Landmark designation seeks to protect the green canopy
CAPE MAY — Substantive changes could be made to the city’s shade tree protection policies and removal procedures.
Solicitor Chris Gillin-Schwartz told City Council during a meeting Jan. 21 that the Shade Tree Commission provided recommendations and feedback. He said the proposed ordinance changes include three items of note:
— establish a landmark tree designation process to identify trees in town that may have specific relevance or importance
— establish a tree bank in relation to replacement obligations and to update policies for removal applications
— update policies for removal applications
The second reading and final vote on the ordinance are scheduled for Feb. 17.
Ecological and/or historical significance and other factors would be taken into consideration when designating a landmark tree, Gillin-Schwartz said.
“There’s criteria and a process for the Shade Tree Commission, [which has] the responsibility to do that inventory and make those designations,” he said.
The designation would apply to both trees in the public right-of-way and to those on private property.
Gillin-Schwartz added that property owners would have the opportunity to participate in the process before a landmark tree designation was made.
“The next step is going in and creating more familiar criteria and analysis for Shade Tree Commission members and the public to understand the process by which commission members are going to evaluate tree removal applications,” he said, adding that the commission does so to a degree already.
This framework creates an opportunity for applicants to get creative, Gillin-Schwartz noted, adding that it allows the commission to balance the criteria and consider whether the benefits of tree removal outweigh the drawbacks.
“There’s a chart here that didn’t exist before. It came from the model New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection tree ordinance framework that they use,” Gillin-Schwartz said. “They do a diameter breast height (DBH) replacement obligation framework; the bigger the tree, the bigger the replacement obligation.”
The ordinance also includes a mitigation fee built in lieu of replanting, which Gillin-Schwartz said would go into a newly created tree bank, a separate fund dedicated to the commission.
“[It would be] for the purpose of advancing street trees, replanting and making sure we have a healthy tree canopy throughout the city of Cape May,” he said. “It would open the toolbox and allow the Shade Tree Commission and applicants to come up with creative, good planning solutions.”
Gillin-Schwartz said the ordinance would establish a process to recognize valuable and important trees.
“It provides a clearer and stronger framework for the STC members to evaluate these applications,” he said. “I think it sets expectations for applicants, so they’re not just walking in and wondering what’s going to happen.”
Additionally, Gillin-Schwartz said that the commission is essentially in a Venn diagram circle that must overlap.
“You have to get construction office approval, your zoning approval, your Historic Preservation Commission, Shade Tree Commission,” he said. “Just because one of those boards may pass on, doesn’t necessarily mean you get to take down the 200-year-old magnolia tree.”
Councilwoman Lorraine Baldwin asked if landmark trees were new in the ordinance.
“The concept was always in the ordinance as a specimen tree, but I think how we’re handling it is a little bit more proactive and making sure that a tree in your backyard couldn’t appear on some secret magic list that the Shade Tree created without you being informed of it,” City Manager Paul Dietrich said.
Gillin-Schwartz said the updated ordinance language says that anything above a certain DBH is technically a tree and regulated.
“If we want to ratchet up the regulation, it really requires a state recognition to do some analysis,” he added.
Baldwin asked whether the STC would be developing a list of landmark trees. Councilmember Shane Meier said yes.
“What this is most geared towards is the street trees,” Gillin-Schwartz said. “Just because it’s a landmark tree, doesn’t mean it comes down. It becomes part of a balancing act that you consider.”
Meier added that the ordinance would include memorial trees, which may include plaques.
Councilmember Steve Bodnar asked for clarification on whether removing a tree would be part of the application to the zoning board.
“I know in many other instances, the shade Tree Commission is a binding decision, but it may be advisory as in the way that would go before the Zoning Board, because they’re looking at a whole variety of factors in determining the scope of the project,” Bodnar said, adding that he believed applicants may be required to provide a landscape plan with that application.
Gillin-Schwartz said yes and that, by nature of things, it would be dealing with overall planning concepts.
“That is in the purview of their review authority, and also to avoid ping-ponging people after going through that specific process, which is more involved,” Gillin-Schwartz said. “It’s more involved than even going to the HPC, because they have to provide 200-foot noticing and it’s a bit more of an elevated process.”
He added that the HPC’s decisions are not trumping anything the STC does, and that an HPC review would have a quicker turnaround time than the other boards.
“When you get to the zoning and planning board level, it’s important that the Shade Tree Commission is given the opportunity to provide feedback on a removal proposal,” he said. “That is built into the language here and not changing how it exists today, it’s just intending to explain it more clearly.”
Meier asked about replacement criteria in the design standards, which Gillin-Schwartz said were in the ordinance for tree removal and not changing.
“That’s for zoning and landscaping requirements, but there is a removal criteria and replacement criteria, and the [latter] is already in the zoning code,” Gillin-Schwartz said. “That’s part of the discussion that can happen with the Shade Tree Commission providing feedback to those boards.”
Mayor Zack Mullock thanked Meier, Gillin-Schwartz and the STC for their efforts. Meier, who is the council liaison to the Shade Tree Commission, added that recently, the STC has noticed more trees being cut down illegally.
“We don’t know if that’s because we haven’t noticed it, or there are neighbors noticing, but it’s a little bit of an uptick,” Meier said. “The commission feels very strongly that it goes through the code enforcement process.”
He added that a street tree recently was cut down and there is an upcoming court case about that removal.
“The Shade Tree Commission feels very strong if you’re cutting down a street tree, that’s vandalism to us,” Meier said. “Just because Shade Tree Commission does not approve your application, there’s an appeal process that we decided to keep the same.”
Baldwin said most of the tree companies that work in the city know the ordinance. Meier said the tree-removal applications must include the contractor’s license.
Deputy Mayor Maureen McDade suggested reaching out to a broader net of contractors who do tree work, aside from the ones that are already known, “because they may be coming on to the island and taking jobs and not knowing our ordinance.”
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Star and Wave
