Madison Plan Commission pauses tree protection ordinance to gather more stakeholder input

The City of Madison Plan Commission voted unanimously Aug. 11 to refer proposed amendments to the city’s street tree protection rules (Legistar 89254) to the commission’s Aug. 25 meeting following a lengthy presentation by the city arborist and extended public and commissioner questions.

The amendments would change several Madison General Ordinance sections to strengthen protections for mature street trees, establish a dedicated street tree replacement fund, and require earlier involvement of forestry staff in development projects. The proposal, presented by City Arborist Ian Brown, is intended to increase the city’s canopy resilience and better align tree-protection practice with industry standards.

Brown told commissioners the revisions aim to move Madison toward its 40% community canopy goal by protecting larger trees that provide the majority of canopy benefits. Under the proposal, the “tree protection zone” would scale with trunk diameter (one foot of protection per inch of trunk diameter), replacing the current flat five‑foot buffer; the ordinance would also create a dedicated street tree replacement fund to channel payments for unavoidable removals back into urban forestry projects and planting, rather than into the city’s general fund.

Brown said the city and federal partners found in a recent urban forest inventory that roughly 10% of trees (by stem count) that…