1994 Tree Ordinance - Laserfiche WebLink

New Search

• January 25, 1994 SERVICE LEVEL CHANGE MEMORANDUM DEPARTMENT: Public Works PREPARED BY: Johnny R. Medlin TITLE: Urban Forestry Technician DESCRIPTION /JUSTIFICATION: With the current minimal level of maintenance Eugene's mature trees, particularly in the older developed areas of the city. are becoming a severe liability, The increasing frequency of falling tree and limb incidents causing property damage, near misses, and a death suggest an unacceptable trend regarding the condition of many of our mature trees. Limited resources have not allowed an inspection program to be implemented to quantify the magnitude of this problem or develop a program to manage the liability exposure. A realistic perspective, considering the magnitude of the problem and the limited resources within the program, is that many of these trees will have failures that more timely maintenance could have avoided. The International City Manager's Association (ICMA) reported that cities with populations between 100,000 and 250,000 average approximately 6,000 trees for each tree care employee on staff. Eugene currently maintains approximately 100,000 street trees with only six employees. This equates to approximately 16,000 trees per employee without counting the trees within Eugene's parks. This information supports the feeling that we are falling further behind on the problem instead of resolving it. The new Tree Preservation Ordinance and the Urban Forest Management Plan has resulted in an increased workload for the Urban Forestry Program. Public awareness of the need for felling permits has resulted in large increases of information requests or reports of possible violations. The new provisions in the Tree Preservation Ordinance requires a higher degree of professional evaluation and citizen comment review on felling applications. The NeighborWoods tree planting program has been very well received. It has grown in two years beyond staff ability to support the volunteers during the evenings and weekends when organizational activities and plantings occur. This proposal would establish a street tree inventory and inspection program with the goal of establishing defendable priorities for our maintenance practices. The addition of a technicia ill allow the Urban Forester to delegate much of the informational respons , field investigations, and off -hours NeighborWoods Support. This would free time for issues requiring professional expertise such as danger tree assessment, policy development, and development permit review. POSITION IMPACT: 1 FTE FISCAL IMPACT: COST: Projected for FY95: $ 35,000 FUND(S): 131 10.000 011 $ 45,000