NC Green Industry Water Symposium Tim Porter, City Arborist Marc - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

NC Green Industry Water Symposium Tim Porter, City Arborist Marc Recktenwald, WQ and Env. Permitting Program Manager City of Charlotte

Preview • Quick Facts about Charlotte • Green Initiatives • Charlotte’s Trees and Green Infrastructure • Tree Canopy Resources • Tree Partnerships • Federal, State, and Local Water Quality Drivers • GI Watershed Improvement Tools • Implementation • Partnerships

Charlotte Quick Facts • Streams 1, 376 miles • Area 308 sq. miles • Elevation 751 ft. • Population 809,000 (17 th ) • Metro Population 2.3 million (22 nd ) • Population Density 2,663/sq. mi • Fastest Growing City 8 th • Airport traffic 8 th • Second Largest Banking Center in US • Major Redevelopment in Uptown and along Transit Corridors 3

Charlotte Choices • Attract business and control costs • Incentivize redevelopment and revitalization • Build mass transit, desired development patterns, and walk-able communities • Protect and improve air, water, trees, open space • Create attractive and livable places; an urban community of choice

Green Initiatives • 50% Tree Canopy by 2050 • All waters swimmable and fishable by 2050 • In-Lieu Fee Programs for Storm Water, Tree Save, and Natural Areas • Stream and Wetland Mitigation Bank • Open Space Requirements • Transit Service Area • Business Corridor Revitalization • Bicycle Requirements • Bike Lanes • Greenways • Cross Charlotte Trail • Recycling Requirements • Bike Share • Redevelopment PCSO

Charlotte’s Trees as Green Infrastructure • City of Charlotte views public trees as green infrastructure • There’s work to do • View needs to be developed and better integrated into City’s management strategies • 50% tree canopy coverage of entire City of Charlotte by 2050…………aka “50 by 50” • We know trees aren’t the answer to every problem, but one of the tools to help move the needle

Value of Trees in Charlotte • 1977: First City Arborist Hired • 1979: Tree Ordinance Established • 2001: First Digital Tree Inventory • 2002: First GIS Canopy Analysis – 40+ % decline in canopy over 20 years • 2008: GIS Canopy Analysis – – 3% decline in canopy over 7 years • 2011: City Council adopts 50 x 50 goal • 2011: Major Tree Ordinance Revisions • 2012: TreesCharlotte is formed • 2014: GIS & LiDAR Canopy Analysis – – 47% canopy • 2012 - 2015 : TreesCharlotte Success • Tree Canopy Preservation Program

Mecklenburg County Quality of Life Study

Urban Forestry Master Plan A high level playbook targeting all stakeholders and all areas public • and private Community-Driven Urban Forestry Management Plan

A Master Plan Is Created by All Stakeholders • Promotes awareness of the urban forest resource. • Fully describes the community’s urban forest goals. • Creates a plan to reach the community’s goals and defines responsibilities: “a playbook”. • Embeds success measures into the plan.

Urban Forestry Master Plan • Holistic planning for the future • Need to get beyond the basic “Trees are Good!” mindset • Of course they’re good, but WHY? – Benefits – environmental, social and economic • Ok…..now we’re going to monitor the WHY…….get data……and refine goals, strategies, development requirements, etc. • Tools used: – UFMP, i-Tree, GIS, partnerships, new research, feedback from professionals/community, collaborate with in-house professionals

Partnerships • The City of Charlotte’s greatest impact with trees is on public property….that won’t cut it…….need partners • Mecklenburg County • Catawba Lands Conservancy • City of Charlotte – all departments especially Storm Water Services • Researchers • TreesCharlotte • Charlotte Community

TreesCharlotte Collaborative TreesCharlotte Private capital for trees; education & community engagement Community City of Charlotte Partners Technical expertise & Planting & tree care support, street tree by volunteers, programs and capital neighborhood groups project planting Resilient & expansive urban forest for generations 13

TreesCharlotte is a non-profit partner with the City to grow and diversify Charlotte's urban forest by planting 500,000 trees by 2050, promoting tree stewardship and educating how to plant and preserve trees. 14

Tree Planting Locations & Tree Counts Housing Parks, 274 Stewardship Projects, 914 Events, 113 Faith Campuses & Other, 1,467 Schools, 5,922 NeighborWoods, 5,904 15 Plus about 12,000 seedlings

Planting Locations The larger dot locations have a higher concentration of planted trees. Progress 2012 - 2015

City Roles: Protection Tree Ordinance Tree Canopy Preservation Program Acquired: 60+ acres Negotiating: additional 130+ acres iTree Canopy Benefit Stormwater Carbon Air Pollution Intercepted: Dioxide Removed: 23,619,808 Sequestered: 21,595 tons gallons 579,449 tons

City Roles: Planting

City Roles: Regulation Natural areas • Stream buffers • Zoning buffers • Tree save • Open space • Parking lot trees • Green roof installations • Preservation of street trees • Planting of new street trees • Wet ponds and bio-retention •

Regulation Multi-family development • Site area = 24 ac • Tree Save, Natural Area, SWIM/PCO Buffer = 5.8 ac • or (24% of site) Trees required to be planted/protected = 125 •

City Roles: Maintenance

City Roles: Pest/Disease Management Cankerworm 2016 counts completed • Monitor defoliation levels • Monitor Fiery Searcher Beetle • Emerald Ash Borer Invasive non-native insect • Kills all ash trees in affected areas • Ash is small part of Charlotte’s • urban forest Statewide quarantine •

City Role: Aging Canopy

Charlotte’s Trees as Green Infrastructure • There’s work to do…….. we’re starting to do it • View needs to be developed and better integrated into City’s management strategies • We know trees aren’t the answer to every problem, but one of the tools to help move the needle

Federal, State, and Local Water Quality Drivers • National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) – stormwater and wastewater regulations – Post Construction Stormwater Ordinance (PCSO) and PCSO Fee-in-lieu • 404/401 Permits – Requirements to mitigate impacts to streams and wetlands • Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) – Sediment and bacteria • Water Supply Watershed Protection • Endangered Species Act – Carolina Heel Splitter • City Council Goals – All City surface waters to be swimmable and fishable by 2050 – “Charlotte will become a national leader in environmental sustainability, preserving our natural resources while balancing growth with sound fiscal policy”

GI Watershed Improvement Tools • City Planning • PCSO Program – Development and Redevelopment Requirements – Charlotte BMP Manual – Redevelopment Incentives – Fee In-Lieu Program • Stream and Wetland Mitigation Bank • Pollution Control Community Improvement Program (CIP) • Stream Restoration CIP Program • Pilot Stormwater Control Measure (SCM) Program • Education and Outreach Program • Strategic and Watershed Planning

Implementation 180 165 160 140 124 115 120 100 91 80 60 38 40 30 20 6 4 3 2 0

Implementation • 54 Stormwater Control Measures Constructed • 4 SCMS in Planning • 14 Miles of Stream Mitigation Constructed • 9 Miles of Stream Mitigation in Planning • Focusing on Watershed Restoration/Improvement

Aligning Growth with Green Surface Water Opportunities

Aligning Growth with Brier Creek-Chantilly Green Partnership Opportunities