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Euclid staff reviewing tree ordinances; commission hears limits of enforcement and county model ordinance work
Summary
Commission members and city staff discussed limits in the city code for protecting private‑property trees, the existence of a now‑created permit for contract arborists that has not been enforced, and a county model tree ordinance under development that commissioners hope to review and possibly adapt.
At the May 15 meeting, Jody, a city representative, told the Euclid Shade Tree Commission that she is reviewing the city’s ordinances related to trees and described existing gaps in local enforcement.
“I am currently reviewing the ordinances. It's a very long [process],” Jody said. She told commissioners that Euclid’s code now includes permits required for contract arborists to work within the city but that the permits “have never been enforced. I actually created the permits because they didn't even have a copy of those permits.”
Jody said determining what is feasible to enforce will take time and that any stronger protections, such as a heritage‑tree program to identify significant trees on public and private property, would require council approval and further work by the commission and staff.
Roy Lehi flagged the difficulty of crafting enforceable protections on private property because of property‑rights concerns and litigation risk, and said the Cuyahoga County Board of Health has worked on a model county tree ordinance with legal and ecological input. “The county board of health has been working on this. They have had a lawyer and an ecologist who have crafted a county tree ordinance,” Roy said, and he urged coordination with neighboring municipalities.
Commissioners agreed that bringing resident voices and examples to city council would help progress. A commissioner reported that a resident, Jillian Moll, presented tree‑conservation concerns to council after addressing the commission and that council members “heard her.”
Why it matters: commissioners and staff said Euclid currently lacks a fully enforceable private‑property tree protection regime; changes would require ordinance drafting, legal review, council approval and assessment of enforcement capacity. Staff recommended continued ordinance review and commission input before any legislative proposal.
No ordinance or code change was adopted at the meeting; staff committed to further review and to bringing draft recommendations back to the commission as they are prepared.
