8 • The Southwest Portland Post
NEWS
May 2011
Citywide Tree Project adopted by Portland City Council
such operations but, former Fish aide
Hannah Kuhn noted, only 0.5 percent
of property owners follow this process,
which takes two weeks, and 90 percent
of such permits are granted. The current
system “is not a good use of resources,”
Kuhn said.
Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc. Land
Use Committee chair John Gibbon ar-
gued against exempting 3,000 to 5,000
square foot lots from regulation.
Bridlemile neighborhood activist
Greg Schifsky testified that illegal cut-
ting of trees will happen regardless
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
After hearings in March and April
the Portland City Council adopted the
Citywide Tree Project, first weakening
the document and then making it con-
siderably stronger.
The project creates a uniform set of
regulations governing the planting, cut-
ting and pruning of trees on all public
and private lands in Portland.
It is an attempt to make a to make
a single, clear, consistent and under-
standable set of regulations that were
previously shared by five different bu-
reaus and were confusing and contra-
dictory. It is also an attempt to increase
the total tree canopy.
Developers, led by the Portland
Homebuilders Association, charged
that the tree preservation requirements
and fees proposed by the Project would
retard housing development, especially
on small lots. They proposed a series of
amendments that Council adopted in
April, mostly be unanimous vote.
Among the changes were exemption
from tree preservation requirements for
lots of 5,000 square feet or less (the origi-
nal proposal set the minimum at 3,000
square feet), or included projects with
85 percent lot coverage, (as compared to
90 percent), and changing development
goals to having tree canopy cover 33
percent of new developments instead
of 35 percent.
On smaller lots, as well, an amend-
ment allowed for required street trees
to be counted toward the 33 percent
coverage. Developers argued that small
lots represent 22 percent of citywide
development, but contain only three
percent of the tree canopy, and that not
all of this would be cut.
One of the project’s more controver-
sial features is regulation of tree cutting
on developed, single-family lots. Staff
proposed that homeowners be required
to replace trees 20 inches in diameter or
larger if cut.
Tree advocates argued that the re-
placement requirement should apply
to trees 12 inches in diameter. Com-
missioner Nick Fish proposed a com-
promise whereby the stricter standard
would apply to lots larger than 10,000
square feet. Commissioner Amanda
Fritz, who wanted the 12” standard
applied across the board, cast a dis-
senting vote.
Fritz prevailed on another issue. Staff
had proposed relaxing required back-
of the regulations in place, but urged
the City Council to make protection of
existing trees “as strong as possible.”
At the final vote Fritz paid tribute to
community volunteers such as Schifsky
and Margo Barnett for providing the
impetus for the new regulations.
Still to be done is the implementation
of the proposal, including creation of a
user-friendly manual and hotline and
24-hour hotline for reporting violations.
This will be considered during budget
deliberations, project manager Roberta
Jortner said.
(Photo collage courtesy of City of
Portland)
yard setback requirements if doing so
helped preserve trees in the front yard.
Fritz argued against the amendment,
saying, “We need a defensible space for
children. The ordinance says that (pre-
serving) trees are more important. I say
private space is just as important. You
can replace a tree, but you can’t replace
that space once it’s gone.”
Fritz prevailed on a 3-2 vote, with
Fish and Commissioner Dan Saltzman
dissenting.
The City Council adopted the chang-
es in March. At the final vote in April,
however, Commissioner Nick Fish
proposed a new amendment that elimi-
nated the small lot exemption entirely.
Fish also proposed to make the mini-
mum tree size for mandatory replace-
ment in developed home sites 12” in all
cases. Council unanimously adopted
the changes without debate.
Fish said that written testimony
submitted between the two sessions
“convinced me that (the new amend-
ments) were necessary.” The previous
rules “mean in practice that a property
owner could cut down some very large
trees,” he said. Moreover, he added,
the changes give the regulations “the
elegance of simplicity.”
The City Council gave unanimous
support to a staff proposal to change
the regulation of street tree pruning.
Henceforth, homeowners will be able to
cut branches up to one inch thick if they
go online and swear that they have both
studied and adhered to best practices.
Permits are currently required for
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