Agenda - Planning Commission - 07/10/2008

Home

Benedict and Ed McMahon (Green Infra- structure) as "an interconnected network of natural areas and other open spaces that con- servesnatural ecosystem values and func- tions, sustains clean air and water, and pro- vides a wide array of benefits to people and wildlife." The result is usually a growing but synergistic array of incentives, programs, regulations, and outreach efforts to achieve a variety of environmental goals through urban forestry. One overarching goal taking hold in some of these communities involves estab- lishing a target percentage in some future year for tree canopy coverage, which is the percent- age ofthe city's ground cover that lies beneath the canopy of the urban forest. A Maryland Department of Natural Resources study com- missioned by the city of Baltimore, for instance, recommended a goal of 46.3 percent canopy coverage by 2030-2036, up from a level of 20 percent in 2006. Such communities 1ypically seek to implement their goals through a series of code requirements and incentives for landowners, in addition to plant- ing and maintaining trees on public property and rights-of-way. As Gary Letteron, a planner forthe city's environmental department, noted at the time to the Baltimore Sun: "We cannot add 20 percent tree coverage without some of it going on private property." BEST PRACTICES EXAMPLES The remainder of this article will explore spe- cific regulatory approaches used by communi- ties that served as case studies in the PAS Report. As noted, these are often used in con- cert with other programs and initiatives to achieve urban forestry goals. The report also notes the importance of adequate funding for urban forestry, including both capital improve- ments and budgeting for enough enforcement personnel to ensure compliance with tree pro- tection and planting requirements and long- term maintenance for new developments, parking lotsi and subdivisions. It is never enough simply to place such requirements in the code becausemaintaining a healthy urban forest is an ongoing proposition that must be sustained long after new developments are completed_ Good forest planning calls for ade- quate resources for enforcement. CHApEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA This college town's urban forestry program started in 1989 when the.Town of Chapel Hill amended its charter.Oto authorize tree protec' ZOf\JINGPRACTICE 6.08 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION I page 3 75