Archives > Flower Mound Leader > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Council members wrestle with tree ordinance
By Chris Roark, Staff Writer
It wouldn’t be a tree ordinance discussion in Flower Mound without confusion and heavy discussion, and Thursday the town council was the latest governing body to experience it.
During a work session, council members disagreed over some issues regarding a proposed change in the tree ordinance. The issue was brought to the board by staff members in hopes of getting input to shape it for a vote at a future council meeting.
Instead of making a motion to set a date to vote for approval, the council voted unanimously to table the discussion until more research is completed.
Major changes from the original include mitigation, or compensating, for trees removed in a buildable area.
One big disagreement among board members was the timetable for implementing it.
Councilmember Laurie Long pushed for a quick implementation of the ordinance change because she said the current one isn’t working.
“Right now there is no balance,” Long said of the current ordinance. “It provides an incentive to overbuild and to eliminate our trees. It needs to be fixed. This might not be perfect, but it’s a lot better than what we have. I feel like there is an urgency.
“As you increase your development, you’re increasing your pollution,” she said. “We’re supposed to be increasing the tree canopy, not just preserving it. You need more trees to compensate for the increased pollution. There better be more tree canopy, or (the ordinance) isn’t doing its job.”
Councilmember Jeff Tasker said the proposal was unfair to future developers partly because mitigation requirements would force developers to pay money if they can’t plant new trees, and there would be times when a dense area of trees would make that too difficult.
“The mission statement for this town has two components,” Tasker said. “One is preservation of the country atmosphere, but the other one is to foster the economic environment, and I don’t see that language in here.”
Jared Martin, who presented the ordinance changes, said one developer had been contacted about the impact the ordinance change would have.
“I’m disappointed that there is not more input from the development community and that we haven’t reached out more to find out what the impact of this is,” Tasker said. “When a developer comes through, there is a finite amount of money to go in these projects. If you pull all the money out and put in one place, it will suffer somewhere else.”
One thing the council came to a consensus on was the confusion of the definition for urban forest, something the Planning and Zoning Commission spent two meetings discussing. The council recommended deleting the definition from the ordinance.
In other business, the board tabled a decision to allow the sale of alcohol during special events at the new Community Activities Center. Arguments for and against the sale prompted the council to hold off on the issue until more information is provided, such as hours of operation.
Long said she was concerned about having alcohol sold in a building that is joined by other rooms occupied by different age groups.
Councilmember Tim Trotter said the sale of alcohol could help the CAC be the meeting place it was designed to be.
“This was focusing on the community,” Trotter said. “When I think about what we want to see happen at the center, we’re not just trying to serve the people who go to the parks, who play outside, this is going to be a point where the community can come together for social functions, such as community theatres, wedding receptions and graduation parties. And, for these to be successful in the community activity center, I think we need to be able to provide that option.”
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Charly Beagle wrote on Apr 4, 2008 3:55 PM:
" I thought we elected council to represent the intrests of the citizens. Mr. Tasker seems to have morphed into a scrape and build developer who happens to hold a Town council seat. Can't wait for his election bid. "
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
