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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,July 7, 2014 <br /> Page 31 <br /> Technician would be willing to work with the Community Development Depart- <br /> ment in "fixing" this ordinance, Councilmember Etten advised that she was more <br /> than willing to do so. <br /> Councilmember Etten referenced several examples listed in the RCA that were <br /> not in the current ordinance, including trees deemed to be less than desirable. <br /> Councilmember Etten advised that the suggestion by the Technician was to use <br /> the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) list of twelve trees causing them <br /> concern, which would simply the City's system and simply reference the DNR <br /> list. <br /> Councilmember Etten expressed his concern that many developments ended up <br /> clear-cutting existing trees with little requirement by the City for replacement <br /> values and rights-of-way in front of those properties given little consideration, <br /> even though they may be very important to the development. While some of the <br /> undesirable trees (e.g. Cottonwood trees)were deemed unnecessary to replace due <br /> to their species, Councilmember Etten noted that they provided a significant and <br /> huge canopy and value to the neighborhood and for them not to count at all was of <br /> grave concern to him. Councilmember Etten suggested that, if the Cottonwoods <br /> were clear-cut, the developer should still be required to replace a percentage of <br /> their significant level, even though they may not count as a heritage tree, but still <br /> providing tremendous value to the neighborhood. Councilmember Etten noted <br /> common trees that were important to a community and a development, and the <br /> need for them to count somehow. <br /> Councilmember Etten noted that the Arborist had provided comment when the <br /> ordinance was updated in 2010, but noted there were many questions about ver- <br /> sions of species, disease resistant varieties, and ways to reference changes in those <br /> areas by simply referencing the DNR materials to keep up-to-date continuously <br /> versus changing City ordinance. <br /> Councilmember McGehee spoke in strong support of that suggestion; opining that <br /> the current ordinance was too specific, but still provided no teeth to enforce iden- <br /> tified or heritage trees to be preserved and protect drip lines. Councilmember <br /> McGehee opined that there needed to be a clear way to take care of trees during <br /> construction and spell out consequences of violations and a process to monitor <br /> and enforce the regulation. <br /> Councilmember Etten opined that this provided further rationale for increasing the <br /> hours of the Forester Technician. <br /> Councilmember Willmus agreed with much of the outline provided by Coun- <br /> cilmember Etten; opining that one thing that hit home was the replacement ration <br /> of existing trees. Opining that the City needed to look at the ordinance to account <br /> for some trees labeled as "garbage trees," with some method of formula in place <br /> to determine their replacement value and accountability to retain that ratio. <br />