Tamarac planning board backs ordinance to clarify tree rules, widen tree fund uses

The Tamarac Planning Board on Aug. 13 recommended the City Commission adopt a text amendment to Chapter 10, Article 4, Section 10‑4.4 of the City of Tamarac Land Development Code to clarify tree preservation rules and broaden uses of the tree preservation trust fund.

Planning staff said the amendments were prompted by two years of enforcing a local ordinance adopted after the city left Broward County's program and by complaints and ambiguities discovered in implementation. “We basically copied and pasted Broward County's ordinance,” Planning staff said, and during enforcement staff identified gaps in definitions and in how the trust fund could be used.

The proposal adds definitions (including hazardous tree and nuisance tree), modifies exemptions and the tree‑removal permit process, clarifies responsibility for trees adjacent to public rights of way, and expands eligible trust‑fund expenditures to include private property work. Staff read the proposed trust‑fund language into the record: “Monies in trust funds shall be expended, utilized and dispersed for the planting of trees and any other ancillary costs…