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 (17th)

• Metro Population 2.3 million (22nd)

• Population Density 2,663/sq. mi

• Fastest Growing City 8th

• Airport traffic 8th

• Second Largest Banking Center in US

• Major Redevelopment in Uptown and along Transit Corridors

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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

Community-Driven Urban Forestry Management Plan

• A high level playbook targeting all stakeholders and all areas public and private

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

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Resilient & expansive

urban forest for

generations

City of Charlotte

Technical expertise & support, street tree

programs and capital project planting

TreesCharlotte

Private capital for trees; education &

community engagement

Community Partners

Planting & tree care by volunteers,

neighborhood groups

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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.

Tree Planting Locations & Tree Counts

15 Plus about 12,000 seedlings

Schools, 5,922

NeighborWoods, 5,904

Faith Campuses & Other, 1,467

Housing Projects, 914

Parks, 274 Stewardship Events, 113

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

Air Pollution Removed:

21,595 tons

Stormwater Intercepted: 23,619,808

gallons

Carbon Dioxide

Sequestered: 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

• 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

Regulation

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

165

124 115

91

38 30

6 4 3 2

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

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

Brier Creek-Chantilly Aligning Growth with

Green Partnership Opportunities