On Wednesday, July 22, 3 NMCA board members attended a virtual public input session on the City’s New Proposed Tree Ordinance. In 2019, the Landscape Ordinance (of which the Tree Ordinance is a part) went through a lengthy review during which the most controversy was over the Tree Ordinance. City Council thus asked staff to review the Tree Ordinance.
We were shown a powerpoint presentation which we have linked to below which you can view. We have also included the Current Tree Ordinance and Proposed Tree Ordinance on our website for your information. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to have input into the process. The presentation shows just how much canopy Greenville has lost in the past 10 years. We have gone from 41% tree canopy in 2001 to 36% in 2011 and they have extrapolated this to 25 -31% in 2021. In 2017 we had 56% pervious surface. That’s 44% impervious and trees can’t grow in impervious surface.
There are slides that show actual canopy loss, including one of North Main. They compared several factors in Greenville’s current ordinance to cities of comparable size. Greenville was weak in all areas. They specifically compared Greenville to Atlanta who has one of the strongest tree ordinances and is also much simpler than ours. They included a sneak peak at the new ordinance main features but you need to take a look at the complete ordinance to get the full picture.
The NMCA board will be providing comments but we urge as many of you as possible to study the proposed ordinance and email your concerns or comments to Leslie Fletcher at lfletcher@greenvillesc.gov by Friday, August 7.
Tree Preservation for Public Meetings_07.21.20_FINAL FOR SHOW (1)
