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Commission continues ordinance to fold North Port 'tree fund' into Environmental Protection Fund after questions on canopy and spending
Summary
The commission heard hours of testimony and staff explanations about consolidating the former tree fund into a broader Environmental Protection Fund; commissioners asked for clearer accounting of roughly $3M in tree‑restricted funds and staff agreed to return with more details. The ordinance was continued to second reading on May 19 (4–0–1).
City staff asked the City Commission on May 5 to adopt Ordinance 2026‑11 to clarify that remaining balances carried in the city’s former "tree fund" should be consolidated into a renamed Environmental Protection Fund and used for the broader natural‑resource purposes set out in the updated Unified Land Development Code.
City manager staff said the change is largely technical: when the ULDC was recodified in 2024 it renamed the tree fund without expressly rolling existing balances into the new Environmental Protection Fund. Development staff and the director of development services, Elena Ray, told commissioners the environmental protection fund can be used…
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