Why aren’t there more tree-lined streets? Development professionals blame complicated city rules

Following the historic February ice storm that damaged over 10 million trees in Austin and knocked power out for 265,000 Austin Energy customers, city leaders are pushing to bury more power lines – a move aimed not only at protecting utility infrastructure but also allowing more trees to be planted along city streets.

But even with fewer overhead power lines, a tangle of city rules and departmental interests often discourage developers from planting street trees, development professionals say. 

“The system does not value street trees,” said Kevin Howard, principal at Urbinden Design Lab, who is writing a report on barriers to including street trees in new developments in Austin. 

Howard and other industry professionals told the Austin Monitor that the city only requires developers to plant street trees on a fraction of corridors, and that development review criteria prioritize siloed departmental interests over street trees. 

“Street trees are one of those things that are a good idea, but by the time it gets through the various departments, it’s expensive, time consuming and complicated,” said homebuilder Scott Turner, CEO of Riverside Homes.  

That means the city misses out on the benefits of more tree-lined streets.

“Urban tree canopy is really important for climate resiliency, for equity across the city, and just general quality of day-to-day life,” said Elle Ignatowski with nonprofit TreeFolks. Trees lower temperatures, improve air and water quality, provide habitat for wildlife and create a more pleasant urban environment, she said. 

Planting street trees in the public right of way is particularly difficult, with the city requiring a second series of approvals on top of site plan review. Development professionals said it can take two years in some cases to approve a license agreement for trees in the right of way, with 40 different approvals needed from staffers in over 20 departments. 

“It’s very difficult to navigate, and it’s not under any sanctioned time limits for review,” said Ron Thrower, a land use consultant. 

As part of the license agreement, the city also requires developers to maintain street trees in the right of way and buy liability insurance in case a driver crashes into a tree or a limb falls on a parked car, adding to the cost of building.

City staffers determine whether to allow street trees by referencing design criteria manuals. But the manuals tend to prioritize the interests of each department, like easy access to utilities, over a holistic vision for the streetscape, development professionals said. 

“It’s like everybody is taking their piece of the pie, and then whatever’s left is gonna go to street trees. And that’s always nothing,” Howard said. 

City staffers may also interpret the rules differently because they can be vaguely written, Howard said. This creates uncertainty for developers – a problem especially for affordable housing developers juggling various financing deadlines.

“We’re doing triple work. We have to make sure that we are anticipating every possible interpretation that we might get from all these reviewers,” said Howard, who works on Seabrook Square, an affordable housing project on city-owned land at 3515 Manor Road.

All these barriers mean most developers won’t bother to plant street trees or will request waivers from street tree requirements. Thrower said hardly any of the developers he has worked with have included street trees in their projects. 

In recent months, however, the city has taken steps to harmonize development review standards and add oversight to rule-making. The city recently hired a rules administrator tasked with addressing any conflicts in rules across different criteria manuals. Last month, City Council authorized the creation of a Technical Advisory Review Panel, which would convene outside experts to “identify inconsistencies, redundancies, and policy implications” in the various manuals.

Further changes could come as part of the city’s response to the ice storm, an event that highlighted the role of street trees and their relationship to utility infrastructure. 

A resolution passed by City Council in March asked staffers from Austin Energy and city departments to study the feasibility of burying utility lines and how to make planting street trees easier, especially along corridors with a lot of pedestrians. This could include revising the licensing agreement process.

While Howard expressed excitement about the resolution, he said the city must do more to prioritize tree-filled streetscapes to meet its goals around climate resilience, equity and mobility. Adding street trees will only become more important as the city continues to lose trees to more urban-style development, he said.

“What is the future of our urban neighborhoods? It’s probably not a bunch of big leafy yards. Hopefully, it’s a bunch of leafy streets,” Howard said.

Photo by Aleksandr Zykov, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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