Afternoon in Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The city of Atlanta is making the first “significant revision” to its tree ordinance since 2001. The city is running some of the proposed changes by local Neighborhood Planning Units, community advisory boards that weigh in on land use and zoning matters in the city.

NPU-O Chairman Dana Blankenhorn discussed it at the most recent Kirkwood Neighbors’ Organization meeting.

Blankenhorn said he’s seen the revised ordinance and the changes are “not a big deal” for the most part.

The biggest change will provide more flexibility for the city to use its tree fund to buy property to be preserved as green space. Greg Levine, Co-Executive Director of the non-profit advocacy group Trees Atlanta, told Decaturish in September that he thinks the change could be an important tool for the city’s tree-preservation arsenal. To read our previous story, click here.

To read the proposed ordinance, click here.

City Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong’s office also sent along these fact sheets summarizing some of the major changes.

Tree Protection Ordinance Tree Protection Ordinance pdf 2 (2)