CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH
MEMORANDUM
DATE: May 5, 2009
TO: D. Mike Good, City Manager
FROM: Richard D. Cannone, Director of Development Services
SUBJECT: A Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida, Supporting an Amendment to the Comprehensive Plan Which Will Seek to Achieve a Thirty Percent or More Tree Canopy Coverage by 2030; Providing for an Effective Date CAD# 008/09
PURPOSE
To adopt a Resolution in support of an amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Plan which will seek to achieve a thirty percent or more tree canopy coverage in the City of Hallandale Beach by 2030.
BACKGROUND
At a Broward League of Cities Green Initiative Subcommittee meeting in mid 2008, a Resolution was proposed to achieve a 30% tree canopy for all of Broward County. The Resolution was additionally presented to the Broward League of Cities Sustainability Committee and Board of Director’s who adopted the Resolution in late 2008. The Broward League of Cities is currently seeking local municipalities to adopt the proposed Resolution in an effort to achieve the 30% tree canopy goal for Broward County by 2030.
Urban trees are valuable to the environment and community in many ways, including their ability to reduce stormwater runoff by filtering heavy metals and other pollutants, reduce erosion, noise absorption, reflected light and glare, provide for lower ambient air temperatures, and remove carbon dioxide out of the air which is a major portion of greenhouse gases.
The City of Hallandale Beach has endeavored to make itself a leader in the community in relation to the protection of the environment and the preservation of trees. This has been achieved in part by promoting conservation regulations, offering performance incentives for preserving and protecting major trees or stands of trees, and being certified as a Tree City USA through the Arbor Day Foundation for the past 18 years.
ANALYSIS
In 2001, Broward County’s Department of Planning and Environmental Protection completed a study related to Mapping Tree Canopy (see attached study) which calculated the canopy coverage for all areas of the County. At the time of the data collection for the study in 1996, it was calculated that Hallandale Beach had 10%-15% total tree canopy coverage and Broward County as a whole had 13.9% tree canopy coverage (see attached map). Broward County staff is beginning work on a follow up study that could further assist the City in determining the cost of increasing the tree canopy coverage to 30% by showing the increased canopy coverage already achieved by the City since the previous study.
The adoption of the tree canopy Resolution would be in compliance with the following policies and objectives under the Conservation Element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan:
- Objective 2.1: The City shall continue to enforce the Tree Preservation Ordinance which requires that existing healthy trees of desirable species be retained on site and incorporated into the design plans for development projects.
- Objective 3.1: The City shall encourage the re-vegetation of properties in the community.
- Objective 5.1: The City shall comply with Section 208 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as well as the FDEP Stormwater Rule (Chapter 17-25, F.A.C.) to achieve the objective of removing 80 to 90 percent of stormwater pollutants before discharge to receiving waters and will address stormwater run off and the requirement of treatment or detection and filtration in compliance with both Broward County EPD and SFWMD guidelines.
- Policy 7.2.2: The City shall continue to enforce landscaping regulations with performance incentives for preserving and protecting major trees or stands of trees or significant vegetation coverage as require by the City Land Development Regulations.
- Policy 7.2.3: The City shall enforce the tree preservation regulations of the City Code to decrease removal of groves or groupings or individual specimens.
- Policy 2.1.1: The City shall encourage saving trees which are not diseased, unreasonably restricting permitted use of property, endangering existing or proposed structures, creating unsafe vision clearance or otherwise interfering with provision of public services.
In addition, during the City’s 2009 Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR)-Based Amendment process, DCA recommended that the City incorporate strategies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, such as increasing the number of trees within the City. City staff is currently preparing the revisions to the EAR-Based Amendments and will include a policy in the Conservation Element which addresses the intent of this Resolution. Staff is also amending the Landscaping Ordinance and additional language will be included in the Ordinance to assist the City in meeting the 2030 goal of 30% tree canopy coverage.
Staff recommends adoption of the attached Resolution supporting an amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Plan that will seek to achieve a thirty percent or more tree canopy coverage by 2030.
In addition, staff will include an amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Plan adopting this standard as a policy as part of the EAR-Based Amendments.
RECOMMENDATION
For the City Commission to:
1. Adopt the attached Resolution supporting an amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Plan that will seek to achieve a thirty percent or more tree canopy coverage by 2030; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to include an amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Plan adopting this standard as a policy as part of the EAR-Based Amendments.
Prepared by: __________________________________________
Christy Dominguez, Director of Planning and Zoning
Reviewed:
_______________________________ __________
D. Mike Good, City Manager Date
_____Approved _____Disapproved _____Hold for Discussion
Comments: