Dallas Council Adopts Tree Ordinance Amendments and New Park Ordinance
The Dallas City Council on June 27 approved amendments to Article X, the city’s landscaping and tree ordinance, as well as voting to approve a park land dedication and fee ordinance. During the process, Dallas BA secured needed provisions and credits to help offset some cost increases.
Builders and developers in Dallas should review the new Article X ordinance. The landscaping, tree preservation and mitigation, soil volume for tree planting, fees and alternative methods of mitigation, along with the rest of the amendments, are effective immediately. Dallas BA voiced industry concerns, offered recommendations and successfully advocated for language that resulted in a building pad exemption area for the construction of single-family or duplex dwellings on lots one acre or less in a residential district. The relief and alternative methods of compliance is needed in an effort to help counter the ordinance’s increased fees and protected tree list.
Dallas BA’s May 15 letter to council can be viewed here.
Alternative methods of compliance include larger credits for legacy trees, sustainable development incentives, tree canopy cover credits and credits for trees on qualified land that is offered through the city’s new park land dedication ordinance. Builders and developers who face mitigation fees as their available alternative should also receive the credits for trees planted as required by HB 7, the new state law that was advocated for by Dallas BA and TAB in the last legislative session.
Click Here for an overview of key changes to Article X as presented the May 16 council briefing.
While park land ordinances are a familiar concept for some Association members, the ordinance in Dallas results from an approach not often seen in other municipal park ordinances, a discussion that considered options that can help avoid significant negative impacts on housing affordability and residential development. The ordinance includes provisions sought by Dallas BA that offer credit for publicly accessible and non-accessible parks built in private developments, as well as credit for trees on dedicated park land to count towards tree mitigation requirements a development may face related to Article X. The ordinance will be re-evaluated every 5 years and will not go into effect until July 1, 2019.
To view a copy of the ordinance draft that was presented to council on June 27, Click Here.