Kingston staff outline proposed tree preservation ordinance with 6-inch threshold and tree-value fines

The Kingston Common Council’s Laws and Rules Committee spent the bulk of its March 19 meeting on a proposed tree preservation ordinance that, as drafted by the city’s urban forester, would protect public trees and many private trees with trunks 6 inches or greater and replace flat fines with a formula-based tree value when protected trees are removed.

Brent, the city’s urban forester, told the committee the ordinance would designate protected trees on public property and private trees with trunks measuring 6 inches in diameter at breast height (DBH; the standard measure at 4.5 feet). He described a replacement-value formula that calculates the monetary equivalent by considering nursery cost, tree size and condition rather than applying a single flat fine.

“Trees are one of the few things that urban environments can have as an asset that appreciates over time,” Brent said during his presentation, using a city photo to illustrate tree canopy benefits.

Brent gave an example intended to show how the formula works: a recently planted…