Monday night’s Town Council meeting should have been the public discussion and vote on the private property tree ordinance introduced on September 23. Instead, the Council introduced a revised ordinance that reduces permit fees and streamlines the process for planting new trees to replace those taken down.
Councilman Ted Giblin voted against the revision, saying he wanted to get more feedback from residents before considering it, but the four other Council members voted in favor of introduction. That means that the public discussion and vote on the measure will now be Monday, October 21.
The private property tree ordinance, now ordinance 2019-34, will update a chapter on trees in Verona’s municipal code that was enacted in 1964. That measure only applied to unimproved lots. Now, with most of Verona developed, the code is being adjusted to reflect the role that healthy trees can play in mitigating runoff from the heavy storms that Verona has had lately.
Mayor Jack McEvoy said the Council that feedback from residents and professionals on the original ordinance had prompted the changes. As a result, the new measure lowers the cost of the tree removal permit to $50 for two trees from $100 per tree. The new measure also specifies that if a tree is being removed because it is dead or if it comes down in a storm, the property owners would not have to replace it. As regards replacement, the new ordinance reduces the number of trees that would need to be planted. McEvoy said that the intent of the ordinance is to encourage residents to preserve healthy trees and to build around them. He also said that residents could use the survey they received when they purchased their home to mark the trees they would like to take down. “You don’t have to hire an engineer to survey your property,” he added.
Giblin said that he agreed with the overall goals of the ordinance. “I think that most of us like trees and for the conservation aspect, for the issues we have with flooding we want to have trees,” he said. But he said that he thought that the ordinance, even as revised, did not address all the possible reasons why a tree might need to be taken down. “What if your insurance company should tell you you really have to take down this tree?” he asked. “Should that be handled differently?” Giblin asked that people in the audience Monday be heard on the ordinance, although that is not the process that Verona follows when reviewing new legislation.
And even though the revised ordinance reduced the number of replacement trees that might have to be planted, Councilman Alex Roman expressed concern that that still might not work for homeowners. “What if they want to landscape their property differently,” Roman asked. The councilman did not, however, propose any alternative erosion or flood control measures.
You can watch the discussion on the ordinance in the video below:
You can read the revised ordinance here.
