Trustees Consider How to Preserve the Village Tree Canopy

Both the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) and the Friends of the Scarsdale Parks (FOSP) met with the Village Board of Trustees on Tuesday February 24 to discuss the Village's tree ordinance and how best to maintain the village tree canopy. Currently aerial views show that 50% of Scarsdale is covered with trees and both groups are proponents of maintaining Scarsdale's canopy and encouraging residents to plant native, non-invasive trees.

Lee Fischman of the Conservation Advisory Council led the board through a discussion of a report that the committee issued in December with recommended changes to the tree law to maintain Scarsdale's trees.

Here is a summary of their recommendations:

1. The Village actively seek to maintain its 50% tree canopy coverage.
2. All projects requiring land use board approval must either attain the 50% canopy goal (at maturity) or pay an assessment for any shortfall.
3. Preconstruction tree surveys be conducted by a certified ISA arborist.
4. "Street" trees be required for all site redevelopment.
5. A permit be required for any tree (> 6" DBH2) (diameter at breast height) removed by a homeowner.
6. Neighbors be notified of substantial (> 12" DBH) tree removals.
7. Violations of the tree protection code result in subtraction of any unprotected trees from the canopy calculation.
8. Recent Friends of the Scarsdale Parks (FOSP) tree ordinance guidance be adopted.

How can this be accomplished? The Sustainability Committee recommends that those who choose not to replace trees they take down would have the option of paying a Canopy Replacement Fee (CRA), or a compensation fund to cover the cost of the Village planting trees in another location to replace the loss of canopy.

The committee also recommends that before construction is done on a site, a certified arborist should do a tree survey that includes tree species, condition, canopy coverage and counts all trees greater than 4".

For new construction the property owner would be required to protect or plant street trees.

Permits would be required for removal of any tree larger than 6"DBH.

Neighbors would need to be notified for removal of trees greater than 12"DBH.

During construction, trees would need to be protected, by surrounding them with a fence. The root cannot be disturbed with digging or trenching.

Madelaine Eppenstein, Co-President of the Friends of the Scarsdale Parks summarized the conclusions of their report on Scarsdale's tree policy. Though they concurred with the CAC on some recommendations, they diverged on others.

They also support designing a system to maintain maximum tree coverage but do not believe that residents should be given the option of paying fees to avoid planting trees on their property.

They want to ensure that only non-invasive native trees were planted and that the planting of invasive species should be prohibited by law. In a December report the group recommended which trees and shrubs should be planted and which should be prohibited as they are invasive.

They conclude by saying that their objective is to "not only help preserve the ecological balance and character of Scarsdale's natural environment, but also to balance this responsibility with the sometimes competing goals of property owners." They call for, "sound tree replacement and retention standards, requiring the planting of street and perimeter trees" and "expanding the Village right-of-way tree planting program."

In the discussion that followed, Bart Hamlin told trustees that "the BAR needs some guidance on plantings" when they review landscaping plans.

Co-President of FOSP Susannah Jones said, "We question an assessment in lieu of planting on private property. If you have a larger property you should make your planting plan equally as important as your home design. The idea of an option to pay your way out of the situation may not be a good idea. It is not necessarily the responsible thing to do – just like we are responsible for dealing with our own storm water, maybe people should be responsible for their part of the tree canopy. If 500 homeowners decide to pay in – where will plant the replacement trees?"

Trustee Brodsky said, "Have you given any thought to trees at risk – those that remain up but are impacted by construction? Fischman responded, "That would have to be done through monitoring." Brodsky continued, "We have a recreation fee for subdivisions – but it requires permission. It would seem to me tree canopy replacement fees could be approved by a village board – not be a given as an automatic buyout."

Trustee Stern said, "You can buy carbon credits to meet environmental standards – why not make it really expensive and people will think twice about removing a tree?"

Discussing the planting of large trees, Cynthia Roberts told the group, "The smaller a tree you put in, the better its root structure will be. Smaller trees can be transplanted with their entire root system intact. However its best to do this in the fall – when we are vacuuming leaves. If the staff could be spared we could plant these trees."

After considerable discussion about the best way to regulate and monitor trees, Mayor Steves concluded the meeting by saying, "We respect the work of the FOSP and the CAC. They are the environmental conscious of the village. We need to put something in place. How do we get to where we need to be? We need to decide whether the protection of the tree canopy is a concern of the village and if so, how to ensure it."