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«Y ivugiuy W FURu.Hn uic new rules nave sprung upsake the mgin eras years in oraer to coaity the variety of
<br /> lown during construction, ning of the decade — after the last building existing rules designed to retain as much
<br /> 3.officials estimate, con- boom—and many builders are grappling with woodland as'possible.
<br /> city's tree ordinances will the concept of tree-hugging for the first time. Some suburbs, like Minnetonka, continue
<br /> 00 to their project costs. -"Many communities have adopted the to approach preservation efforts on a'case-by-
<br /> case basis;working with individual builders to
<br /> determine how many trees can be saved on a
<br /> particular development.
<br /> ..
<br /> � But i n cities like Eden Prairie builders
<br /> ,. Ali v�� z .w
<br /> u \ k 'r.::,:>: ... , now face a, sometimes complex set of rules
<br /> "'' �` F R.`'•�+>$'dF' ,rrrr>>,, >: �;,. '�
<br /> i...v:\bi
<br /> tizK..
<br /> that la ,out exact
<br /> ly how an inc di
<br /> am-
<br /> . o inches in d am-
<br /> Y
<br /> eter constitutes a tree worth saving,what per-
<br /> centage of trees cleared for development need
<br /> to be replaced somewhere else and how much
<br /> builders- will be: fined for damaging or
<br /> destroying protected trees..
<br /> Wayzata, for instance, now in the midst of
<br /> t z _
<br /> drawing up a tree protection ordina mze.,is con-
<br /> .
<br /> sidering' fining builders $200 per "diameter
<br /> inch" of damaged trees.
<br /> u But while developers may grumble about
<br /> k f 3 the time and:cost involved in.counting and
<br /> r f mapping out the number of 20-inch oak tree
<br /> on,a plot'of land, many say they underst;
<br /> the rationale behind the rules. Particularly
<br /> with- residential buildings and ,upper-end
<br /> g
<br /> office,projects,an abundance of trees acts as a
<br /> selling point,,they say-
<br /> ordinances today is that 10 or 15 years ago,the
<br /> principle was not to save trees, whereas now I
<br /> think most developers realize the economic
<br /> value of that,"said Geoff Olson;Minnetonka's
<br /> i4 planning,director: "It's in the best interest of.
<br /> 7 the developers to save the trees"
<br /> Tom Sexton, a principal at Tobin Real
<br /> Estate Co. in Minneapolis,agreed:
<br /> ,�.. "My,feelings are I think they are real good
<br /> 3 ordinances,.because I• happen- to. live in the
<br /> .. suburbs,"he said.`"Once you're done building
<br /> there, it's a great place to do business. It's
<br /> J hard to knock something that ultimately bene-
<br /> fits your project." .
<br /> Sexton's firm,which helped guide the con-
<br /> struction of the new WestHealth campus in
<br /> Plymouth, three years ago, paid $8,000 to
<br /> inventory trees before beginning construcN
<br /> on 'the 120,000-square-foot project. .Tr%,_
<br /> replacement costs on the medical complex
<br /> ;v were minimal, he said, although,they might
<br /> escalate if WestHealth'adds_onto its existing
<br /> ME buildings,now surrounded by acres of woods.
<br /> On:average, Sexton:said, tree preservation
<br /> Y' � F , `E' er and replacement efforts can add about 25 cents
<br /> ' x y3 per square foot to the cost of anew building.
<br /> ElmM: ::
<br /> \ f Privately, some builders argue that the
<br /> ordinances which ,often.limit the amount of
<br /> eland available for development on any one
<br /> y
<br /> project, promote suburban sprawl, by forcing
<br /> developers farther and farther away from the
<br /> H.
<br /> central cities in pursuit of large tracts of land.
<br /> But planners and development officials say
<br /> that argument doesn't hold up,, particularly
<br /> 4< ' >`;`a when cities allow develoPe rs to"transfer den-
<br /> sity"from wooded areas into open lots—that
<br /> ' is taking the amount of construction theoreti-
<br /> cally possible in a wooded area, and allowing
<br /> builders to construct that much more on an
<br /> a 'M>aH 2 already clear parcel.
<br /> ,s "We've just found a more creative way to.,
<br /> develop the land and still preserve the trees
<br /> the-property," said -Mike •Franzen, Eden
<br /> Prairie's city planner. ■
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