06/03/1996 Park Board Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 CityBusiness May 24, 1996 LDEVELOPMENT Costs climb and delays mount as developers work with tree preservation regulations ew- 1 L1 ua tree p By Peter Kafka Following tree preservation rules enacted "[The ordinance] adds the two classic plans,"said Miles Lindberg,a senior associate Staff reporter in 1990 by the city of Eden Prairie, BTO hired issues to development," said BTO principal at BRW who has done tree inventories for a Last fall, BTO Development Corp. became BRW Inc.,Minneapolis,to measure,count and Alan Hill. "Time and money." number of developers. "And there's a tenden- the proud owner of,a prime stretch of land in eventually map every "significant" tree on its Throughout the Twin Cities, developers cy to apply them with ardor and vigor." Eden Prairie just off Interstate 494, and the new 64-acre investment. And now, as BTO looking to begin new projects in outer-ring sub- City planners say most of the tree preser- company was eager to start building an office gears up to actually build on its property, it urbs are confronting similar hurdles. Most of - vation plans were instituted over the past,sev- i building. will have to pay to replace roughly 40 percent the new rules have sprung up since the begin- eral years in order to codify the variety of But long before the Minnetonka company of the trees it cuts down during construction. ning of the decade — after the last building existing rules designed to retain as much could begin development,it found itself hiring All in all, BTO officials estimate, con- boom—and many builders are grappling with woodland as possible. contractors to walk through the woods, forming with the city's tree ordinances will the concept of tree-hugging for the first time. Some suburbs, like Minnetonka, continue calipers-in hand, and measure trees. add at least $175,000 to their project costs. "Many communities have adopted the to approach preservation efforts on a case-by- case basis,working with individual builders to ( determine how many trees can be saved on a particular development. Y:;; ;::u:. . But in cities like Eden Prairie , builders now face a sometimes complex set of rules that lay out exactly how many inches in diam- 1 eter constitutes a tree worth saving, what per en e o f . tagf trees clearedF• for development need to be replaced somewhere else and how much ;r ;� �.k:,:::.�,.� k::<<� .r,,,,.. :., : :z:�..,..: guilders will be fined for damaging or destroying protected trees. Wayzata, C ;aE^ W f instance, now in the midst of a or drawing u a tree protection ordinance is con- sidering fining builders $200 per _"diameter >r _ inch of damaged trees. y._;.w. But while developers may grumble about 01 the time and,cost involved in counting and ...<.�, PP g ma iri out the number of 20-inch oak trees i, +y .... ,.:>.::::::::::::::ate..:a............................... � i, (( >.;•.:;>>:::.<:.:.:w:::::::::.::..... ::::::::::::::.::.::::.;»:>;;;'.:;.;.'.;:o::as;+..:,.n ;. I ..? ::III.. w.£4.: ozd.tia II • ,:"<>:�<<::<.: :.��< � ri a lot of land man say the understand r. f P Y Y Y the rationale behind the rules. Particularly ' u.3,,`•r3 with residential PP buildings and upper-end 1 • 1 • . . • � '' office projects,an abundance of trees acts as a :.. se y ling point;they t y sa