The Southold Town Board is taking up a proposal to restrict the amount of trees that can be removed from residential properties this week, which has long been a request of local environmentalists.
The proposal, introduced at the board’s Nov. 19 work session, creates a new section of the Southold Town Code known as the “Tree Clearing Code of Southold Town,” which sets out the a process for people who are planning to remove trees from their property to apply for a Tree Removal Permit from the town Building Department.
The permit will apply to trees greater than 20 inches in diameter (measured 4.5 feet from the ground), and would also limit the maximum amount of clearing of lots on a sliding scale based on lot size.
For example, 75 percent of a lot of 15,000 square feet or less could be cleared, but just 50 percent of a lot between 30,001 and 60,000 square feet could be cleared. Only 15 percent of lots greater than 200,000 square feet (5 acres) could be cleared.
Routine pruning and maintenance; trees that pose a hazard; emergency conditions caused by natural disasters that create an “immediate threat to public health, safety or welfare; properties subject to site plan or subdivision review (which are already subject to tree removal guidelines); and removal of trees for sale by nurseries, gardens and orchards would be exempt from the code as currently drafted.
“I think it’s so important. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” North Fork Environmental Council Southold Land Use Coordinator told the Town Board at its Nov. 19 meeting. “I urge you to work on this as quickly as you can — every week we get another lot that’s clear cut. You know how long it takes trees to grow.”
At the Nov. 19 work session, Assistant Town Attorney Julie McGivney told the Town Board that the code has gone through 15 iterations before being brought to the board.
“The whole purpose is to prevent the clearing of trees on vacant parcels, not to protect historic trees, or town trees,” she said. “The hardest issue is how to monitor someone who has an improved parcel who wants to cut down trees.”
Councilwoman Jill Doherty thanked the town’s volunteer Tree Committee for its work on the project.
“It was a difficult code to create. There are so many different scenarios,” she said. “It’s in its infancy, and this is a first draft — we need to bring in Zoning and Planning (for their feedback)… The intent was to keep it as simple as possible.
The initial draft legislation begins on the second page of the work session agenda for Nov. 19. The Town Board will discuss the proposal at a Code Committee meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. in the Town Hall meeting room. The public can attend in person or via Zoom, but will not be given an opportunity to comment on the draft.
Once the board finalizes a draft of the code, it is expected to be scheduled for a formal public hearing.
The Southold Town Board is also slated to hold a Code Committee meeting this Thursday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. to discuss proposed changes to the town’s Accessory Dwelling Unit code.
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