CITY OF SARASOTA MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE TREE ADVISORY COMMITTEE September 11, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers Members Present: Michael Halflants, Chair Michael Gilkey. Jr., Vice Chair Members Mary Fuerst, Chris Gallagher, Rob Patten Members Absent: Trevor Falk City Staff Present: Timothy Litchet, Director of Development Services and Secretary to the Tree Advisory Committee Mark Miller, Senior Arborist Donald Ullom, Arborist Joe Mladinich, Legal Counsel Robin Carter, Administrative Supervisor, Development Services I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Tree Advisory Committee Chait, Michael Halflants, called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. Secretary Timothy Litchet read the roll call. Chair Halflants asked all in attendance to mute or turn off their cell phones and reminded those who would be speaking to speak into the microphones. II. PLEDGE OF CONDUCT Secretary Litchet read the Pledge of Conduct adopted by the City Commission of Sarasota. III. CITIZEN's INPUT 1. Jono Miller - Mr. Miller spoke about House Bill 1159 and discussed asking the Sarasota Legislative Delegation to require a tree risk assessment. Mr. Miller stated, in regards to Motion No. 5, that citizens should not be allowed to cut trees in the right-of-way to improve private views and stated that citizens should be on a path to recreate canopy rather than caliper. 2. Lou Costa -Mr. Costa stated that he was also representing Norman Dumaine andj provided information related to mitigation for private property homeowners to the TAC. Mr. Costa stated that he would like over-density to be quantified. Vice Chair Gilkey stated: We had the verbiage like this and then we had aj follow-up with Joe and Tim, said we might want to retbink what we'vej just said, and then we rethought and came back and talked about tbe mitigation, but I think that, today, we' 1 talk a little bit about i. We. still meed to talk about people that want Minutes of thel Meeting of the Tree. Advisory Committee September 11, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers 2of 4 to bave a vegetable gardens or sun for their! pool and how do you quantif overdensity? Ijust, I think that il's really ambiguous cumently. Member Fuerst added: I think we did bave something like tbis and we realised tbat we could. bave somebody, basically, clear- cutting their wbole yard and tbat was oMr big concern. 3. Dan Lobeck Mr. Lobeck advised against weakening the City Tree Protection Ordinance and stated that some oft the Committee members make their livingi in development. Mt. Lobeck argued that House Bill 1159 requires the City to do even more, for example, to require anyone using the bill to provide written documentation to the City. Mr. Lobeck also argued that the TAC slashed thei mitigation payment. IV. APPROVAL OF THE MAY 13TH MEETING MINUTES The May 13th meeting minutes were unanimously approved as submitted. V. DISCUSS MITIGATION AND REQUIRED TREES RELATED TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING Secretary Litchet reviewed zoning charts and the Fee Resolution. Mr. Mladinich discussed the mitigation chart that has been recommended by the TAC. Vice Chair Gilkey made a motion. The motion was seconded by Member Fuerst. Motion No. 1: A motion to change the required mitigation trees for Affordable Housing projects to mirror the other non-affordable housing mitigation requirements and to add a sentence stating that Affordable Housing projects qualify to use the eligible funds under the Fee Resolution. Chair Halflants prompted a vote. Chair Halflants, Vice Chair Gillkey, Member Fuerst, Member Patten, and Member Gallagher were in favor. None were opposed. The motion passed 5-0. Chair Halflants clarified that the Committee has not slashed the mitigation fees overall on the charts. Mr. Mladinich offered comments to verify Chair Halflants' statement. VI. CLARITY ON MOTION No. 5 Mr. Mladinich stated that Commissioner Freeland-Eddie was concerned about safety and clarified that this does not prohibit removal of trees due to public safety concerns. The Committee did not Minutes of the Meeting of the Tree. Advisory Committee September 11, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers 3 of 4 want removal of trees to apply to signs, allowing a tree to be removed for only the purpose of improving site views. Mr. Mladinich stated that the TAC could add a phrase to the motion that would clarify the TAC's intention. Secretary Litchet commented on a unique signage issue brought to light by Member Gallagher and stated that it might not be possible to craft language to cure the issue. Senior Arborist Miller Spoke to the specific requirement. Member Patten stated that relief for such issues is available through the sign code. Secretary Litchet spoke about tweaking the sign code. Mr. Mladinich suggested to add a subsection #8 under. Zoning Code Section IV-606(f)(8) stating that signs can be removed by obtaining a variance. Member Patten made a motion. Vice Chair Gilkey seconded the motion. Motion No.2: A motion to add a new subsection under Zoning Code Section IV-606()(8) which states that the preservation of trees shall constitute a basis for consideration of a sign variance. Chair Halflants, Vice Chair Gilkey, Member Fuerst, Member Patten, and Member Gallagher were in favor. None were opposed. The motion passed 5-0. Chair Halflants asked that Mr. Costa's submittal be considered. Member Fuerst stated that she does not agree with exception (a) and the Committee agreed. The TAC discussed (b) and Mr. Mladinich stated that the Committee has discussed (b) numerous times. Member Gilkey inquired as to how the TAC could prevent citizens from abusing the density exception. Member Patten stated that the TAC should use the code as proposed originally by the TAC and that the: right-tree, right-place principle provides too much flexibility for tree removal. Chair Halflants stated that citizens should be able to remove any tree they want in their backyard as long as they pay into the tree fund. Mr. Mladinich stated that VII-320(5) states standard mitigation is required unless the density exception applies. Chair Halflants stated that no one is going to remove all of the trees on their lot. Vice Chair Gilkey stated that the TAC had agreed that it is necessary to have a plan for why trees in rear yards need to be removed. Secretary Litchet agreed, that it is the interpretation. Minutes of the Meeting of the Tree Advisory Committee September 11, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers 4 of 4 Chair Halflants stated that homeowners should be able to do what they want with their properties. Mr. Mladinich suggested that a percentage ofa property can be open to balance interests. Member Patten stated that he is concerned about clear-cutting and Chair Halflants stated that he does not feel people will clear-cut their properties. Vice Chair Gilkey stated that he would like to allow vegetable gardens and make it easy. Member Patten inquired as to whether citizens should be allowed to remove a tree to install a pool. Mr. Mladinich argued that this problem only exists on over-dense yards. Member Fuerst agreed with Mr. Mladinich. Member Patten discussed the community value of1 trees with the Committee. Chair Halflants stated that the value is the mitigation money paid into the fund. Secretary Litchet encouraged thej percentage suggestion by Mr. Mladinich and stated that it would be a great compromise. Senior Arborist Miller suggested that canopy coverage be used as the percentage and stated that canopy coverage could be reduced by no more than 25%. Chair Halflants attempted a motion to support Mr. Costa' 's language as proposed. The motion died for lack of second. Member Patten moved to amend the density exception to allow for open spaces up to 40% of existing canopy. Member Patten then withdrew his motion. Secretary Litchet stated that if there was no further motion, the TAC should move on. Member Gilkey stated that there is an intent to allow for a garden. The Board discussed reconvening at a later date with motions that can address the over-density situation. Mr. Mladinich encouraged the TAC to read pages 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, as well as Section VII- 322, before the next meeting, and come prepared with motions to discuss. VII. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. - k Michael Halflants, Chair Timothy Litches, Secretary