The City of Asheville is considering amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to require, promote and incentivize the preservation, enhancement and future expansion of the City’s tree canopy.

As supported by Living Asheville (the City’s recently adopted comprehensive plan), the Urban Tree Canopy Study and the NASA DEVELOP Urban Heat Island study, City staff have drafted an ordinance focused on the preservation, enhancement and expansion of the City’s tree canopy as it relates to private land development activity. This ordinance amendment will introduce new requirements for tree canopy preservation and enhancement for all new buildings, new open uses of land (such as parking lots) and expansions of at least 1,500 square feet for buildings and 3,000 square feet for open uses of land. This new section to the UDO will replace the requirements for Tree Save Areas as currently found in Section 7-11-3(d)7. The new Section will work with tree canopy area to preserve canopy and place heavy incentives upon the preservation of existing canopy.
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For the average citizen, understanding the details of the proposed ordinance amendment can be challenging. That's why Asheville GreenWorks offered a webinar on the the Tree Canopy Preservation Ordinance (TCPO) Amendment. The recording of the webinar, which included a brief presentation on the ordinance amendment by Chris Collins, Site Planning & Development Manager at City of Asheville, and Q&A with Chris Collins, Ed Macie of the Urban Forestry Commission and Dawn Chávez of Asheville GreenWorks, can be viewed here:​

While the TCPO amendment does not achieve zero net tree canopy loss for the City of Asheville, it is an important first step in reversing the trend of losing trees due to the pressures of development. 

City officials have given a verbal commitment to establishing a Zero Net Canopy Loss Policy.  To that end, the Urban Forestry Commission will submit a Zero Net Canopy Loss resolution to the City Council, for a vote, to complement the Tree Protection Amendment.  This resolution promotes an array of policies, management strategies, partnerships, and programs to protect and enhance our urban forest. 

Part of the management strategy will be the staffing of a full time professional urban forester, and the development of a comprehensive urban forestry master plan.

Please join us in urging City Council to pass this amendment. Public comment can be submitted in a number of ways:

1. Send a letter to City Council with this easy-to-use form.
2. Leave a pre-recorded voicemail: call 855-925-2801, then enter code 7725.
3. Submit written comments by emailing [email protected]. 
4. Call in live by signing up in advance at ashevillenc.gov/comments or by calling the Clerk’s office at 828-259-5900, no later than noon Aug. 24. In order to be added to the list of speakers, an individual must provide his/her name, area of residence, phone number the caller will use to listen to the meeting live and join the speaker queue, the item the individual is commenting on (Examples:  Consent Agenda, Public Hearing A, Open Public Comment), and an alternative form of contact (for example: text number, email address or a different phone line if a land line will be used to call into the meeting). 
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*The item to comment on is "Public Hearing B"

By: Susan Sertain, member of the Tree Protection Task Force and Asheville resident for over 20 years

Please consider joining us on Wednesday, August 15th at 5pm for a webinar presentation and discussion about the upcoming Tree Canopy Preservation Amendment vote. Register here.

Did you know that the city of Asheville does not have any existing ordinances, policies, or programs in place to preserve its urban forest canopy? 

The Urban Forestry Commission and the Division of Development Services have created a Tree Canopy Preservation Amendment that will be presented at the City Council meeting on August 25, 2020. This amendment to the city’s Unified Development Code would give developers the flexibility to build their projects, while at the same time helping to preserve existing tree canopy.

Canopy Loss

In 2019, an Urban Tree Canopy Study was commissioned by the City of Asheville and the Urban Forestry Commission. Over a 10 year period, Asheville experienced a 6.4 percent tree canopy loss, 891 acres of trees or 675 football fields! This study provided a look into our city’s canopy loss and provided some valuable information. ​

• Tree canopy provides numerous environmental, economic and social benefits.
• One of many factors contributing to tree canopy loss is growth and development associated with that growth. 
• In the face of tree canopy loss, Asheville should increase tree protection efforts through ordinance review and establishing tree protection measures, specification and mitigation requirements.
• In addition to downtown, many areas with the least tree canopy include neighborhoods with the most marginalized residents.
• The disparity in tree canopy coverage between more affluent and less affluent communities creates an environmental justice issue for the City of Asheville.

In the midst of a global climate crisis, and when our city leaders declared a Climate Emergency, many towns and cities across the nation and around the globe are creating ordinances and resolutions, and forming groups to focus on saving their existing trees, as well as planting many more. But we still have not .

