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03-16-05 v MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF TREE CONSERVATION BOARD March 16, 2005 A special meeting of the Tree Conservation Board was held on March 16, 2005, in the Adele Grage Cultural Center. Present were Chair Maureen Shaughnessy, Jamie Fletcher, Stephanie Catania, Jim McCue, Building Official Don Ford and Recording Secretary Amber Lehman. Absent was Chuck Carroll. 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7:31 p.m. 2. Recognition of Visitors None. 3. Approval of Minutes of the Meeting of March 9, 2005 A motion was made by Board Member Catania, seconded by Board Member Fletcher, and unanimously carried to approve the Minutes of March 9, 2005, as written. 4. New Business A. 1726 Selva Marina: A motion was made by Board Member McCue to instruct the building official to send the tree application back to the owners of the property and request owner to supply with tree application a proper legend for each of the trees that he is taking out and trees that he is saving, 2"d by Board Member Fletcher, and unanimously carried. B. Proposed Tree Ordinance Attached are the changes to the Tree Ordinance. 5. Old Business None. 6. Reports and Announcements 7. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m. Maureen Shaughnessy, Chair Chapter 23 VEGETATION* Art. I. In General , §§ 23-1-23-14 Art. II. Tree Protection, §§ 23-15-23-35 Art III. Accumulation of Weeds, §§ 23-36-23-45 Art. IV. Historic Tree Preservation, §§ 23-46-23-50 ARTICLE I. IN GENERAL Secs. 23-1-23-14. Reserved. ARTICLE II. TREE PROTECTION Secs. 23-15. Intent. It is the intent of these regulations to promote the health, safety and welfare of the current and future residents of the city by establishing standards for the protection of trees and tree canopy throughout the city in order to: (1) Improve the aesthetic appearance of commercial governmental, industrial, and residential areas through the protection of tress and tree canopy during development; (2) Improve environmental quality by recognizing the numerous beneficial effects of tress upon the environment; (3) Provide direct and important physical and psychological benefits to human beings through the preservation of trees to reduce noise and glare, and to break up the monotony and soften the harsher aspects of urban development; (4) Promote innovative approaches to the design, of site plans and building designs, installation and maintenance of trees, thereby encouraging water and energy conservation; (5) Increase and maintain the value of lands by requiring a minimum amount of trees to be incorporated into development, enhancement of R.O.W.'s with canopy; (6) Preserve existing natural trees and vegetation when possible; (7) Promote the conservation of potable and nonpotable water by encouraging the preservation of existing plant communities, encouraging the planting of natural or uncultivated areas, encouraging the use of site-specific plant materials; (8) Encourage xeroscaping and use of native species; (9) Establish procedures and standards for the administration and enforcement of this part; *Cross reference -Streets, sidewalks and other public places, CH. 19. tEditor's note -Ordinance No. 95-95-64, § 1, adopted February 12, 1996, amended Art. II to read as herein set out. Prior to such amendment, Art. II. consisted of §§ 23-16-23-27, which pertained to tree protection and derived from Ord. No. 95-89-44, § 1, adopted January 8, 1990. Supp. No 27 1351 ATLANTIC BEACH CODE (10) Establish a tree fund for the collection of moneys from mitigation to be used for planting trees, education, public awareness, and administrative cost to preserve the character of the city. (Ord. No. 95-95-64, § 1, 2-12-96) Editor's Note---Ordinance No. 95-95-64, § 1, adopted February 12, 1996, amended Art. II. by including provisions designated as § 23-1. For purposes of classifications and in order to preserve numerical consistency, such provisions have been included herein as § 23-15 at the discretion of the editor. Sec. 23-16. Definitions. The following words and phrases, when used herein, shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them: Buffer yard or strip means a strip of land, identified on a site plan or by zoning ordinance requirement, established to protect one type of land use from another land use that may be incompatible. The area is landscaped, maintained and kept in open space. Caliper means the trunk diameter of existing or planted trees. Caliper shall be measured six (6) inches above the ground for trees up to and including four (4) inches in caliper, and measured twelve (12) inches above the ground for trees exceeding four (4) inches in caliper. Construction means and includes erecting structures and buildings, placements of utilities, paving, topographical