New regulations that residents in Little Rock's Heights neighborhood hope will preserve the area's tree canopy gained approval Wednesday from the city's Board of Directors.
The new ordinance, which takes effect Nov. 30, requires people adding onto their homes or developers building new ones to maintain the trees on the property or plant one new 2.5-inch caliper tree per 40 feet of street frontage.
It also establishes a design overlay district encompassing the area roughly bordered by the Little Rock & Western Railway railroad to the north, North University Avenue and North McKinley Street to the west, Evergreen Drive and Allsopp Park Road to the south and Cantrell Road and Sherrill Road to the east.
Heights resident Natalie Capps addressed the board and explained that the ordinance had originated in 2017 when people in the neighborhood association began to notice an influx of development that followed a pattern -- a bungalow would be razed, the lot would be clear-cut and a bigger home would be built.
"Which is actually a great business model, but it's not great for the neighbors," Capps said, extolling the merits of trees in improving air quality and drainage.
Supporters of the ordinance filled more than half of the city board chambers, wearing stickers printed with an image of a green tree on their shirts, and the vote was met with cheers and applause. In the back, a woman and two small children held signs with drawings of a bird and a smiley-faced tree urging for the canopy to be preserved.
Ward 5 City Director Lance Hines, who was heard voting against the ordinance during a voice vote, said after the meeting that he believed the new rules would be ineffective in stopping developers from clear-cutting and would violate property rights, noting that the support the ordinance received represented only about a quarter of the neighborhood.
"Most of the neighbors don't understand. ... They'll be back again trying to change it," Hines said.
The Little Rock Planning Commission voted unanimously in April to recommend the ordinance to the city board. Norman Hodges, president of the Heights Neighborhood Association, said final approval of the measure was delayed for months because of conversations with people who had objected to the ordinance, who were represented by attorney and Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce Chairman Kevin Crass.
"We tried to talk to everyone," Hodges said.
Residents wanted the rules to go into effect as soon as possible. In the past two weeks, Hodges said, six to eight lots had been totally stripped.
He added that he hoped the Heights could serve as a model for other neighborhoods in preserving trees.
Metro on 10/03/2019
CORRECTION: A new design overlay district in Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood is bordered by the Little Rock & Western Railway to the north. An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the district’s northern border and misstated the name of the railroad.