Springfield committee advances draft Urban Woodlands ordinance, will seek legal review

Councilor Govan, chair of the Sustainability and Environmental Committee of the Springfield City Council, called the March 13 meeting to order and said the Urban Woodlands Ordinance draft was on the agenda.

Why it matters: Committee members said the ordinance is intended to protect trees in the city by creating an Urban Woodlands Commission to review removals, set replacement requirements and advise staff. The committee moved to refine commission language, clarify who appoints members, and route the draft to the law department for formal ordinance drafting before presenting it to the full City Council.

Committee members and attendees described the draft as a multi-year effort that now needs a legal review and clearer language about how a commission would be formed and housed. Amy Loisel and others emphasized that forestry staff, which has reviewed earlier drafts, must remain engaged; the group agreed to name the body the Urban Woodlands Commission.

Ken Shea, city council attorney, said the law department will examine the draft to ensure it does not conflict with existing regulations and that the city has authority to implement its provisions. "The law department will take it and go through it and make sure that we're not conflicting with other regulations and everything we're doing," Shea said.

On membership and appointments, committee members discussed a mix of mayoral appointees and seats tied to city offices or technical stakeholders. Speakers proposed that the Forestry Division should be able to appoint at least two members, that the mayor appoint community representatives, and that the commission include diverse viewpoints (planning, conservation groups and developers were suggested as possible sources). The group discussed possible commission sizes (an initial seven members was suggested with an option to increase to nine).

The draft includes operational details the committee reviewed: a proposed tree-replacement fund, a per-inch replacement fee and an 18-month replacement guarantee for planted trees. Staff noted the draft references a replacement rate (described in the draft as roughly "$50.50 dollars per inch") and that replacement trees planted on-site must conform to species and planting standards set by the Forestry Division. Committee members asked staff to clarify whether replacement fees would flow into the forestry department's existing public-tree fund or a separate account and who would bear long-term replacement costs if trees planted as replacements die.

The committee also discussed procedural safeguards and appeals: plans for replacements or removals would be reviewed by the commission, which could approve, modify or deny proposals; members cited the conservation commission and wetlands review as examples of a staggered review process that requires developers to supply studies and consultant reports. The idea of a shared list of consultants to provide site assessments was raised so commissions or applicants would have access to qualified reviewers.

Next steps and timeline: Committee members agreed Amy Loisel will revise the ordinance language for the Urban Woodlands Commission section and send the revised draft to the law department for formal ordinance drafting. Committee members said they expect the law department review will take at least a couple of weeks. The group set a follow-up meeting for April 24 and aimed to have the draft ready for the City Council presentation thereafter.

The discussion was procedural and advisory; the committee did not take a formal vote to adopt the ordinance at the March 13 meeting. Members repeatedly stressed that additional redlines and legal edits are expected during the solicitor's review and later Council debate.

Ending: Committee members thanked contributors, including SCANS, the Forestry Division and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and closed the meeting with plans to reconvene after law-department review.