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Item No: 6A Meeting Date: 03/07/07 Type of Business: Discussion City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate Item Title/Subject: Proposed Tree Preservation & Landscaping Ordinance Background Staff has drafted a new ordinance for tree preservation and replacement, along with landscaping requirements. Currently the City has no restrictions to prevent property owners from removing trees, or requiring them to replace any removed trees. There are currently very general landscaping requirements in Chapter 1103.08 Subd. 4 but this ordinance now includes specific requirements. The main goals of this ordinance are to: encourage tree preservation especially during development, save larger existing trees, gain replacement trees when trees are removed, specify landscaping requirements for new development, and incorporate maintenance standards for landscaping such as removal of broken, fallen or diseased branches, trees or stumps. The City realizes that in some cases it is not reasonable to keep trees or wooded areas such as in the case of new construction, but would like to be able to have some trees preserved and/or replaced. There are exceptions to the replacement requirements such as disease, storms or other acts of natural occurrence, or trees lost as a result of utility trimming or maintenance. This ordinance does not necessarily require a property owner to replace every tree taken down. In many cases, the property owner may not be required to, or may not be able to, replace any or all of the removed trees. The ordinance puts a cap on the maximum number of replacement trees that would be required, depending on the size of the property and the amount of remaining trees. There are two primary situations where trees might be removed: tree removal on a site with building or grading permits, and tree removal where there is no other action occurring that would require a permit. Some examples of tree removal scenarios and how the ordinance could be used: 1. A property owner decides to clear their entire backyard of trees because they want more open space for their kids to play. Due to there being more than two trees removed, a Tree Plan would be required. Tree replacement would also be required, depending on the number of Significant and Specimen Trees, trees over 8 inches and 16 inches in diameter that are removed. The property owner would need to replace up to 5 trees on lots less than an acre, or up to 10 trees on lots exceeding an acre.