Updated Draft Ordinance Would Require Atlanta Commercial Developers To Save Or Plant Trees

Atlanta's commitment to its “City in a Forest” reputation could soon mean its commercial developers will be required to contribute directly to its tree canopy for the first time.

In the latest draft revision to the city’s Tree Protection Ordinance, Atlanta Department of City Planning officials kept in place a phased-in, 800% increase in fees developers have to pay to remove trees.

The city also added new requirements in the TPO for commercial developers after soliciting feedback on the draft that was circulated earlier this year and hearing criticism that tree preservation standards for single-family lots but none for commercial lots improperly favored builders of apartments, warehouses and offices.

Atlanta has a goal to return its tree canopy to 50% of the city's land — it has fallen to 46.5% in the latest Georgia Tech survey from 2018. The proposed tree ordinance update would be its first major revision in more than 20 years.

“We’re not going to hit our 50% canopy goal without having preservation on our commercial lots. It’s just not going to happen,” Atlanta City Planning Commissioner Jahnee Prince said during a city council committee meeting on May 1. “The thing we heard the most is this isn’t fair. The TPO isn’t fair because it only required tree preservation on single-family lots.”

A robust tree canopy is considered critical to mitigate the effects of climate change, reduce heat island effects in urban areas and help with overall human health, experts say.

While commercial developers have been required to pay the city to remove trees, a term called recompense, the proposed ordinance would be the first time Atlanta would require a percentage of a commercial site to remain forested.

Even if a site doesn’t have any existing trees, its developer would now be required to plant them to cover the minimum site requirements, an Atlanta Department of City Planning spokesperson confirmed to Bisnow.

Commercial tree preservation is one of a handful of changes made to the latest iteration of the tree ordinance, which is expected to come before a committee vote on May 13 and possibly a full city council vote on May 19. 

Requiring developers to preserve trees on a portion of a commercial site could force developers to alter the makeup of a project or cancel it altogether, said Jeff Garrison, principal of SJC Ventures, which developed The Interlock mixed-use project in West Midtown. 

“One way or another, you’re going to pull out the calculator and say, ‘Does it make sense or does it not?’” Garrison said. “Development costs, the impact fees, improvements, sidewalk enhancements, it really starts to add up.” 

Depending on the size of the commercial lot and whether it is partially or entirely forested, a developer would need to preserve up to 40% of the total acreage for trees, the same requirement as for a proposed residential neighborhood, according to the May 1 presentation.

The new ordinance would also increase the required wooded buffers for a stream from 25 feet, which is currently mandated by the state, to 75 feet, Prince said during the presentation. 

The proposal also offers developers incentives for adding more trees than required and removing impervious surfaces. 

“I’m sure they prefer not to have it, but a good commercial developer will see the need to protect trees,” said Chet Tisdale, a retired Atlanta corporate environmental lawyer who has been consulting with the planning department on the ordinance update.

Tisdale said the proposed inclusion of commercial properties is a “huge shift” in the city’s effort to save its canopy. 

“In other respects, it’s just appropriate,” he said. “Everybody needs to pitch in if we’re going to save Atlanta’s trees.”

The bill to revamp the tree ordinance was introduced by Council Member Michael Julian Bond on Dec. 2 and has been deliberated over by the Community Development/Human Resources Committee, where it remains.

The latest TPO draft still ups the recompense for downed trees from $30 per inch diameter to $260 per inch by 2029, removes a cap on recompense fees and creates a list of priority trees to save. Developers would also need to submit a tree plan before construction and get it approved by the city’s arborist.

In addition to requiring all developers to save or plant trees on their sites, the updated TPO includes a more than 330% increase in clear-cutting fines to $260K per acre. Affordable housing developers, whether for sale or rental, can also potentially get a full recompense waiver based on how far below the area median income rents and prices will be held and how many total units would be income-restricted.

Developers and real estate groups, including Habitat for Humanity, HouseATL and the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, have forcefully opposed the changes, claiming the added costs would go against the city's goal to build thousands of new low-cost housing units.

Greg Levine — executive director of Trees Atlanta, the nonprofit the city contracts with to plant trees — said the urgency to build is all the more reason to pass the first TPO update and increase in replanting fees since 2001. 

“We only have so much forested land, and it’s getting developed quickly. Once it’s developed, it’s gone forever,” Levine said. “There’s been decades of discussion. You can’t please everyone. At some point, you have a major environmental issue, and we can make it better for Atlanta. But we just keep on kicking the can. We've got to stop kicking the can and make the hard decision.”