Mount Vernon Shade Tree Commission tables Aristoville tree-planting plan after public concerns over stormwater and guarantees

Mount Vernon 'At a meeting of the Mount Vernon Shade Tree Commission, developers for the Aristoville (Arista Villas) subdivision presented a tree-planting and canopy-restoration plan and asked the commission to recommend the plan to the Municipal Planning Commission (MPC).

Clint Huron, representing KNG Equity, told commissioners the project covers about 40 acres, including roughly 31 acres of existing woodland, and that consultants estimated about 2,700 trees of 5 inches diameter at breast height or larger on the wooded portion. "This plan replaces a declining woodland with a well planned, diverse, and sustainable urban forest," Huron said, summarizing the team's replacement strategy and long-term oversight commitments.

The consultant team's on-site inventory used 16 circular sample plots and GNSS positioning; it found the stand dominated by sugar maple, American elm and black cherry and reported widespread invasive understory shrubs such as Japanese honeysuckle and autumn olive suppressing regeneration. The team proposed retaining 135 existing trees and planting 646 new trees for a total of 781, with proposed species drawn from Mount Vernon's approved list, including bur oak, swamp white oak, American…