Wednesday, August 15, 2001
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Wednesday, August 15, 2001 |
| Commission:
proposed law barks up wrong tree
By DAVE HAMRICK
A proposed new section for Fayette's tree protection law will be plowed under and replanted over the next couple of months. Urged on by the County Commission, the county's Planning Commission and engineering staff took aim several months ago at people who strip their property of trees and then sell it for development, thus getting around some of the provisions of the tree protection ordinance. But county commissioners said last week that the proposed changes missed the target, their bull's-eye falling instead on some of Fayette's oldest families, land owners and farmers who have been here for generations. The ordinance requires that some of the existing trees on a property be preserved when it is developed for residential or commercial use. But if there are no trees there to begin with, some developers have found, they can get around the law. But requiring natural buffers around the perimeter of a timbering site is not the way to solve that problem, said land owners. About 30 land owners attended the commission meeting to oppose the ordinance, many of them from families that have held the land for generations. "The effect of the ordinance would be to reduce the value of specified trees to zero dollars," said Gerald Woolsey, who has about 125 acres planted in timber in south Fayette. The proposed 25-foot buffer, land owners said, would prohibit them from harvesting acres of trees worth thousands of dollars, and in many cases they planted the trees to start with. "If the county wants this property in trees to beautify the county, then the county should [buy the property]," said Woolsey. Barbara Buckley said under the proposed ordinance, the owner of land next to hers could legally remove most of the trees and leave no buffer in order to build houses, "and then I might want to cut my trees [for timber] and can't because these neighbors enjoy looking at my trees. ..." Dan Langford said his family has owned acreage in Brooks for 150 years, at various times planting cotton or raising cattle, and in the early '80s planted pine seedlings for later harvest. "Nobody to my knowledge has complained, ever, about how my family has managed the farm," he said. "Now, 20 years into the timber business, the rules are being changed on me [and] I can't cut the trees that I've planted." The effect of the proposed ordinance change, he said, might be to force longtime land owners to develop their property. Commissioners tabled any action on the proposal until Oct. 25, and asked County Engineer Ron Salmons to rewrite it taking into account the land owners' concerns. While a tree ordinance is needed, and a section devoted to timbering is also needed, the proposal "hits the exact wrong group of people," said Commissioner Linda Wells. She also asked the land owners to make suggestions of ways the county could "put some controls on developers" without unduly burdening legitimate timbering.
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