By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

If you would like to serve on a special committee reviewing Fayette's tree protection regulations, you have until Friday to get your name in the pot.

County commissioners last week decided to set the Friday deadline for submission of names for a five-member committee to review a proposed tree protection ordinance currently under consideration by the county Planning Commission.

Working with county engineer Kirk Houser, the Planning Commission has designed a proposed ordinance that would provide incentives for developers to preserve more existing trees on construction sites.

Current law requires that developers plant or save a minimum number of caliper inches (diameter) of trees per acre, but does not differentiate between newly planted trees and older ones preserved from the bulldozer. This often leads to developers stripping a construction site completely, then meeting the ordinance requirement by planting young ornamental trees, resulting in loss of all the native, large specimen trees, officials say.

But during a public hearing on the ordinance in September, the Planning Commission heard from numerous developers who urged caution.

“The whole idea is to make it better, and to make it better you need input from all parts of the community,” developer Jeff Ellis told the group during the hearing.

He suggested forming a committee made up of county experts, average citizens and developers to “come up with a compromise that's going to suit everybody in the long run.”

County commissioners last week voted to form such a committee, limiting it to five members, and allow ten days for anyone interested to submit resumes to commissioners' aide Carol Chandler.

“I'm not interested in waiting two years to get a tree ordinance,” cautioned Commissioner Greg Dunn before making a motion to name a committee. He was referring to the county's sign ordinance, which did take two years to adopt as committees studied it for months.

“I don't have a problem with a short duration [committee],” Dunn added.

Interested parties should submit resumes to Carol Chandler at the County Administrative Complex, 140 W. Stonewall Ave., Fayetteville 30214. Friday is the deadline.

Commissioners directed the Planning Commission to select the committee from the names submitted