Madison council adopts stronger street-tree protections and creates replacement fund

The Madison Common Council on Oct. 7 adopted a substitute ordinance (Legistar file 89,254) to strengthen protections for street trees and to establish a street-tree replacement fund. The measure passed by unanimous voice vote after public comment and questions for staff.

Supporters told the council the ordinance is needed to stop frequent damage to mature public trees during adjacent construction and to preserve the city’s canopy as downtown construction accelerates. "Canopy trees are an essential component of our city's infrastructure, not simply an amenity," said Sandra Ward of the Capital Neighborhoods tree protection and planting committee during public comment.

The ordinance, drafted as a substitute after committee review, raises the prominence of street-tree protection earlier in the planning and approval process, establishes enhanced tree-protection zones at some construction sites and creates a replacement fund to pay for city-managed restoration. Several downtown residents and advocacy groups, including Smart Growth Greater Madison and Capitol Neighborhoods Inc., told the council the ordinance is a needed step after they said developers repeatedly damaged street trees during construction.

City Forester Ian Brown told the council state law restricts recovery the city can demand after a tree is damaged. "We as the city are only able to legally recover our cost," Brown said, explaining the city can be limited to replacing trees at municipal cost and cannot capture broader community economic losses in a penalty. Assistant city attorney Doran Visti told councilmembers a contractual liquidated-damages approach would not be appropriate to apply citywide because the tree protections in the ordinance are tied to permits rather than private contracts.

Smart Growth Greater Madison raised several technical concerns and asked for additional written standards for appeals to the Board of Public Works; proponents said plan commission and Board of Public Works review provide adequate safeguards. Bill Connors of Smart Growth praised some changes that staff made after stakeholder comments but urged added clarity around how revocation and appeals would be applied.

Council members who spoke in favor said the ordinance is meant to protect mature public street trees without blocking new housing. "We can preserve mature city street trees and continue to do all we are doing to foster and encourage more housing development in our community," Alder Favier said during debate.

Moved and seconded and adopted on a unanimous voice vote, the ordinance will appear in the city’s code update as an amendment to the Madison General Ordinances and carry the legislative file number 89,254. The council noted the ordinance had been revised following plan commission and Board of Public Works review.

Proponents and city staff described the change as a step to reduce ad hoc, end-of-project disputes between developers and city forestry staff; staff said the ordinance gives foresters and public-works reviewers clearer authority to require protections and to seek restoration when trees are damaged.

Ending: The ordinance’s sponsors urged monitoring of enforcement and additional outreach to developers about on-site protections. The council recorded the vote as unanimous.