(1) Inspections. The tree protection officer or a designee shall periodically inspect all land clearing and grading activities to ensure compliance with this chapter, or rules or orders adopted or issued pursuant to this chapter, and to determine whether the measures required in the site plan are effective in protecting all significant trees not indicated in the site plan for removal. Notice of the right to inspect shall be included in the certificate of zoning compliance.
(2) Stop-work order. The tree protection officer is authorized to issue a stop-work order at any time that any of the following is determined to have occurred:
a. Tree removal for development prior to obtaining a land clearing authorization and site plan approval.
b. A significant deviation from approved plans, certificates, or permits.
c. Systematic or habitual removal of or damage to protected trees and/or shrubs, and/or their root protection zones.
d. General carelessness with regard to tree protection and/or erosion control.
(3) Remedies. Following issuance of a stop-work order the tree protection officer shall provide the property owner with detailed descriptions of approved methods, protective barriers, and the repairs and/or replantings needed to correct the damage. In cases where additional or more severe penalties are required, the penalties described in section 36-431 may be considered. The tree protection officer shall verify that all appropriate measures have been implemented, including any necessary agreements by the owner or the owner's agent to complete weather-sensitive replantings at the appropriate season, before work is allowed to resume.
(4) Replantings. Any significant tree cut in excess of the number allowed by the Forest Coverage Table or without an approved tree protection plan, or in violation of an approved tree protection plan, or that is damaged during construction to the extent that the tree is likely to die, shall be replaced by healthy trees at the expense of the owner of the property, or the owner's agent. Such trees shall be replaced by species recommended in the Lake Lure Tree Management Handbook, at the "minimum dbh for replanting" sizes appropriate to the species as shown in Appendix A to this chapter and in sufficient numbers to equal the total inches in dbh of the trees damaged or unlawfully removed. Any areas exceeding 100 square feet in size from which native shrubbery and their stumps and roots have been removed without approval as part of a tree protection plan, or that are damaged to an extent likely to cause the death of those shrubs, shall be replanted with healthy shrubbery at the expense of the owner or the owner's agent. Such replacement trees and/or shrubs shall be planted in the approximate location of the originals that were damaged or unlawfully removed, or elsewhere on the property as approved by the tree protection officer, and shall be inspected at intervals by the tree protection officer. Any replanted trees or shrubs not continuing in good health for a minimum of two years shall be replanted at the expense of the owner of the property or the owner's agent.
(Code 1989, § 92.122; Ord. of 6-12-2007)