changes, and installation of drainage. DBH means the diameter breast height measured in inches at four and five-tenths (4.5) feet above ground level. DBH for multi-trunked trees shall be determined by measuring each trunk immediately above the fork and adding the total inches together. Designee means as appointed representative. Developer/builder/contractor means any person, firm or other legal entity that purchases, agrees to purchase or otherwise holds an interest in real property with the intent to, or in fact does, develop such property for an y construction (by himself or others) thereon for which an application for a building permit will ultimately be required. Development, redevelopment, renovating means any construction for which an application for a building permit must be made prior to initiation of any improvement. Also, in the case of vehicular use paving, and preparation or pavement (concrete or asphalt) of a site intended for any type of vehicular use. Director means city's representative responsible for administering building and site clearing permits. Dominant species means the specie occurring most frequently. Dripline means an imaginary line extending perpendicularly down form the outermost branches of a tree. Excavation means the act of digging, cutting or scooping soil or in any way changing the existing grade of the land. Supp No. 27 1352 ~" VEGETATION Hazardous where the tree, due to natural circumstances, is in danger of falling, is too close to existing structures, creates unsafe vision clearance or constitutes a health hazard. Mitigation means trees required to be planted on property to replace a percentage of the trees removed during construction, as defined in section 23-17©, or, alternately, funds deposited in the tree replacement manual. Municipal means of or belonging to the city of its franchised agents. Open space means all areas of natural plant communities or areas replanted with vegetation after construction, such as revegetated natural areas; tree, shrub, hedge or ground cover planting areas; and lawns, and all other areas required to be provided as natural ground and landscaping. Park means all public parks owned by the city. Positional conflict means, by virtue of its location, the tree's dripline is encroached upon by site alterations. Preserve area means vegetative areas required to be preserved under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, St. Johns River Water Management District and/or the United States Army Corps of Engineers or other regulatory agencies. Property owner means the person owning the property as shown in the county tax roles. Protected tree means and includes all of the following: (1) Private protected tree: Any tree on private property with: a. A DBH of six (6) inches or more located on any lot within twenty (20) feet of a street right-of-way (including an approved private street or other access easement) and twenty (20) feet from the rear lot line or located within seven and one-half (71/z) feet of any side property line; or b. A tree with a DBH of twenty (20) inches or more located elsewhere on a residential lot and a tree with a DBH of ten (10) inches or more located elsewhere on a commercial or industrial lot. (2) Public protected tree: Any tree located on lands owned by the city, or other governmental agencies or authorities, or any land upon which easements are imposed for the benefit of the city, or other governmental agencies or authorities, or upon which other ownership control may be exerted by the city, or other governmental agencies or authorities, including rights-of-way, parks, public areas and easements for drainage, sewer, water and other public utilities, with: a. A DBH of six (6) inches or more located within a city or other governmental right-of- way, or located on any parcel within twenty (20) feet of a street right-of-way or rear parcel line, or located on any parcel within seven and one-half (7'/z) feet of any side property line; or b. A DBH of ten (10) inches or more located elsewhere on the parcel. Supp No. 27 1353 § 23-16 ATLANTIC BEACH CODE (3) Exceptional specimen tree: Any tree which is determined by the city commission to be of unique and intrinsic value to the general public because of its size, age, historic association, or ecological value or any tree designated a Florida State Champion, United States Champion or World Champion by the American Forestry Association. The city clerk shall keep a record of all specimen trees so designated and their location. Protective barrier means a manmade barricade to prevent disturbance of the tree's growing environment. Public place means all grounds owned by the city. Razing means to scrape, cut or otherwise remove existing trees. Site alterations means any manmade change, disturbance, or damage to the existing