(a) No person, firm, association or corporation shall engage in mining, commercial logging, extracting or soil stripping within the City. This section shall not be construed to prohibit construction excavations for building foundations and pipe laying or general site grading and filling for paving and landscaping purposes.
(Ord. 109-91. Passed 8-6-91.)
(b) In order to prevent undue erosion of the soil, pollution of the atmosphere and natural waterways, interference with drainage and the natural supply of water and an unreasonable loss of oxygen, no person, firm, association or corporation shall, prior to the written approval of the Planning Commission, remove or destroy by cutting, burning, bulldozing or by any other means any number of viable trees having a diameter or four inches or more measured at a distance of fourteen inches above the ground level, on any parcel of record.
(1) In order to secure a permit to remove any number of trees, an application for such approval shall be filed with the City Landscape Architect and the Building Inspector. The application shall set forth the name and address of each owner, lessee and person in possession of the lot or parcel upon which the trees are situated, the name and address of each person who shall be engaged in the destruction or removal of such trees, a statement as to whether such work will be performed under a written or oral agreement, as well as the essential terms of the agreement; a statement of the kind, number and dimensions of the trees to be removed, and a legal description of each lot or parcel, or in lieu thereof, a description of sufficient detail so that such lot or parcel may be readily located on the plat map of the City.
(2) The application shall be forwarded to the Planning Commission by the City Landscape Architect and the Building Inspector together with their report and recommendations thereon.
(3) The Planning Commission shall review and act on the application at a regular monthly meeting within sixty days after receipt of the application. The Planning Commission shall not approve the granting of a permit if it finds that such removal or destruction of trees is not necessary to facilitate site development and is likely to cause soil erosion, result in pollution or an unreasonably large loss of oxygen, interference with drainage and the natural supply of water, or that it will result in an unsightly and blighted condition. In no event shall the permit allow the removal or destruction of trees, as described in subsection (b) hereof, prior to the time of approval of a preliminary plan of a new subdivision, or if no new subdivision is to be created, prior to the time of the approval of a site plan or the issuing of a building permit for construction on such lot or parcel.
(Ord. 158-89. Passed 3-13-89.)