A moratorium on new development in Fayetteville may not have been what local developers had in mind when they asked City Council to delay action on a proposed new tree protection ordinance.

But it's what they got. Council Monday enacted a renewable 30-day moratorium on any new building projects, and likewise tabled the proposed tree ordinance for 30 days. And because council's regular third Monday meeting in November falls on the 15th, the law won't come up for a vote until Dec. 6 unless the group votes to remove it from the table.

A highly restrictive development ordinance for the city's main highway corridors already exists, developer Bob Rolader pointed out. He said he fears that adding new tree preservation restrictions will make it impossible to build in Fayetteville.

“Look at what you've already created with the corridor overlays and let's see if the buildings even fit,” Rolader said during a City Council work session last week.

The tree protection ordinance, recommended by the city Planning Commission and staff, was on the council agenda for action Monday, but the group decided to delay action so a committee of city leaders and developers can study the proposed law.

Rolader suggested using an actual development site in the city as a test case.

Council members said they're not opposed to that idea, as long as taxpayer money isn't spent on the testing, but in the meantime they don't want more trees destroyed in development until a new ordinance is in place.

“It only takes a couple of minutes with a bulldozer to knock a tree down,” said Councilman Al Hovey-King.

“I suggest we have a moratorium on development until we address this,” said Councilman Kenneth Steele.

The proposed ordinance, similar to one being studied by the Fayette County Planning Commission, is designed to encourage developers to save existing trees rather than stripping construction sites and then replacing large, old trees with young, smaller ones.

Under the law, existing trees would carry twice as much weight as new ones in determining whether a developer has met the requirement that each development have at least 100 “tree density units” per acre. The law would provide rules for digging and grading around the preserved trees to prevent their being damaged in construction.

Developers also are required to identify “stands” of trees that can be preserved together. A stand is defined as a group of trees that have grown up together and therefore depend on each other.

“If you thin it out and just save all the oaks or all the sycamore trees and remove all the others, then you have tall, spindly trees that, left on their own, look out of place,” said Maurice Ungaro, city planner, during recent discussions of the Planning Commission.

In addition to Rolader, developers Randy Hayes and Mike Rosetti addressed their concerns about the law during last week's work session.

“It's going to have the effect of making the land with no trees more valuable than the land with trees,” said Rosetti.

“The penalty portion is quite severe,” said Hayes, adding that the city already can stop work on a construction site if the developer breaks the rules, and that's the most effective remedy.

“We don't make much progress in resolving the situations with the current remedy,” countered Mayor Mike Wheat.

City manager Mike Bryant said staff members will meet with a designer sometime this week to set up a test case to determine how the proposed law would affect an actual development.

Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page