Members of the Hailey City Council voted unanimously Monday to amend the city's ongoing 182-day emergency tree cutting ordinance to allow for the cutting or relocation of trees on projects with pre-approved landscape plans granted before the moratorium was put in place.
The Hailey City Council implemented the emergency tree ordinance on May 15 after a private landowner directed workers to cut five mature spruce trees on his highly visible property between Walnut and Pine streets on Main Street. The tree-cutting incident ignited a barrage of angry protests from both city residents and officials.
Except for several exceptions, including the one approved by council members on Monday, the emergency ordinance enacted last May prohibits the cutting of live trees with a 15-inch diameter or greater as measured at the base of the tree. The other exceptions to the ordinance are:
· A tree recommended for removal by a certified arborist due to its being a hazard or because its removal would substantially improve the health of other trees may be removed.
· A tree located within the buildable area of a lot and not within any required setback in a residential district may also be removed. Those areas include the Limited Residential, General Residential and Transitional zoning districts.
While admitting there are not many of them, Hailey Planning Director Kathy Grotto said several such projects with pre-approved landscape plans do currently exist in the city.
One such development is the 421-unit Sweetwater project in Woodside. The project is the largest single planned unit development ever approved in Hailey.
Speaking during the meeting, Jim Laski, attorney for Sweetwater, voiced support for the amendment to the emergency tree-cutting ordinance.
"We are obviously in favor of this," Laski said. "We have a replanting plan that was approved."
Speaking in favor of the amendment, Councilwoman Martha Burke said the council never intended to stop projects with pre-approved landscape plans from moving forward.
"I think this was one of the housekeeping items that wasn't intended," Burke said.
The site where the five mature spruce trees were cut down was once a U.S. Forest Service ranger station, Hailey City Clerk Heather Dawson said, not long after the incident took place in May.
She said the U.S. Forest Service sold the property in the early 1990s. Forest Service rangers apparently planted the spruce trees that were cut earlier this May sometime in the 1930s.
