City of Milton Unveils New Tree Ordinance

The City of Milton has, since its inception, retained the venerable Fulton County Tree ordinance as its tree conservation and protection code.  Under the consultation of Technical Forestry Services, the city has drafted and approved a new tree conservation ordinance.  

This Tree Canopy Conservation Ordinance is dramatically different from the previous code in that it is a canopy-cover based model, rather than a trunk-inches model.  The canopy model has been successfully instituted in such jurisdictions as the cities of Athens, Sandy Springs, and Decatur.  The Milton version clearly is working to improve the canopy model by smoothing out some of the mathematical problems of other ordinances.  Thank you!

Some of the highlights of the new ordinance are:

  • The ordinance applies to both existing owner-occupied sites as well as development projects
  • Tree removal permits are required for all landowners, 6” diameter and greater
  • Two special classes of trees exist: specimen and heritage
  • A tree bank will be created for City projects and as an option for developers to ‘bank’ their own trees
  • Tree canopy plans must be drawn by a Certified Arborist, Registered Landscape Architect, or Registered Forester

We will be publishing more relevant information as we delve into working with this new ordinance.  Onebark provides both assistance in permitting and drafting canopy plan documents for projects in the City of Milton.  We have extensive experience working with tree conservation plans in every municipality in the Atlanta region.


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