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City of Arden Hills Planning Commission Meeting for January 10, 2018 P:\Planning\Planning Cases\2017\PC 17-029 - 3685 New Brighton Road Preliminary and Final Plat and Easement Vacation\Memos_Reports_17-029 Page 8 of 14 B. Tree Preservation The Zoning Code requires that a Tree Preservation Plan be submitted as part of an application for a plat. The development plan set includes a Tree Preservation Plan and a replacement Landscape Plan (Attachment D). The survey indicates there are 81 trees on the site. Nine of these trees are damages or diseased and are not counted as significant trees. Of the remaining 72 significant trees, 22 would be removed for the development. The majority (18) of the removed trees would be on the proposed Lot 1 to accommodate the building pad site and two stormwater basins. Four significant trees would be removed from the proposed Lot 2 and no significant trees would be taken down on Lot 3. The 22 significant trees that would be removed total 544 caliper inches. The required mitigation for this removal is 193 caliper inches of new tree plantings. The Landscape Plan includes 30 new trees including 21 evergreen trees, 3 Rad Oaks, and 6 Swamp White Oaks. The total number of replacement caliper inches would be 92.5 for a deficiency of 101 caliper inches. Caliper Inches Number of Trees Total Existing Significant Trees 1,567 72 10% Permitted Removal 157 -- Proposed Removal 544 22 Trees Preserved 1,037 50 Replacement Trees Required* 193.5 -- Replacement Trees Proposed 92.5 30 Replacement Deficiency 101 -- * Replacement trees are calculated by subtracting the ten percent permitted removal from the proposed removal and dividing by two. The Zoning Code states that replacement trees are required to be planted on the same site from which the significant trees are removed, unless the City determines that the number of replacement trees required exceeds the number of trees that can practically fit on the site. The City may require that the 101 caliper inches of additional trees be planted off-site, or a fee in lieu of the off-site plantings may be collected. The fee amount is set as the cost of materials and installation, plus 10 percent. The applicant submitted a letter requesting that all Cottonwood trees on the site not be counted as significant trees because they are a nuisance tree (Attachment G). Seven Cottonwood trees are proposed to be removed on Lot 1. If Cottonwood trees were removed from the Tree Preservation Plan, the required replacement tree amount would be 140 caliper inches and the deficiency would be 47.5 caliper inches. The Zoning Code includes the following definition for a significant tree: A tree that is important to the site and the neighborhood character, that is structurally sound and healthy, and that meets at least one of the following standards: