ALPHARETTA, Georgia – With growth exploding over the past decade, the Alpharetta Department of Community Development manages tree felling permits and ensures that development is balanced with canopy preservation.
“Eventually we’ll make amends for all trees that are removed in the city, whether they’re planted on this lot, another lot, or on city-owned lot,” said city arborist David Shostak. “So it’s a balancing act that’s complicated at times, but like I said, our goal is simply to make sure we’re maintaining a canopy and meeting all of these minimum requirements of the code.”
Shostak said Alpharetta received 1,176 tree felling permit applications for residential and existing commercial properties in 2022. Of these, 908 were granted.
To apply for a tree felling permit in Alpharetta, applicants must fill out an online form, according to Shostak. Only the removal of dead trees on single-family homes and trees that pose an immediate threat does not require a permit, and the city does not charge a fee.
“We don’t want to stop anyone from chopping down a tree and we want to make it easy,” Shostak said. “We don’t want them to say, ‘I have to pay two grand to cut down a tree, and I have to pay the city another $25.’ That doesn’t make sense for something like this when they’re pretty basic reviews.”
Applications can be considered incomplete, Shostak said, when an applicant fails to provide sufficient information. However, the only direct denials the Department issues are those where the applicant does not agree to replanting trees in accordance with the Code’s requirements.
“I think we have a really good tree ordinance that requires a certain number of trees from a property so that can be a combination of tree rescues and replanting,” said Kathi Cook, director of community development.
The department also has a duty to save quality trees and individual trees that are suitable for conservation because of their size, species, location, condition or historical significance, Cook said.
Michael Buchanan, an Alpharetta resident who moved to the city in 1995, said he has seen many changes as the area developed and the population grew.
“When I first moved here in 1995, you got off at Haynes Bridge and there were a lot of trees that were decaying forever,” Buchanan said. “Up here there were horse farms and two-lane roads, so there was a lot of grain.”
Buchanan and his girlfriend Deborah Eves, co-owners of the Alpharetta Bee Company, said they are passionate about the city’s outdoors and trees. While changes are inevitable as development continues, they said Alpharetta is well positioned with tree conservation.
Buchanan, Eves and some of their neighbors pioneered the Alpharetta Conservancy, an informal group dedicated to protecting trees that preserve the character of their neighborhood.
Eves said she and her neighbors enjoy walking, and in early 2022 they noticed that some of the old oak trees on Canton Street and Shady Grove Lane had been removed.
That spring, the couple began attending meetings to ask the city council to save the trees. Eves said Shostak and Cook accompanied her on walks around their neighborhood.
Then, at the January 3 meeting, council members passed an amendment to the Unified Development Code that protects specimen trees and quality trees on Mayfield Road, Milton Avenue and Academy, Canton, Church, Cumming, Marietta, and Roswell streets, provided the trees stand over construction setbacks.
“They live in their neighborhood, but not really in our neighborhood,” Buchanan said. “And so every day we had to get up and look at it, and we had to see it face to face, these changes.”
Eves and Buchanan said they welcome the progress in the city and recognize that the need for tree felling as the area expands is complicated.
“I would say that anyone who has lived in Alpharetta for a long time is probably a little overwhelmed by the pace of growth,” Eves said. “I don’t think too many people can deny that the city has made a serious effort to encourage green space.”
However, her mission to protect her neighborhood didn’t end there. Eves and Buchanan are pleading for the city council to approve further changes to the Unified Development Code, which passed at the March 6 meeting and allows neighborhoods without homeowners’ associations to introduce standards to discourage inconsistent developments.
Buchanan said he hopes the city will emphasize the balance between tree protection and removal in the future, and he and Eves intend to meet with the Natural Resources Commission and continue their efforts.
David Long, a specialist with the Northwest Georgia Forestry Commission’s Department of Urban and Municipal Forestry, said Alpharetta’s tree ordinance is broader than many others in the state and some municipalities do not have specific ordinances for trees.
“There’s always room for growth, but the fact that [Alpharetta has] “Having three arborists on the team is quite remarkable,” Long said. The Alpharetta ordinance also addresses soil disturbances, he said, which is groundbreaking since most local tree ordinances only apply to above-ground trees.
Long said some smaller municipalities introduce decision-making tree boards several times a year, or that these cities would include a clause about trees in development ordinances. He said Alpharetta has clear definitions of prohibited and recommended practices; public trees; and tree care, removal and maintenance.
“One of the biggest environmental threats to Georgia is stream sedimentation and it is trying to balance all of the development that we are witnessing with all of the soil disturbance that it is causing and that is something that in my personal opinion falls short is taken into account.” Long said. “So it’s nice to see a city taking that into account in their planning.”
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