Hon. Lois Finkelman

Dallas City Council Representative and

Chair of Health, Environment and Human Services Committee

1500 Marilla St.

Dallas, Texas 75201

Subject:  Tree Preservation Ordinance and Reforestation Fund

Dear Council Representative Finkelman:

The summary of the reforestation fund on your briefing summary neglects to address important issues and creates a false impression that ?all is well? with the reforestation fund.  All is not well.  It is my understanding that large sums of money are missing from this fund and that this issue is under investigation.  The figures presented as the ?total? amount in the reforestation fund in the briefing material posted on the city?s website is meaningless without knowing how many inches of protected trees have been removed and the total mitigation amounts required.  Your committee-- and the citizens of Dallas-- need this information on at least an annual basis.  Without it there is no way to evaluate the effectiveness of this ordinance nor to ensure all funds that are legally required to be in this fund actually make it into the fund.

I am requesting that you require the Department of Development Services to produce an annual report that fully accounts for the total number of inches of protected trees removed and the total number of inches replaced (and how they were replaced) and to instruct department managers to create policies and procedures to do so.  I?ve made this request often over the past eight years.  No report has ever resulted.  Last summer, Joanne Hill and I met with you and the new Director of Development Services.  I again made this request.  Ms. O?Donnell?s immediate response was, ?I don?t think that would be a good use of staff time.? 

It is very troubling that accountability for these responsibilities vital to the health of Dallas? urban forest and for the sustainability of our city is such a low priority.  I suspect that may be a major reason for the failures in enforcement of this ordinance.  And also the reason why there is a scandal about large amounts of funds missing from the reforestation fund. 

Inches of protected trees removed equal dollars owed our city. 

And it is not ?an efficient use of staff time to account for them????

In regard to policies and procedures necessary for effective enforcement of our tree preservation ordinance,

Results on-the-ground are all that really matter: 
Is the protective fencing installed and maintained.  Yes or No       
Is silt fencing installed and maintained?    Yes or No     
Are the trees that the plan shows as preserved trees still there with no root disturbance under their canopies when the project is complete?   Yes or No    

As Dr. Mary Ellen Bluntzer commented to Ryan Evans in a meeting last year,  "This is not rocket science.  We're talking about putting up little orange plastic fences!"

I really don't care if these policies and procedures take two pages or five hundred.  All I care about is that our trees are not unnecessarily destroyed and that the trees that survive this process are healthy trees that will really be amenities that enhance the property---rather than "dead trees standing" for new homeowners to have the grief and expense of having to remove in the first few years of homeownership.  AND that when the will of The People is reflected in law that it is respected.  That is the way that democracy is supposed to function.

Sincerely,

Linda Pelon