Section 12A-49 Clearing of trees; permit required.

(a) The mechanized clearing of trees , logging of trees or clear-cutting of trees by any means on tracts of land over one (1) acre shall be unlawful unless done in compliance with a land disturbance permit.

(b) A minimum of twenty-five (25) percent of any climax forest area on any tract of land subject to land preservation requirements shall be maintained. Trees thus retained will count toward landscaping requirements contained in the zoning ordinance.

(c) When logging is to occur prior to approval of a tree preservation plan or on property not otherwise subject to land disturbance requirements, a logging plan demonstrating compliance with tree preservation requirements must be submitted to the director. This logging plan will include the area in square feet of forest land, the area in square feet of climax forest, and demonstrate that twenty-five (25) percent of the area of climax forest will be preserved after logging. Each logging operation on the same site will require a separate land disturbance permit. Under no circumstance shall successive logging remove greater than seventy-five (75) percent of the climax forest present upon the site before logging.

( d ) A landscaping plan demonstrating compliance with the specific requirements of the existing zoning of the site shall accompany all applications for land disturbance permits. The plan will be a drawing of the site sufficient in detail to illustrate the features of the plan. The plan may be incorporated with other drawings or documents but shall contain the following information.

(1) The area, in square feet or acres, of any climax forest areas on the site and those portions, in square feet or acres, of the climax forest to be preserved. The areas may be determined by actual field measurement or planimetering of scaled aerial photographs.

(2) The number, spacing, size and species of planting materials, including new trees and final ground cover that will be planted as part of the landscaping plan.

( e ) Tree protection shall be required prior to and during the activities associated with the land disturbance permit in accordance with administrative standards promulgated and enforced by the director, but under no circumstances shall activities with the potential of causing damage to the root systems of trees be allowed within the perimeter of the drip line of the trees being preserved, protected or planted as part of the landscaping plan.

( f ) If any of the trees required to be retained or trees planted as part of the landscaping plan should die within a period of eighteen (18) months after completion of the activities associated with the land disturbance permit, the owner of the property shall replace the trees within six (6) months at a ration of one-to-one with an approved tree having a minimum diameter of two (2) inches measured at a point one (1) foot above natural grade. Shrubbery or other plantings which die within eighteen (18) months of completion of the activities shall be replaced in kind within six (6) months.

( g ) All landscaping work must be completed prior to the final inspection of a building or within one year of issuance of the land disturbance permit, whichever occurs later. If completion of the work or building is at such time of the year that the landscaping cannot be completed, a performance bond or other acceptable financial instrument for completion of the work may be accepted to allow the issuance of a certificate of occupancy.

( h ) Landscaping plans may be amended during or after development with the approval of the director, but in all cases must comply with the current landscaping requirements of the zoning district in which the site is located.

(Ord. No. 13019, § 1, 7-1-91; Ord. No. 13258, § 1, 3-2-92; Ord. No. 14389 § 1, 3-6-95; Ord. No. 17278, § 1, 5-6-02; Ord. No. 018164, § 1, 7-19-04 )

(Ord. 018164, Amended, 07/19/2004, Prior Text; Ord. 17278, Amended, 05/06/2002, Prior Text)