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Revisions 2 -3 -9 . .to affect TREES Continued from Page 1C tree code any property of more than 20,000 Councilor Nancy Nathanson was square feet. supportive of the changes, but in Eugene It also requires a permit for the asked Andersen for some assurance removal of any trees from parcels that the arborists or landscape less than 20,000 square feet in size, architects who will be monitoring • Ordinance: The unless they are occupied or are compliance with the ordinance will Chan essentially would within planned unit developments be held accountable. $ Y — which have their own tree- "Otherwise, it's like making a eliminate involvement of preservation conditions. promise to the public and then City staff. City staff in the past have we're not able to uphold that prom - checked compliance with the ordi- ise," Nathanson said. nance and have had authority to Andersen said there are profes- By JOE MOSLEY initiate enforcement proceedings sional organizations that can handle Register -Guard against those who violated it — complaints against either arborists Developers still would be prohib- although Andersen said Monday or landscape architects. ited from removing more than five that enforcement has been neces- Councilor Scott Meisner said the trees from any building site without sary in just one case since the law proposed revisions allow citizens to a city permit, and still could receive was adopted. seek court actions to stop those who • • fines or jail time for violating no- The proposed revisions don't violate the ordinance, but by then cutting rules. change the thresholds for those who the damage is done. But a proposed change to Eu- must get tree - cutting permits, other "Injunctive relief after the fact gene's tree preservation code would essentially cut city staff out of the than to provide exceptions for haz- does not help," he said. loop ardour trees and those that must be But Andersen pointed out that Tree-cutting provisions instead removed to accommodate already- the revised ordinance still includes would be monitored by private ar- approved building projects. penalties for violators, and she borists or landscape architects But the new ordinance would assured council members that city hired by the developers. require applicants to "obtain pri- staff will remain willing to initiate "I think this would really result vote certification" that their pro- the legal proceedings that could in us having no effect on tree- posed tree -cutting is necessary and result in penalties. cutting — City Councilor Betty 'ray- there's little enough as it is," minimal. Illegal tree cutting can bring for said Monday night as council City staff would handle applica- fines as high as $4,000 per tree, members reviewed the revisions. tions and issue permits, but would along with a maximum 100 -day jail Public Works Director Christine otherwise be uninvolved. term. Andersen acknowledged the poten- tial conflict of interest in allowing developers or landowners to hire professionals who then would certi- fy that the ordinance had been obeyed. "That's a concern we have in any of these areas where we're try- ing to get a private professional to take on those things," Andersen said. "(But) I really don't see it that way — as weakening the code — although it certainly doesn't strengthen it." The ordinance revisions also will permit private citizens for the first time to sue for enforcement of the code, she said. The changes will save $60,000 per year that was eliminated from the tree - cutting regulatory budget as a result of last year's Measure 50 property tax limitation. A public hearing on the revi- sions will be held April 6, and the council is scheduled to take final action on the matter a week later. Eugene's 10 -year old tree preser- vation ordinance — adopted to pro- tect the city's south hills from clear- cutting — currently requires a per- - mit for the removal of more than five trees in a 12-month period from