- February 5, 2025
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The Port Orange Environmental Advisory Board is hoping to finalize proposed changes to the city's tree ordinance to be brought before City Council for approval.
The ordinance was brought up during an Environmental Advisory Board meeting on Tuesday, April 24.
The 12 suggested improvements, plus sub-points, include mitigation for all trees with a minimum diameter of six inches to protect non-specimen trees —those that fall under a certain measurement — from being cleared. Another suggestion would require all developers to provide a predevelopment tree survey of the target property.
Construction and Engineering Manager Margaret Tomlinson presented board members with Ormond Beach's tree ordinance requirements for comparison. Included among Ormond's requirements is listing all the specimen trees that are to be removed and those that will be saved.
"They have an extensive protected tree list, which is different from what we do," Tomlinson said. "They basically declare any tree or palm six inches or greater to be a protected tree with the exception of pine trees; pine trees 10 inches or greater are considered protected."
Ormond and Port Orange do follow the same list of trees that are exempt, including the Brazilian Pine.
One suggestion for Port Orange is to create a new private protected tree class for trees that meet certain measurements. Under this would be penalty or mitigation charts for the trees.
"I do like that we can add a catergoy for protected trees as well," board member Derek LaMontagne said. "That needs to be done in order to have the proper tree surveys so we know the right numbers to put in."
Currently, the county has established Live Oaks and Bald Cypress that are 36 inches or greater as historic trees. According to Tomlinson, this is because those two tree species live for centuries, whereas some of the other oak trees start falling apart and become hazards once they get to that size and age.
Tomlinson said this happened in Winter Park and all of the city's Laurel Oaks had to be replaced with Live Oaks.
City Council does have the ability to declare a tree historic.
In the meantime, the board plans to review the suggested changes and has asked for a comparison between the 12 ordinance points and what is currently in the city's books. Once this is done it will be sent to council for review.
"We've got to get this put to bed as soon as possible," Chairman John Macaluso said. "This is going to be the number one subject on the agenda until we put it to bed."
