A Fayetteville council member submitted a proposed ordinance to change the process for vacating tree-preservation easements and asked the Urban Forestry Advisory Board for input at Monday’s meeting. The proposal would require applicants to present to the advisory board before staff processes a formal application and would require a demonstration that vacation "benefits the city twice" either economically, environmentally, or both.

Theresa (the council member who walked on the item) told the board she aimed to discourage routine vacations of established tree preservation and to ensure staff and the public have adequate information early in the process. Under the draft, applications would come first to the advisory board for questions and a recommendation to staff; staff would then complete a formal review and forward materials, plus the board recommendation, to the planning commission and city council. The draft requires two-thirds votes at the planning commission and city council to approve a vacation.

Board members broadly supported the goal but offered several process clarifications. Members suggested that the applicant should first be placed on a UFAB agenda for review and that staff perform an initial site visit and brief report to UFAB prior to the board making a recommendation. Several members also asked staff to borrow language from existing city processes (parkland dedication and other vacation procedures) so the new ordinance would mirror established administrative workflows.

"Having the recommendation attached to the package that then goes further in the process will shed additional light for the next check on the actual vote," a board member said, urging clear documentation of UFAB’s position and vote threshold. Members debated whether UFAB should require unanimous support before forwarding a favorable recommendation; the group generally said a qualified majority (for example, two-thirds) or a documented vote would give planning and council clearer context without creating an impossible standard.

Theresa said she would take edits and asked staff for draft ordinance language to bring to council by the June 13 filing deadline. Staff and board members agreed to draft language that would require an initial UFAB review, an applicant-submitted application with specified exhibits (maps, canopy inventories, heat-island or stormwater analysis), and clear timelines for when items appear on UFAB and council agendas. The board recommended the city develop objective criteria (for example, canopy area, basal area, biodiversity or stormwater function) that applicants must address to demonstrate a "twice the benefit" case.

No formal UFAB vote on the ordinance text was taken; the board provided guidance to staff and invited Theresa and Council Member Moore (who had filed similar language) to collaborate on a unified draft to be returned to UFAB before July. Staff said they would produce proposed language combining processes used for parkland dedication and other vacation requests for UFAB review.

The board also discussed administrative logistics: the proposed schedule would aim to present draft ordinance changes to the board at its July meeting, take staff and board recommendations to planning commission in July, and queue final ordinance consideration for city council’s September meeting.