topography or trees. Street means the entire width of public right-of-way. Tree means any self-supporting woody plant of a species which normally grows to an overall height of a minimum of twelve (12) feet in this area. Tree removal means any act causing the death and/or elimination of a tree. Tree replacement account means an account created by the city to be used exclusively for finding public tree-planting projects, including up to ten (10) percent of the cost for general landscape material. Donations to this account shall be on a voluntary basis and may include monies donated per this section [i.e., definition of "mitigation"]. Understory means assemblages of natural low-level woody, herbaceous, and ground cover species which exist in the area below the canopy of the trees. Unique or special characteristic means a tree of unusual species, configuration, size, age or historical background, including, but not limited to, a live oak, cypress or magnolia tree of thirty (30) inches or more in DBH. (Ord. No. 95-95-64, § 1, 2-12-96) Sec. 23-17. Applicability; removal of trees; minimum standards; permits; mitigation; development; enforcement; violations and penalties. (a) Applicability. The provisions of this section shall apply to all protected trees within the city; unless specifically exempted herein. (b) Removal of protected trees prohibited; exceptions. (1) No person, organization, society, association or corporation, or any agent or representative thereof, directly or indirectly, shall cut down, remove, damage or destroy, or shall authorize the cutting down, removal, damage, or destruction of, any protected tree, as defined in section 23- 16 hereof, or shall commit any act or authorize the commission of any act which physically removes a protected tree or causes a tree to die, such as damage inflicted upon the root system by heavy machinery, chemicals or Supp No. 17 1354 VEGETATION § 23-17 paving, changing the natural grade above the root system and tree damage permitting infection or pest infestation, without first having obtained a permit as herein provided. (2) The following protected trees are exempted from the provisions of this section: a. Any tree located on any property upon which either asingle-family dwelling or a mobile home on an individual lot is located unless a permit for development, redevelopment, or renovation, valued at ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) or more, is required, or anticipated within six (6) months following tree removal; b. Any tree located in botanical gardens or in state-approved or government nurseries and groves which are grown for sale of public purpose; c. Any tree that poses imminent danger to the public health, welfare of safety, and requires immediate removal without delay. In such instances, verbal authorization to remove a protected tree may be given by the director. During the period of an emergency such as a hurricane, flood or any other natural disaster, the requirements of this section may be temporarily waived by the director, so that private or public work to restore order in the city will in no way be hampered. (c) Minimum tree standards. (1) Minimum tree standards shall apply to all lots affected by permitted development, ~" redevelopment, or renovation values at ten thousand ($10,000.00) or more. (2) Unless otherwise provided in this section, a minimum number of trees shall be planted or preserved upon each site pursuant to the following standards, which are the minimum requirements for landscaping within the city. Trees shall not be placed where they interfere with site drainage or where they will require frequent pruning in order to avoid interference with overhead power lines. a. Minimum tree-planting requirements for all residentially zoned property upon which either asingle-family dwelling or a mobile home on an individual lot is located or to be located: One (1) four-inch caliper tree shall be planted and/or preserved for every twenty-five hundred (2500) square feet of lot area, or portion thereof, excluding therefrom preserve areas and water bodies. Preserving protected trees will offset this requirement. b. Minimum tree-planting requirements for all nonresidential zoned property upon which either asingle-family dwelling or a mobile home on an individual lot is located: 1. One (1) tree shall be planted and/or preserved for every eight thousand (8,000) square feet of parcel area or portion thereof, excluding therefrom preserve areas and water bodies in all commercial districts, except as otherwise provided herein. 2. One (1) tree shall be planted and/or preserved for every ten thousand (10,000) square feet of parcel areas or portion thereof, excluding therefrom preserve areas and water bodies in any industrial district or public (government) use district. Supp No. 27 1355