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County's fund for tree planting sprouts to $260,000
Land-use department aims to identify best areas for reforestation
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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The St. Mary's County Department of Land Use and Growth Management has been collecting fees for the clearing of trees at residential and commercial development for about a decade now. The fund has accumulated to around $260,000 now, which is dedicated to the planting of new trees.
Since there is enough money there now, Derick Berlage, director of the department, wants to initiate a program locally that will target properties for plantings both widespread and strategic.
"We gotta get cracking on promoting preservation," said Phil Shire, deputy director, last week. "We have the potential to do a lot."
Builders both large and small have to pay a fee if a certain amount of forest cannot be retained or planted on a site, according to the state Forest Conservation Act. Locally, the range of required forest on a property varies from 50 percent in the rural preservation district to 15 percent in areas of dense development.
A fee-in-lieu can be paid if the subject property cannot meet the forestry requirements – at 10 cents per square foot of the area of required planting. As an example, the Park Place development at Shady Mile Drive and Route 235 in California paid $44,700 to clear an extra 5 acres of trees.
In the case of violations, the fee is 30 cents per square foot.
Berlage intends to present the Green Community Initiative to the county commissioners this summer for approval, to identify areas in the county for new tree planting and reforestation.
Environmental plantings would go in areas still in natural condition, but would add more native trees. Developed areas would see tree plantings along streets and "pocket parks of green space," in urban areas, he said.
There are no target properties yet, the conditions for candidates haven't been worked out yet. But both public and private properties can qualify.
"This is a perfect time to hit this now because things are slowing down," in the pace of development, Shire said.
"We're very good at regulating and collecting the fees," said Harry Knight, permits coordinator, now that the department has a new director, a program can be developed to use them.
There are different regulations for timber harvesting in St. Mary's, which is considered an agricultural harvest. "When the public sees a timber harvest area in the critical area, they wonder how that's allowed," Knight said. Timber harvest plans are approved by state and local regulators and new plantings or stumps are supposed to replace what was harvested, though on a longer timeframe than other agricultural crops.
