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Jacksonville News - May 14, 2008
ACE tree ordinance nearing completion
by Jennifer Bacchus
News Staff Writer

The ACE tree committee is nearing completion of an ordinance to present to the Jacksonville City Council. At Monday's meeting, the group looked over two draft ordinances - one created by Susan DiBiase and Scott Beckett and the other written by Grant Paris, the city's attorney. Both ordinances focused solely on trees planted on public property.

Though most members of the committee would like to eventually see the ordinance eventually encompass some aspects of tree care on privately-owned land, they chose to begin simply and add additional regulations as the community becomes more educated on tree issues.

"Not everything is best addressed with an ordinance. Some things are better addressed through education and one of the things we want to do is help people to value their trees more, so that they are less likely to cut them down," said Susan DiBiase.

The committee would also like to have a good idea of what it will cost the city to have an arborist on staff. Local developer Sam Almaroad recommended to the group that any arborist hired by the city be licensed to ensure no lawsuits are filed against the city based on recommendations made by the arborist.

"What we don’t want is for somebody to come in here from out of town, buy a piece of property that Miss Suzie Smith used to own, some out-of-towner buys it, comes to Jacksonville and wants to develop it and somebody who isn’t licensed started telling him 'you can't do this and you can’t do this.' Then he's going to bring his lawyers in and jump on Jacksonville," said Almaroaad.

Two members of the committee are researching the various methods of hiring a tree specialist, ranging from cooperation with other cities to hiring on a contract basis or having a full-time position.

Almaroad also shared with the group one of the covenants he has established for a subdivision in town, showing them a way to ensure trees on private property are not cut down arbitrarily and are cared for.

Based on his recommendations, the committee would also like to change the existing planning and zoning ordinances to have minimum construction standards ensuring trees are left on the property through development.

The next meeting will be June 9 at 9 a.m. in the city council chambers.