Metro Council Passes Street Tree Law

BL2020-288 Synopsis

RESOURCES PERTAINING TO BL2020-288’s PASSAGE:

• Metro Clerk’s Office: BL2020-288 (Original Bill)

• Metro Clerk’s Office: BL2020-288 (Substitute Bill)

• NashvilleNext Plan

• Tennessean Article

• Tree Planting Specifications: TBD

Nashville has new requirements for street trees, thanks to an ordinance passed unanimously by the Metro Council on Tuesday and signed into law by Mayor John Cooper on Wednesday. The new mandates for planting trees along sidewalks in densely developed parts of the city goes into effect August 3.

Council member Angie Henderson, lead sponsor of the bill, says the law is a significant step in improving the city’s streetscape and built environment. “Today in Nashville, outside of our downtown core, street trees are not actually required anywhere,” she says. Her bill remedies that situation by requiring that developers plant trees along the sidewalk at new commercial or multi-family construction projects.

“We all travel to other cities with tree-lined sidewalks, and we come home and bemoan our absence of trees,” Henderson says. “You’re never going to have these things unless you legislate to require them.”

The problem crystallized for her in 2017 when she toured a new commercial development on Highway 70 South in Bellevue, where developers planted trees around the parking lot, but none in the large grassy strip by the street. She was told that confusion about who would maintain street trees – Metro Public Works or private developers -- was part of the problem.

Under the new law, property owners will be responsible for maintaining street trees in perpetuity. Trees planted must be large canopy trees, except in locations where overhead utilities make that infeasible.

All details on planting, installation and maintenance requirements for the new law will be spelled out in the Metro Nashville Street Tree Specifications, which Council member Henderson says will be finalized and posted online by August 3. The specifications are being drafted by several Metro agencies, including Water Services, Public Works, Urban Forestry, Planning and Codes, with input from other experts. Though debate on some parts of the specifications has been intense, Henderson says she is satisfied with the overall result.

Locations where street trees are required will be determined by NashvilleNext, the countywide general plan that sets parameters for the city’s growth and development. NashvilleNext identifies dozens of “centers,” or areas of dense development, throughout Davidson County, from the Green Hills Mall area along Hillsboro Road to the Gallatin Road area in Madison. Starting August 3, all commercial and multi-family developments within these centers will be subject to the new street tree requirements.

Henderson sees the new ordinance as an important expansion of her 2017 sidewalk ordinance and 2019 tree ordinance — one more piece of the puzzle in making Nashville a more livable and walkable city. “We’re basically retrofitting suburbia,” she says, trying to reshape our development patterns and improve our tree canopy after problems were ignored for decades.

“From a canopy standpoint one might say this bill is an incremental step, but if you are thinking of the heat island effect, the environmental bonus, the enjoyability of walking . . . this is very significant,” Henderson says.

Metro’s 2019 tree ordinance set overall requirements for tree planting at commercial and multi-family residential developments. Since the newly required street trees will count toward these tree-planting requirements, the ordinance doesn’t necessarily increase the number of trees at a property, but in many cases would move trees from within the site to the sidewalk. At other projects, such as corner lots or projects where buildings fill most of the land, the new ordinance will increase the total number of trees that must be planted.

Members of the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps provided comment on draft versions of the bill and continue to consult on the Street Tree Specifications being drawn up to implement the new law.

DETAILS OF BL2020-288

1. City ordinance will go into effect August 3rd, 2020.

2. About 11,000 acres will be affected by this ordinance.

3. Ordinance affects only designated “centers” in the NashvilleNext plan.

4. Specifications for street tree planting requirements will be determined by metro agencies on the tree review panel. Specifications such as soil volume will be set by this panel.

5. Street tree must be large canopy producing tree species except where overhead utility lines exist.

6. Property owners will sign agreement to take care of street trees in perpetuity.

7. Street trees will count towards the onsite tree planting requirements for a development, thus this ordinance doesn’t necessarily increase the number trees at a property, but in many cases would move trees from within the site to the sidewalk.  In some cases, this ordinance may increase the number of trees on a site, such as cases where buildings fill most of the land, corner lots, areas of parking lots, etc.  In some cases, this ordinance may not require any additional trees than previously required, but simply moves then=m to the sidewalk.

8. Ordinance mandates street trees installed per the newly mandated “Metro Nashville Street Tree Specifications” prepared and maintained by Metro Water Services in conjunction with Metro Public Works, Planning and Codes.  The ordinance is not very detailed, and places significant reliance on this specification developed by Metro Government officials.  This specification has been updated and finalized to accompany this ordinance.  The ordinance is a framework, specs are more prescriptive and detailed.  There are pros and cons of this framework:

   • Pros: experts have deliberated and written the specs, living document, easier to revise based on experience and data, could be updated to require more trees more easily, just updated to accompany the ordiance.

   • Cons: limited to no public transparency and input in document revisions, could be manipulated and watered down through builder lobbying efforts, prone to weakening based on politics, Metro tends to be strongly pro-business and less pro resident and tendency to require less trees to appease development interests.

9. Tree Planting Specifications: TBD