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Board advances revisions to tree-protection and landscaping code, including new submission timing
Summary
The board agreed to add a requirement that landscaping plans for new or redeveloped lots be submitted with building plans before Planning & Zoning submission, and debated tree-survival inspection timing and enforcement language in the tree-protection ordinance.
Members of the Melbourne Beach Planning & Zoning Board spent the bulk of the Aug. 4 meeting reviewing revisions to the town's landscaping and tree-protection ordinance, voting to forward the edited text for a commission workshop. A central addition will require landscaping plans for lots to be developed or redeveloped to be submitted to the town with building plans prior to Planning & Zoning submission.
Board discussion focused on practical enforcement: several members said surveys and tree-removal permits should accompany site plans so the town can see which trees will be removed and why. "Landscaping plans for lots to be developed or redeveloped shall be submitted to the town with building plans prior to planning and zoning submission," one member proposed and the board accepted into the draft language. Building staff noted many recent demo-and-rebuild projects are submitted without full landscaping detail, and members said the change would put that requirement up front.
The board also debated how to verify that replacement trees survive. Some members pressed for a shorter inspection timeline rather than a three-year reinspection cycle; one member drafted language calling for a check at 180 days after final building inspection or certificate of occupancy to "ascertain the viable condition of the tree." Staff and the board agreed to keep a three-year survivability expectation but to include a 180-day check and streamline reinspection language to reduce enforcement burden.
