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Vienna to consider joining regional request asking Dominion Energy to limit tree clearing on W&OD Trail
Summary
Council reviewed a draft joint resolution from NOVA Parks asking Dominion Energy to pursue selective pruning, plant native low-level trees where appropriate and replant areas already cut; council asked staff and the town attorney to review language and agreed to consider signing the resolution at a follow-up meeting.
Town leaders on March 17 considered a joint resolution circulated by NOVA Parks asking Dominion Energy to change vegetation-management practices along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail.
The mayor introduced the resolution, which asks Dominion to adopt selective pruning rather than wholesale tree removal, set vegetation-height limits to allow a wider variety of native trees and shrubs, and, where cutting is necessary to assure grid reliability, to replant areas with species that support pollinators and native habitat for a sufficient time to establish new growth.
A parks commissioner and council members pressed for local language that would require replanting on sections already cut in Vienna to the same standard Dominion would adopt elsewhere. "If they do what they do in the other jurisdictions, then they've got to replant ours to that standard," one council member said during the discussion.
Parks staff said they and NOVA Parks (Paul Gilbert) had already discussed adding a list of acceptable native trees and shrubs as part of the resolution; staff also asked the town attorney to review the draft. The town manager said the draft joint resolution will be sent to Dominion and that staff would bring a finalized version to council for signature at the next meeting after attorney review.
No formal vote took place; council members generally favored using the resolution as a regional, collaborative appeal and authorized staff to refine the language and seek legal review.
Next steps: staff will revise the draft to include Vienna-specific language about replanting and native species, obtain legal review, and place the resolution on the next meeting agenda for formal consideration and possible sign-on.
