(A) Procedure. The city shall review the submitted application for a tree removal permit required by this article to determine that all required information has been provided. As part of the application review process, the city shall inform the applicant that the applicant must comply with all applicable standards provided in § 51-44 by:
(1) Preserving existing trees in good or fair condition equal to at least 50% of the total number of regulated trees identified on the tree survey and preserving all landmark trees;
(3) Preserving and/or replacing trees in compliance with an arborist's assessment as provided in § 51-44; and/or
(4) Paying a sum into the city's Tree Preservation Fund as provided in § 51-44(B)(3).
If the applicant elects to replace trees in compliance with the arborist's assessment, the city shall hire an arborist to conduct a field inspection of the site to verify the information provided in the application and to assess preservation, removal, and replacement options in order to ensure compliance with the intent of this article. The costs associated with the arborist's inspection and assessment, including any administrative fee established by the annual appropriations ordinance, shall be the responsibility of the applicant and paid to the city or deducted from any funds escrowed by the applicant. The review of tree removal permit requests shall be the responsibility of the City Development Department and all decisions shall be made in accordance with the review standards of § 51-43.
(B) Denial. If an application for a tree removal permit is denied, the applicant shall be notified in writing of the reasons for denial by the City Development Department.
(C) Approval; conditions; performance requirements. If an application for a tree removal permit is granted, the City Development Department may do any or all of the following:
(1) Attach to the granting of the permit reasonable preservation, removal, and/or replacement conditions considered necessary by the City Development Department to ensure the intent of this article is fulfilled and to minimize damage to, encroachment in, or interference with natural resources and processes within wooded areas;
(2) Fix a reasonable time to complete tree removal operations;
(3) Require a permit holder to make a cash deposit or file an irrevocable bank letter of credit acceptable to the city in an amount determined necessary by the city to ensure compliance with the terms of this article, including the planting of any required replacement trees. Once the trees designated to be removed have been removed and any required replacement trees have been planted and inspected by the city, the city shall release 80% of the deposit or letter of credit, with the balance to be held to ensure that required maintenance as required by § 51-44 is completed. If the permit holder has provided a performance guarantee to the city under any other ordinance or regulation, and such guarantee is deemed adequate by the city to ensure compliance with this article, no additional performance guarantee shall be required under this section.
(4) The city may require such other additional performance guarantees as it deems necessary to ensure performance with the provisions of this article.
(1978 Code, § 33-42; Ord. No. 292, § 1, 4-16-91; Ord. No. 475, § 1, 3-2-21; Ord. No. 487, § 1, 9-6-22)