Get Involved in Shaping Atlanta’s New Tree Ordinance
The City of Atlanta is moving along with its rewrite of the City’s Tree Protection Ordinance.
The draft ordinance released by the City in March 2020 received a fair amount of criticism from the public. This included comments that the draft’s tree valuation system was too complex and not workable and that its tree preservation standard was far too lax by allowing owners/developers to remove up to half of a property’s high value trees, even if not necessary to build what they want.
The Department of City Planning heard from the public – including a citizen’s group that presented an alternative draft ordinance – and went back to the drawing board to prepare a second draft. This second draft is expected to be presented to City Council in early 2021.
In the meantime, you can read a summary of the proposed changes here. Under this new draft, residential and commercial developments will be treated differently, including having different preservation standards. You can review the City’s proposed flowcharts for how they suggest tree removal be handled in residential versus commercial developments here.
After the new draft is introduced to City Council, additional public input and meetings will be held throughout the Council and NPU adoption process.
Ways to get involved
If you’d like to help shape Atlanta’s new tree ordinance, there a number of ways to get involved:
The North Buckhead Civic Association’s Public Realm Committee intends to play an active role in the Tree Protection Ordinance rewrite and is organizing a Tree Ordinance Action Area. If you would like to be involved in this effort, please email NBCA.publicrealm1@gmail.com.
NPU-B (Buckhead’s Neighborhood Planning Unit) will also be reviewing the new Tree Protection Ordinance and responding to the changes. If you would like to attend NPU-B’s public meetings when discussion of the ordinance will be taking place, please email NPU-B Chair Nancy Bliwise at nbliwise@npu-b.com.trees
Comments and feedback on the draft Tree Protection Ordinance can also be sent directly to the Department of City Planning at treeordinance@atlantaga.gov.
