission Chairman Bob Harbison.

Commissioners

also will vote tomorrow on a new set of

subdivision regulations.

Rules

that govern everything from what should be

included in a subdivision plat to how to measure

the length of a street, the regulations have

received a thorough review by the Engineering

Department for grammatical problems and general

updating.

<!--

-----------