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Tree ordinance gets upgrade, approval

Kile Brewer
Posted 3/22/17

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A new, more clearly written tree ordinance passed 4-0 at Tuesday’s meeting of the Green Cove Springs City Council, with the contingency that a few changes be made to the …

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Tree ordinance gets upgrade, approval


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A new, more clearly written tree ordinance passed 4-0 at Tuesday’s meeting of the Green Cove Springs City Council, with the contingency that a few changes be made to the final draft of the revised code.

The mayor, vice mayor and all council members at the meeting – council member Connie Butler was absent – supported scaling back the proposed size of replacement trees from four inches to two-and-a-half. Previous code had used both sizes, not really specifying why, and due to the exponential increase in costs between a two-and-a-half and a four-inch tree, the members of the council believed it was worth going with the smaller size to make it more welcoming for new businesses to move into the community without worrying about being hit with expensive tree mitigation costs before opening their doors.

“I spent a little time talking to different nurseries,” Vice Mayor Mitch Timberlake said. “I got answers all over the map on what the difference in the cost of trees was.” He continued, “That said, the one thing that seemed to be more consistent was that when you got into the four-inch size trees, that they were more costly.”

In addition to the changes to tree size, council member Van Royal expressed concern with a section of the ordinance referring to ground covers that are aimed at erosion prevention. This concern will be met with the addition of a clarification that basically any type of ground covering will be acceptable, including rocks, sod or grass, pavers, mulch – really anything besides bare dirt.

Royal’s main concern was that residents might be moving away from grass, which necessitates irrigation, and wanted to allow for more freedom for families to cover their yards in a way they see fit.

“You gotta water grass, and the push now is not to have to water,” Royal said. “There are people that are going to be more concerned about, ‘Do I really want to pump, do I want to irrigate with water? I’ll come up with an alternative where I don’t have to do that.’”

Fleet agreed that they could allow for a more open ended option, adding something along the lines of “other acceptable ground coverings to mitigate erosion” to the end of that sentence within the code.

After these changes are made the new code will go into effect.

Also discussed at the meeting was a follow-up to a presentation from Fleet on the Gateway Corridor changes discussed in a 2014 city council meeting. The presentation will focus on changes to code that would unify the look of two separate areas of Green Cove Springs to bring about a unified “feel” for the city’s business districts along U.S. Highway 17 and State Road 16.

The follow-up was suggested by Timberlake. After the discussion, the council agreed to host a formal meeting outside the regularly-scheduled council meetings, with a proposed date of April 29, at 10 a.m., pending the availability of Butler and Assistant City Manager Mike Null who was also absent, as well as the availability of several experts who will be invited by the council.