Asheville City officials have given a verbal commitment to establishing a Zero Net Loss Canopy Policy but a written resolution will be presented with the Ordinance Tree Protection Amendment at City Council Meeting on August 25, 2020.

50,000 Trees in Asheville by 2040

Asheville will need to plant 50,000 trees by 2040, in order to restore our urban tree canopy to 50% coverage. GreenWorks is committed to this community goal through our Urban Forestry program and partnering with the city, county, and other community groups. To reach this goal, we will need to plant 2,500 trees per year - the question is, how fast will the rest of the trees be cut down?

With the City of Asheville continuing to grow, the pressure to build more densely, to cut down trees on public and private property, including gullies and slopes and removing trees just to clear the view, is becoming intense.

Use the slider to view development of the Upstream Way Luxury Vacation Rentals above Amboy Rd. Provided by Brooke Heaton, https://www.avltrees.org/before-after

The Environmental Value of Trees

What happens to the area where the lot has been cleared of almost all, if not all, of the trees in order to build? What happens when that mature, 150 year old tree is cut down to make room for a septic tank or a driveway? When even a small area of the urban forest is cut and all of the trees removed, these benefits are removed as well. 

Environmental benefits including: 

• Improved air quality, water quality, and soil quality
• Reduced stormwater runoff, erosion, sedimentation and flooding
• Shade evaporative cooling
• A diversity of habitats for wildlife and pollinators
• Reduced ambient air temperature as much as 20 degrees in the summer months
• Wind breaks in the winter

​Social and public health benefits including the reduction of:

• Heat-related illnesses
• Illnesses such as asthma, attention deficit disorder, and obesity
• Length of hospital stay 
• Noise pollution 
• Stress
• Exposure to harmful UV rays

The Economic Value of Trees

We know that Asheville is loved by tourists from all over the world and many come back to live here. We can understand that hotels and housing is necessary. It is also necessary to seriously consider the economic benefits of keeping our urban forest:  improving retail and tourist environments; increasing property values; decreasing storm water treatment costs; reducing energy consumption and electricity costs. 

Asheville's urban forest, in 2018, collected 65,000 tons of carbon, a value of $3,000,000 per year. An urban forest can also reduce 18 million gallons of stormwater runoff per year. What happens if our urban forest continues to be cut down, when it is already doing so much good for Asheville’s energy transition goals and climate resilience?

Learn more about the benefits of trees.

Trees and Extreme Heat

At the 2019 Climate Change and Asheville’s Urban Forest symposium, the NASA DEVELOP Team reported on “Tree Cover and Asheville’s Urban Heat Islands,” a term used when describing a city being hotter than the countryside. Where buildings, concrete, and streets create an envelope of warm air making the city an island of heat and also increasing air pollution. This phenomenon is now made worse by the climate crisis.

The team reported that the impacts of extreme heat are disproportionately affecting marginalized communities with very little tree canopy cover. These areas showed elevated surface temperatures of 10 degrees higher than the tree filled communities in Asheville. Extreme heat can exacerbate existing health problems, causing heat-related illnesses and deaths among vulnerable populations.

What is the Urban Forestry Commission and the Tree Protection Task Force Doing?

These studies and their results were presented to the city along with a plea for an Urban Forester and a Master Plan. The pandemic has taken away any money that could have been used to allow that to happen while the cutting down of trees continues. Asheville prides itself on being a Tree City USA for 39 years and now acknowledges the urgent need to correct the history of social and environmental injustice.

With these commitments in mind, an Ordinance Amendment for Tree Preservation and a Resolution for a Zero Net Loss Canopy Policy are needed now more than ever.

This Ordinance will:

• Give developers and builders the flexibility to both build and protect trees.
• Provide incentives to save trees on development projects.
• Provide for active planning and on-site tree protection and replacement.
• Establish a special protected class of trees called “Heritage Trees.”

The goal of the Urban Forestry Commission and Division of Development Services is to promote an array of policies, management strategies, partnerships and programs to protect and enhance our Urban Forest, a legacy that we have the privilege to live in and care for.

Contact City Council Officials

Please contact our city officials to tell them your concerns and to urge them to say Yes to this Tree Canopy Preservation Amendment to the City Ordinance and to accept the written resolution of the Zero Net Canopy Loss Resolution.



​Email all of City Council at [email protected]
Mayor Esther Manheimer – [email protected]
Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler – [email protected]
Brian Haynes – [email protected]
Julie Mayfield – [email protected]
Sheneika Smith – [email protected]
Keith Young – [email protected]