Act now to influence the City of Greenville's draft tree ordinance

The City of Greenville planning commission will host a public hearing on long-awaited and much-needed changes to strengthen the City's tree ordinance on Thursday, December 17 at 4:00 pm (link for the virtual meeting not yet available). A draft of the proposed ordinance and results of the City's recent tree ordinance survey are here.

What is Upstate Forever's position on the tree ordinance?

We applaud the changes currently proposed for the tree ordinance, but we would like to see even stronger requirements for preserving and protecting trees on residential private property, especially since most of the city's remaining tree canopy is located in residential neighborhoods.

Also, because all neighborhoods should benefit from a healthy tree canopy, we strongly support the draft ordinance's inclusion of affordable housing, but we are advocating for the fee-in-lieu system to provide a source of funds to mitigate financial impacts to affordable housing providers and residents.

Click here to read more about each of these topics in our recent interview with Joelle Teachey, Executive Director of TreesUpstate

Time is running short, act now to influence the draft tree ordinance

We've been reaching out to members of Greenville City Council and plan to present comments voicing our support and our concerns during the planning commission public hearing. We urge you to do the same.

Find your representatives on City Council here and contact them to urge an even stronger ordinance. If you want to speak at the public hearing, there is no need to sign up in advance. Just join the planning commission's virtual meeting next Thursday, December 17 at 4:00 pm and indicate your desire to speak on Application Z-14-2020 in either the Q & A or Chatbox when you join. Click here for further details

Not able to attend the virtual public hearing?

Submit written comments by 2:00 pm tomorrow, Friday, December 11. Written comments received after this deadline will be provided to the commission at the time of the public hearing. Check here for complete instructions to submit written comments.

A link to join the planning commission public hearing at 4:00 pm Thursday, December 17 is not yet available. We'll provide one when it becomes available from the City of Greenville.