Council calls for more trees and green infrastructure

On Thursday, City Council approved a step forward for increasing the number of trees in the city as well as promoting pedestrian and bicycle access throughout Austin. The vote was unanimous on the resolution sponsored by Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool.

After passage of the item on the consent agenda, Pool said, “In the face of a warming planet and temperatures rising, extreme weather, as we know, is becoming more common, and the city must act to mitigate these impacts for today and for future generations.”

She concluded, “As we keep pushing to build a city that is resilient, equitable and sustainable, we acknowledge the decisions we are making today are shaping the Austin of tomorrow. I want to see a whole lot more trees in our future with a strong and healthy urban canopy, offering shade and shelter throughout this city.” Pool said the resolution would provide rules for planting trees in Austin’s rights of way for all future right-of-way projects. Right of way is defined as public-owned land including streets, sidewalks and the area behind the curb – typically everything from the street to the property lines.

Much of the work this resolution directs will fall to the Transportation and Public Works Department, which is directed to “explore creating a team dedicated to maintaining green infrastructure, including street trees, located in the right-of-way.” The resolution also seeks a funding source and the possibility of new full-time employees to staff the team.

As the resolution states, the city’s development process requirements are “burdensome, time-consuming, and introduce substantial risks to development projects, often disincentivizing the planting of street trees and other green infrastructure in the public right-of-way.” At the same time, “almost all of our city plans call for walkable pedestrian spaces, but no plan addresses how to achieve these goals” when there are competing priorities.

Staff will have to work through the maze of city regulations related to development, so the city manager “is directed to provide an opportunity for the Technical Advisory Review Panel to discuss technical challenges with the implementation of this initiative.” The resolution included a long list of city policies and plans that staff should review “to clarify requirements and determine the best approach to holistically manage the right-of-way to allow for street trees and other green infrastructure” for future projects.

The resolution directs a future city manager to come to the Council Mobility Committee on Sept. 19 to propose a timeline for bringing potential code standards and process changes to Council.

Among those sending letters of support for changes to the city’s green infrastructure rules were the local chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the board of Austin Outside and the board of the Austin Parks Foundation. Pool thanked supporters in the nonprofit and business communities. She particularly thanked architects Jana McCann and Kevin Howard “for daylighting this issue last fall and working with my team” to bring the resolution forward.

Co-sponsors on the resolution included Council members Paige Ellis, Ryan Alter, Natasha Harper-Madison, and José Velásquez. Council Member Chito Vela joined the list of sponsors during Thursday’s meeting.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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