Tree board defers decision on large removal request at 3525 Highway 501, asks for full landscaping/mitigation plan

The Conway Tree Board voted to defer action on an appeal concerning removal of protected trees at 3525 Highway 501 and asked the applicant to return with a full landscaping and mitigation plan.

City staff outlined a long record of surveys and submittals: staff had approved removal of six trees in March 2024 with required mitigation, but subsequent surveys supplied by the applicant added additional trees for removal, bringing the total to 10 and then 14 in later submittals. Staff denied removal of seven of the trees and informed the applicant that they could appeal; the Board of Zoning Appeals later denied a related request for landscaping variances.

Property owner Trent Hardy said the project requires road and utility work on a five-acre parcel and that the developer plans additional tree plantings along the new road and elsewhere on the site. "We are planning on planting trees all along this road in between 501 out to 548... That's 26 trees, you know, that we wanna put back in place there," Hardy said, adding the owner prefers planting mitigation on-site rather than paying a mitigation fee.

Staff told the board it would accept two dead-tree removals if an arborist confirmed condition; otherwise staff maintained that the applicant had space and design options to retain many protected trees, such as adjusting the road alignment or incorporating landscape islands. Because the applicant's mitigation calculation must match the final list of trees proposed for removal, the board directed the applicant to prepare a landscaping plan that shows the trees the applicant seeks to remove and the intended replacement plantings. The applicant agreed to return with that plan; the board's deferral carries no approval to remove trees.