A bill would move approval to cut down Philly's biggest trees from the Zoning Board to the Planning Commission

Large, old trees on private development sites in Philadelphia are protected as "heritage trees," and removing one usually takes a special exception from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. A bill on City Council's Rules Committee agenda for Nov. 17 would change who decides and on what terms.

Bill 260689, from Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson, would replace the Zoning Board special exception with a waiver from the City Planning Commission. For neighbors, that changes which board a developer goes to, and what has to be shown, before a heritage tree comes down.

What the bill changes

Based on the bill text, which amends Section 14-705 of the zoning code:

• Who approves. Today, if no exemption applies, a heritage tree can't be removed without a Zoning Board special exception. The bill makes it a Planning Commission waiver.
• The test. The current rule requires replacing the tree, meeting the general special-exception criteria, and showing the project "cannot be practically redesigned" to save the tree. Under the bill, the commission "shall grant" a waiver if the applicant shows "no feasible alternative exists that preserves the tree" and submits a tree replacement plan and an in-lieu fee the commission approves.
• Dead and dangerous trees. Trees that an arborist finds dead, diseased or a safety threat, or that the Streets Department finds to be a hazard, can still come down. The bill moves that exception into its own paragraph, used when the other routes don't apply. As written, that paragraph doesn't repeat the replacement requirement that applies to it today.
• Unchanged: exemptions for certain industrial lots under 70 acres, where the tree is at least 75 feet from streets and from residential and commercial zoning, and for land held by the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development.

The bill takes effect immediately if enacted.

Background

Gilmore Richardson wrote the current rules. Her 2022 tree bill tightened heritage tree replacement rules and created fees for developers who cut trees without replacing them, with the money going to a tree-planting fund, WHYY reported at the time. WHYY reported that Philadelphia lost 6% of its tree canopy from 2008 to 2018, and that temperatures can differ by up to 22 degrees between neighborhoods depending on tree cover. "This is a major environmental justice issue," she said then. Grid Magazine reported that the 2022 bill was amended in committee to exempt some affordable housing and PAID land.

What our records add

• Introduced Sept. 17 and referred to the Committee on Rules, with no co-sponsors. It has waited 45 days and will be at 61 days by the hearing.
• The Planning Commission asked for more time. In a letter dated Oct. 20, the mayor's office told Council the commission voted to extend its review of Bill 260689 by 45 days, and acknowledged the letter came more than 30 days after the bill's introduction. The commission has not issued a recommendation in our records.
• It's one of nine bills on the Nov. 17 Rules agenda, along with Gilmore Richardson's tobacco retail zoning bill, Bill 260851, and a related retail-use definitions bill, Bill 260688.

What's next

The Rules Committee meets Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. in Room 400 of City Hall (meeting page). If the committee approves the bill, it could get its first reading on the floor two days later, at the Nov. 19 session, and a final vote at a session after that.