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Changes will strengthen Fayetteville’s landscaping ordinance

Tree removal for homeowners protected

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A number of changes to Fayetteville’s landscaping ordinance have been approved by the City Council.

Chief among the changes was stronger language that limits any developed non-residential site outside the city’s Main Street District to no more than 60 percent impervious surface.

Inside the Main Street District, non-residential properties are limited to having at least 25 percent of the site as green space.

Now that pervious pavers and similar tools are available to create parking spaces, the previous wording might allow them to be used, officials said.

But the main point of the ordinance was to protect green space, and so the new ordinance states the remaining 40 percent of the site must be used for green space, said Director of Planning and Zoning Jahnee Prince.

The changes also add the city’s highway corridor buffer guidelines to the landscaping ordinance. Previously they were a part of the city’s zoning ordinance, but they were removed from that area of the ordinances in conjunction with the new addition to the landscape ordinance.

The concept of swapping the language from the zoning ordinance to the landscape provision was “to make it easier for people who are looking for that information,” said Jahnee Prince, the city’s Director of Planning and Zoning.

The ordinance, which restricts how and when trees can be cut down from any given lot, also adds language to exempt private single family residences “where the lot has been purchased from the developer and a house has been built.”

Under the ordinance, the minimum fine for removing a protected tree is $750 and any violation of the landscaping ordinance could lead to a civil or administrative fine of up to $1,000 per offense.

Also, if protected trees and natural vegetation on a site are damaged or destroyed during development, the city can issue a stop work order, and place a moratorium on the development for up to six months. The city can then ask for a revised tree protection and landscaping plan for review and approval by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.