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Council begins review of tree-preservation code after Pinellas County rewrites
Summary
City planning staff compared Clearwater's tree preservation rules to recent Pinellas County changes and proposed clarifications on permitting, mitigation and fees. Council members asked staff to return recommended ordinance revisions and a targeted fee study; staff will present a timeline and options.
Lauren Matzke, planning and development, presented a detailed comparison of Clearwater's tree-preservation ordinance with Pinellas County's recent amendments, and asked the council for direction on potential code changes.
"So earlier this year, council had requested staff provide a summary of some changes that Pinellas County had recently completed," Matzke said, explaining staff looked at structural, administrative and mitigation differences between the codes. She told the council the county moved from an inch-for-inch mitigation system to a graded system that ties mitigation to tree size and a new rating scale, and that the county had simplified its rating scale to improve consistency.
The presentation highlighted several practical differences: Clearwater's mitigation is still primarily inch-for-inch (tree DBH measured in inches at…
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