Flower Mound commissioners review specimen sizes, mitigation and credit schedules in tree-ordinance work session

Flower Mound—s Environmental Conservation Commission met Oct. 7 for a work session to review potential revisions to the town—s tree ordinance, including specimen-tree sizes for post oaks, mitigation calculations and the schedule of preservation credits.

The discussion matters because those definitions and credit rules determine whether developers must replant trees, pay mitigation fees or receive credits — decisions that affect tree preservation, development costs and the town—s canopy over time.

Staff summarized comparisons of Flower Mound rules with nearby jurisdictions, walked commissioners through how other cities define "heritage," "specimen" or "protected" trees, and showed how changing the post oak specimen threshold would alter mitigation owed on recent applications. Staff said Flower Mound currently treats protected trees as 6 inches DBH and that post oaks become specimen trees beginning at 22 inches DBH under the town—s present rules. Staff provided concrete examples: on one two-acre project (Dakota), cutting the post-oak credit schedule in half would have reduced preserved credits…