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As the latest tree massacre proves, San Antonio's 3-year-old tree ordinance is ineffective.
San Antonio Express-News
December 7, 2000
It was the kind of massacre that sparked the San
Antonio City Council's tree ordinance in 1997: A large
retailer comes to town, clears land for a new store
and, in the process, takes down some trees that are
older than our oldest citizen.
Lowe's says it complied with San Antonio's tree ordinance and that it saved about half the trees on the property that exceeded 8 inches in diameter. But, Lowe's said, it could not save the 38-inch-diameter live oak because the area where the tree was located had to be graded down for parking space and construction purposes.
Ironically, Debbie Reid, the city's arborist, agreed. Most land inside Loop 1604 is exempt from the ordinance, she said; trees in or near the "footprint" of a new building aren't protected, and mitigation - replacing, say, a 30-inch tree with 15 2-inch trees - is allowable under the ordinance.
A tree ordinance full of such loopholes is about as strong as a tree rotted by termites. Replacing a centuries-old oak with saplings that might not live 30 years does not sound like good public policy. Nor does an ordinance that allows developers to bulldoze trees that are in their way.
Luckily, the city's tree ordinance is up for review, and City Councilwoman Bonnie Conner, in whose district the latest massacre occurred, is steamed.
Let us hope council this time creates a tree ordinance committee that wants to save trees - period! - not one that tries to find squishy common ground that preservationists and developers can live with.
Copyright 2000 San Antonio Express-News
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