By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

How to address land that is currently devoid of trees remains the sticking point as Fayette County planning commissioners work to finalize their recommendations on a proposed tree protection ordinance.

The group next week will try again to come up with a document for presentation to the County Commission. Their work session is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 16 at the County Administrative Complex.

In an effort to discourage developers from stripping construction sites bare before they start construction, the commission is considering a new ordinance that would give existing trees twice as much weight as new ones in meeting a requirement that each development have at least 100 tree density units per acre.

Tree density units are simply inches of diameter measured at breast height, but under the proposed new rules, if a developer bulldozes all the trees prior to construction, each inch of diameter on any new trees planted will count as a half inch. In that case, the developer would have to plant 200 inches of new trees; for instance, 100 two-inch trees.

The idea is to provide an incentive to preserve existing mature trees, to give the county a more forested look and improve both air quality and drainage. But some commission members and members of a special advisory committee that has been studying the ordinance are concerned that the burden might be unfair if a developer buys a piece of land that has no trees to start with.

“You could end up with an absurdly expensive bunch of trees that probably have little chance of surviving,” said Lawrence Ottwell, a member of the advisory committee, during the commission's called work session last week.

Some have suggested counting new trees the same as existing ones on sites that are basically pasture land. And commission Chairman Bob Harbison suggesting going even further, giving pasture owners no tree planting requirements at all, other than the usual landscaping requirements.

Others argue that either solution would encourage land owners to harvest their trees in advance of making plans to develop the property, having the opposite effect of what the ordinance intends.

Equally baffling is what to do when a property has some trees to start with, but not nearly enough to satisfy the ordinance.

County commissioners have given the Planning Commission a January deadline for coming up with a recommended ordinance. Following its meeting tomorrow night, the County Commission will skip its regular fourth Thursday meeting, due to the Christmas holiday. The next meeting at which the governing body could consider the new tree ordinance is Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.