District 16 Council Candidate - Paul King - Speaks for the Trees!
Paul King
District 16 Council Candidate
Nashville Tree Conservation Corps asked candidates running for Nashville’s 2019 election how they would solve some of our city’s most challenging tree canopy issues. See how they responded in the question and answer below!
District 16 Council Candidate Paul King Speaks for the Trees…
QUESTION #1
The Fort Negley clear-cutting and the NFL cherry-tree incidents illustrated something obvious: When it comes to the urban canopy, there is a breakdown of communication between the segments of Metro Government responsible for trees. The problem is that trees fall under the jurisdiction of many different departments (codes, stormwater, electrical, parks). What internal operational changes need to be made to better protect the existing canopy?
Elect one of the departments as chief coordinator for anything where over x number of trees impacted (unless it’s an NES safety issue).
QUESTION #2
Do you support the city’s first tree bill in over a decade (BL2018-1416) in its current form? If not, what changes do you want to see? Or should it be stronger and broader in scope? BL1416 impacts only commercial and multi-family land use types. Do you support enacting tree laws for single-family residential?
Unknown or no opinion yet. I’d probably support developers of new single family units being required to plant a couple of trees or pay into a fund, but I don’t think I’d want to impose tree legislation on existing owners. Perhaps incentivize existing owners, but not punish.
QUESTION #3
Atlanta, Charlotte and Austin all have laws protecting a class of trees they consider to be “heritage trees; property owners must get approval for cutting them down and pay into a tree bank to offset the loss of a large trees in their communities. We feel this sets a tone that makes people more aware and respectful of the urban tree canopy. Do you approve of such legislation?
Yes on new build purchases, no on existing homeowners. Yes on developers who buy existing homes/lots for development.
QUESTION #4
TREES ATLANTA is considered by many to be the model for a public/private cooperative that works to protect urban tree canopy. TREES ATLANTA employees even help the city as on-site inspectors who follow up to make sure developers have complied with tree ordinances. What do you think of this model, or what would you do to strengthen the implementation and enforcement of Nashville’s tree code?
From what I’m reading it looks good.
QUESTION #5
How could we entice private property owners not to cut down mature trees? How can we encourage developers/builders to keep mature trees in the designing of the home and lot?
Per answer #2 developers required to keep existing old growth or pay into a fund. I believe for the enticement for property owners just talk about the fines and penalties for new homeowners and don’t pipe up and say “but not you guys”.
QUESTION #6
Metro Nashville has just 3 employees to oversee all of Davidson County trees, while other peer cities with less tree canopy coverage have 15 to 20 employees on staff for trees. As a result, the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps has cataloged countless incidents where developers eluded complying with tree codes, the city has hundreds of hazardous trees that need to be replaced, and staff have trouble keeping up with just their everyday responsibilities. Do you support spending the money to bring us up to a par with our peer cities? If not, how will you fix this issue?
All of Metro is underfunded, understaffed, and over devoted to tourism and cleaning up our tab from paying to get it. There are several jobs in Metro that at the moment could be shared or gig sourced out such as say an off duty firefighter was in an area they could pick up a small amount of time by snapping a picture of a lot being developed and emailing it to codes (at codes request). Police at night could write down the pole number of a streetlight that’s out and turn it into NES since NES won’t check the lights (proven reduction in property crime). Groups like Nextdoor and the Facebook area groups notoriously want to see their areas done right – while I’m not saying put the public in construction zones fighting people with chainsaws, you can take photos if you’re there, call codes or the police if someone’s about to cut down something they shouldn’t. Think differently to accomplish things when there’s no budget, until you can get the budget. I can’t imagine 3 people driving everywhere every day is going to be particularly effective in a city this size.
BONUS QUESTION FOR COUNCIL CANDIDATES
QUESTION #7
How will you work to bridge the divisions we often experience when talking about advancing tree legislation in Nashville between the community-builder dynamic? How can we advance Nashville’s livability standards while avoiding the risk of State preemption?
I’ve been saying for a while if you want to build here, improve here. That means improve the look, improve the air, it improves the sale value. I don’t see that this should be something that the state would preempt considering they didn’t preempt sidewalks to nowhere connected to access ramps to inaccessible parking lots.