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Somerville committee hears plan to add canopy width to tree green-score rules; public hearing left open
Summary
City staff proposed amending Zoning Ordinance Articles 2 and 10 to add a canopy-width test so narrow columnar trees no longer qualify as large-tree green-score credits; planning board offered no public testimony and the council committee left the hearing open until May 21 for additional comment.
A joint meeting of the Somerville City Council Land Use Committee and the Planning Board heard a staff presentation on a proposed amendment to Articles 2 and 10 of the city zoning ordinance that would change how the city’s “green score” counts trees for development projects. Vanessa Buhele, the city’s senior urban forestry and landscape planner, told the committee the change would add a width (canopy) measure so narrow, columnar trees are not counted as large trees when calculating green-score credits.
Buhele said the amendment keeps existing planting-size standards at planting…
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