The city of Centralia is celebrating its status as an official Tree City USA member with a new policy for urban trees intended to increase the healthy canopy around the city.
During a Tuesday evening meeting, the Centralia City Council approved a new tree policy that city staff said is intended to ensure that the city’s natural canopy is maintained or even growing.
The policy also includes a list of pre-approved trees that are considered durable and low hazards to the public.
According to Centralia Deputy City Manager Amy Buckler, the policy will “guide city departments” to follow a certain procedure when removing a tree, which includes planting new trees and caring for them through watering and pruning.
“The city council initially referred this item to staff due to community concerns that trees in the city were being cut down and not being replaced,” Buckler said. “That was really the crux of it.”
The policy will also guide the public and local property owners in planting trees in public spaces such as the city right-of-ways, which includes places such as sidewalk planters along local streets.
The policy comes with a wealth of publicly accessible materials developed by the city to instruct both staff and the public in how to plant and care for new trees.
The policy also established the groundwork for a permit system that would require local property owners to acquire a permit to plant a tree in the right of way, but did not fully enact the permitting system yet.
“That is a step for the future when the city is back to full capacity, including having a lawyer, city attorney,” Buckler said. “Whether a permit is required or not, the tree committee did feel that it was important for the city to make information available to the public that shares best practices to guide folks who want to plant and care for trees properly.”
Buckler added that the move to develop a local tree policy originally came from the Centralia City Council last year when it convened an ad hoc committee to research and develop a policy. According to the Centralia City Council agenda, the tree committee met with a contracted consultant Bartlett Tree Experts in two sessions to develop the policy and a pre-approved tree list.
The members of the tree committee unanimously recommended the new policy for approval by the Centralia City Council.
For more information about the city’s new tree policy, its pre-approved list of trees and other information, visit https://www.cityofcentralia.com/1623/Tree-Care.
