North
Logan planning commission debates tree ordinance
By Alice Bailey
March 20, 2009 | NORTH LOGAN - Consideration of the
tree ordinance created by the Parks and Recreation Board
is still underway by the planning commission as several
concerns were raised at the meeting Thursday night.
The ordinance has been written so North Logan can
become a Tree City USA, which would make it eligible
to receive certain grants. Several cities in Cache Valley
are part of Tree City USA, including Logan. Bob Balling
said he had dealt with the ordinance in place in Logan,
and the Logan ordinance was much less complicated than
that being considered by the committee.
The committee has reviewed the ordinance before and
Cordell Batt, the city planner, was hoping the problems
the members of the committee had would be resolved in
the meeting Thursday.
Mark Hancy said he had too many changes he wanted
to make to the document than could be dealt with in
an average meeting.
The ordinance would only apply to trees planted on
public property such as a park strip. If a citizen of
North Logan wants to plant a tree in the park strip
in front of their house, they need to get approval from
the parks and recreation director. In the original proposal
a person would have to get a permit in order to plant
a tree in that location.
Different concerns were raised by different committee
members. Frank Prince said he didn't like the fact that
in order for people to prune city trees they have to
be licensed, bonded, insured and ISA certified, while
Glen Hansen said he needed clarification on when a tree
could be planted during the construction process.
The committee was also considering a manual that would
accompany the ordinance, but decided to focus completely
on the ordinance. The manual is meant to be developed
by the committee which would be created by the passing
of the ordinance.
Since the ordinance has not been passed, and the committee
has therefore, not been created, it was decided that
the approval of the manual was not critical yet. The
committee also said the manual was too complicated for
the average citizen to understand.
The committee ultimately decided to make their own
revisions to the ordinance, which they would return
to the city planner. He would then compile all the modifications
and redistribute them to the committee for review once
again.
NW
KS |