Port Royal is considering highest tree removal fees in SC. Here’s what you would pay

After months of debate and revisions, the Town of Port Royal is on the verge of voting on tree ordinance that would impose the highest financial penalties in South Carolina for taking down “specimen” and “landmark” trees.

The proposed mitigation cost for removing a specimen tree would increase from $50 to $500 per inch and $100 to $750 per inch for a landmark tree.

That translates to an $8,000 mitigation fee to remove a single 16-inch specimen live oak (16 inches x $500.00/inch), and $22,500 to cut down a 30-inch landmark live oak (30 inches x $750.00/inch).

“I’m not aware of any municipality that will have mitigation costs remotely close to what we have,” Town Manager Van Willis said.

South Carolina has firm private property rights, and no municipality would attempt to ban the removal of trees, Willis said. Instead, communities use design parameters, waivers, and mitigation and tree replacement costs that discourage tree removal.

The new Port Royal ordinance is a recognition of the high value residents place on the town’s iconic trees, Willis said. It encourages builders to accommodate trees, making them front and center when projects are designed, versus paying significant mitigation fees, Willis said.

The Town Council was expected to take a final vote Wednesday night on an ordinance to repeal and replace the tree chapter in its ordinance code with the new requirements.

The cost of the proposed mitigation fees that will be charged if developers receive a waiver to cut them down has been a big discussion point, with some arguing the fees are too high and others not high enough.

“We have an obligation to protect our culture and what we envision for Port Royal and not allow someone else to come in and dictate it and build a metropolis that they envision Port Royal to be,” Councilman Darryl Owens said.

The fines go too far in the view of Whit Suber, a Port Royal real estate developer.

“It’s just such a punitive measure,” said Suber, who paid $450,000 for a property he is planning to develop, which would be subject to the new rules. “It’s easy to come up with fines that are $20,000 and $30,000 per tree. That’s the kind of fines that are not even leveled against criminals.”

Suber also takes issue with certain species that fall within the protected class of trees including water oaks and sweet gums, which he notes are not treasured trees in the Lowcountry.

The ordinance, he says, will affect not only developers but anybody who owns a residential lot and wants to remove trees to build a garage or a house.

Talk of toughening up the ordinance first started in July when a property owner sparked an uproar among residents by preparing to remove two large live oak trees as part of a small infill development on 12th Street.

The Town Council has been tweaking specifics of the ordinance since December.

As the ordinance is written now, commercial developers would be excluded from the higher mitigation fees. That exclusion arose out of concern about how the fees would impact commercial development that’s expect to follow improvements to Ribaut Road. Commercial projects still would be subject to tree small mitigation fees as well protection rules in the overall ordinance, Willis said.

Another change from the original proposal is that Town Council would not hear requests from property owners to remove trees. That would fall to the Design Review Board.

“I really think it’s going to be worth it,” said Kevin Phillips, a member of the council, of the tree ordinance changes.

Mayor Joe DeVito agreed with a previous proposal to increase the fees to $250 per inch for the specimen trees and $500 per inch for landmark trees.

Specimen trees are valuable due to their age and potential to reach landmark size. Landmark trees are the most mature and valuable in the urban canopy. For a live oak tree, a specimen is a tree with a width or diameter of 12 inches. A live oak landmark is at least 24 inches in diameter.

But DeVito acknowledged that he is struggling with the proposed fees of $500 per inch and $750 per inch.

“I feel like government is doing what government normally does and swung the pendulum way too far,” DeVito said.

The town, he says, wants tract builders to save every tree but he’s also worried that the higher mitigation fees will scare away investment, including potential buyers looking to build a single family home on a nice lot.

“But when they read this, I’m concerned they are going to immediately going to walk away and say, ‘I’m not going to spend $100,000, $200,000 investing in the property because there’s no way I can pay these fees,” DeVito said.

If one developer walks away, Owens said, somebody else will get in line. And good builders, Councilwoman Mary Beth Heyward predicted, will abide by the ordinance.

“I truly believe we need to start on the high end,” Heyward said of the proposed mitigation fees. “We’re not going to know until we do it.”

Other municipalities are closely watching what Port Royal does regarding its tree ordinance, Heyward said.

The town has made a good compromise with the proposed fees of $500 per inch and $750 per inch, Councilman Jerry Ashmore said. Some residents called for higher fees.

Ashmore said he recently spoke with a home building association that supports the town strengthening its tree ordinance. And every resident he has spoken to about it supports the ordinance change, Ashmore said.

Outside consultants have weighed in on the issue, he said, “but we have to live here.”

The ordinance places a priority on the retention of existing specimen and landmark trees, and no landmark tree may be removed except if the developer has no design options and receives a waiver from the town.

The ordinance also includes canopy requirements and specifies what trees can be used as replacements if trees need to be removed.

Trees that are removed have to be replaced at the rate of one tree for every five tree inches removed.

Protected trees that are removed without a waiver will result in a two-year deferral of the development — and a five-year deferral if work is done without an approved forestry management plan.

What’s next

The Port Royal Town Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at 700 Paris Ave.