Tigard awarded for urban forestry planning
Earlier this year, the City of Tigard received the national planning excellence award from the American Planning Association for the city’s innovative planning efforts.
Awards Chair Ann C. Bagley said Tigard’s urban forestry code revisions project “implements Tigard’s goals of achieving 40 percent citywide tree canopy by 2047 and could serve as a model for other U.S. communities seeking to preserve and expand their urban forest and maximize the benefits provided by trees.”
The Best Practice award is for a specific innovative planning method or practice that yields lasting values in the community.
Realizing that its previous tree code was disliked by developers, city staff, and environmentalists alike, the City of Tigard engaged in a comprehensive planning and master planning process to understand what it had, identify what it wanted, and develop tools to achieve its goals.
Tigard discovered it had 25 percent tree canopy, but wanted a 40 percent tree canopy, which is recommended for Pacific Northwest cities by American Forests. The city also discovered there had been a 20 percent decline in large native tree groves in the 11 years from 1996 to 2007, a trend it wanted to change.
Tigard developed a Citizens Advisory Committee comprised of members of the community, property owners, developers and environmentalists. Despite working on a potentially polarizing issue, the group built a consensus to guide development of new regulations to help the city and each committee participant reach the established objectives.
In addition to the canopy coverage requirements, the Tree Grove Preservation incentives encourage developers to retain native tree groves through development flexibility. Allowing density transfer and increased building heights make it possible to preserve tree groves while at the same time meeting development objectives.
