The city could do more to protect the canopy

The city’s urban forester position has been vacant for about nine months.

Tallahassee City Commissioner Jack Porter says the city has not done enough to address recommendations in the Urban Forest Master Plan, which is designed to preserve and protect Tallahassee’s prized tree canopy.

The master plan, which was approved by city commissioners in 2018, includes numerous short- and long-term recommendations, from inventorying all trees on public land to hiring additional staff to provide greater oversight of developers. Some of the recommendations have been implemented, but others are still underway or awaiting action.

City commissioners received an update on the plan at their meeting on Nov. 6, the day after the general election. It came at the insistence of Porter, who had been asking for an update since early last year.

Assistant City Manager Wayne Tedder told commissioners that when the master plan process began, Tallahassee’s urban tree canopy coverage was measured at 55%, the highest among comparable cities nationwide. The city, he said, has earned the title of Tree City USA over the past 35 years.

“But a healthy urban forest is much more than just quantity,” he said. “It is also about the quality and diversity of our trees. It is fundamental for a healthy, long-lived and more wind-resistant urban forest.”

Tedder began by saying that the city’s urban forester would have presented the item, but the position has been vacant for about nine months.

Under questioning by Porter, he said there was only one certified arborist in Growth Management — one fewer than in 2018. But he said the city has 28 arborists across all departments, up from the 16 employed six years ago.

Davey Resource Group of Ohio, which wrote the master plan for $124,200, recommended that the city hire more project review and inspection staff to resolve tree issues before development begins and to more thoroughly monitor tree protection and planting activities.

Porter questioned whether the city was doing enough to deal with private property owners and developers.

“I think what I’m trying to get at is I think there’s so much more in this plan that we could do,” she said.

Max Epstein, an environmental activist who appeared virtually, expressed concern that the city was not doing enough to preserve large trees during the development’s permitting process. He noted that Leon County Environmental Code does not allow the removal of patriarch trees, including exceptional shade trees with a diameter of 36 inches or more.

“I would like to see the committee adopt this resolution,” he said. “This should not be a controversial topic. There should be a way to preserve these big trees that take 40, 50, 100 years to grow.”

The discussion took place against the backdrop of criticism from environmental and community activists over clear-cutting and the removal of large trees that could have been saved at places like Canopy at Welaunee, Buckingham Gates at Apalachee Parkway and two city projects under construction, the Southside Transit. Center and the new Tallahassee Police Headquarters.

At Canopy, developed by Premier Homes, owned by the Ghazvini family, the removal of a large number of trees left a thin vegetative buffer between the new neighborhood and the Miccosukee Canopy Road Greenway. Bee Buckingham Gateswhich is being developed by the Boulous Corporation, is clear-cutting an urban forest.

At the the city’s new transit centera giant oak and other trees were brought down, while they were abruptly removed oak trees at TPD’s new headquarters local residents who tried to save them became upset.

Tree talk leads to sniping between Porter and Mayor Dailey

Porter said at the commission meeting that a comparison of cities with other cities showed the city would need to increase its urban forestry spending from $500,000 in 2018 to between $1.3 million and $4 million “so we can implement some of their recommendations could really deliver.”

That comment drew chuckles from Mayor John Dailey, who sits in the voting majority along with Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams-Cox. Porter, who is in the minority along with Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, was re-elected in August; Richardson was re-elected the night before the discussion, confirming the status quo at City Hall.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” Porter said. “We have a plan. We paid for a plan. This is important to our community.”

“I’m laughing because you’re asking budget questions when you’ve voted against the budget for the last three years in a row and not provided any financial support to any of our employees,” Dailey said.

John Reddick, director of Growth Management, said he could not agree with the plan’s recommendation for more than one arborist. He said his department focuses on removing trees from single-family homes and small businesses, not large-scale ones. He said arborists “do a lot of that work.”

Reading from the master plan, Porter said Growth Management staff were “challenged to provide expertise and oversight” needed for development projects, with one more arborist in the department than currently employed.

“I have some ideas, and we will follow up on some of the other recommendations at another time,” she said. “I’m grateful for the update. I’m a little concerned that there’s a lot more that’s been recommended that I don’t know we’ve implemented or taken seriously.”

Porter later told the Democrat that she supports moving to the county’s 36-inch diameter standard or a stricter standard to protect large trees. She also said she supports a charter amendment — which environmentalists have talked about pursuing — to strengthen protections for urban trees.

City Expands Adopt-A-Tree for Areas Hardest Hit by May 10 Tornadoes

Tedder told commissioners that about half of the trees located on the right-of-way and other city-owned properties — about 41,000 — had been inventoried as called for in the master plan. He added that while the city had removed more than 2,000 trees due to their poor condition, more than 5,400 trees had been planted in the same locations. All trees were on public land.

“Our goal is simple,” he said. “We will plant more trees than we remove.”

Tedder said that since more than 70% of the city’s tree canopy is on private property, the city’s efforts have focused on the Adopt-A-Tree program, which makes native trees available to property owners. The program is being expanded to allow five trees per plot in areas hardest hit by the May 10 tornado outbreak, he said. He added that unnecessary tree loss due to storms was identified as an issue in the master plan.

“We see that every time a storm hits our community – the first reaction of many property owners is let’s cut down all the trees in our community,” he said. “We don’t want to do that. We want to cut down the trees that are more vulnerable to wind damage.”

Commissioners Matlow, Richardson and Williams-Cox did not comment on the master plan update, which was approved 5-0.

Contact Jeff Burlew at [email protected] or 850-599-2180.