Titusville delays repurposing tree-mitigation trust fund until urban-forest plan workshop

Titusville City Council members voted unanimously Oct. 14 to postpone any decision on repurposing the city's public landscape trust fund until after a November 10 urban-forest visioning workshop and staff recommendations are complete.

The move follows public appeals from members of the Titusville Environmental Commission and residents who urged the council to use mitigation revenues collected under the city's tree-canopy ordinance to pay for an urban-forest management plan and its implementation. "Trees are the workhorses of site development," said Laura Lee Thompson of Mims, urging the council to use the trust fund to hire an urban-forest manager, plant trees on public land and buy tools needed to carry out the plan.

City staff told council that a consultant, E.O. Scene Environmental, will help craft the plan and that a community visioning workshop is scheduled for Nov. 10. Staff advised that the public landscape trust fund had already supplied a $50,000 match for a recent grant and that funds accrue when developers remove trees without replacing them.

Several residents amplified the request during public comment. "I've been here over 50 years and I'm a tree hugger," said Stan Johnson, who described recent tree removals and appealed for stronger city support for planting and management. Councilmember discussion emphasized combining the Titusville Environmental Commission's recommendations with the consultant's work and with corridor landscape design efforts already under way.

Vice Mayor Cole moved to defer action on any repurposing of the trust fund until after the urban-forest workshop and further staff analysis; Member Musco seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

What happens next: staff will integrate the T.E.C.'s recommendations into the urban-forest planning process, collect community input at the Nov. 10 meeting, and return to council with proposed implementation steps and any recommendations for using the public landscape trust fund to pay for a manager, plantings and maintenance.

Council members and staff noted they want community input to guide spending and emphasized that the landscape-architect work now under contract will inform recommended uses of funds.