Lake City Council tables first-reading tree ordinance after questions about maintenance, planting sources

Lake City — At a special Lake City Council meeting on Feb. 26, 2025, council members voted unanimously to table Ordinance 2025.001, a first-reading measure to re-establish the city's tree ordinance and create an advisory tree board to make recommendations on public tree management.

The ordinance matters because it sets who will advise the city on planting, maintenance and removal of trees, and because much of the initial planting under the related Trees for SC program will be on private property and school grounds rather than on the city's public tree inventory.

City staff member Lisa Jones told the council that the local Trees for SC effort is sourcing trees through a South Carolina Forestry Commission grant and that the Green Infrastructure Center is coordinating procurement. "The trees that we are getting from Trees for SC are purchased through South Carolina Forestry Commission, Grant. The Green Infrastructure Center is acquiring them," Jones said. She said the program uses several nurseries and the Clemson Extension Service depending on tree variety and timing, and that the next planting is scheduled in the Martha Law neighborhood.

Jones said…