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• 1. Use the existing ordinance as a base document. The old ordinance has been kept relatively intact. As indicated in Attachment 3, only those areas where the Board directed staff to make changes have been modified 2. Stiffer penalties for tree removal and aggressive enforcement. To address the issue of stiffer penalties, staff has: • retained the previously proposed section that assesses a flat penalty of 31,000 per tree for illegal protected tree removal (trees with a dbh of 4 inches up to 24 inches); such a penalty is 0tiffer than the existing ordinance penalty of up to S500 per protected tree: and • retained the previously proposed section that allows the Code Enforcement Board to assess a penalty of up to $15,000 per tee for illegal specimen tree removi i (trees with a dbh of 24 inches or larger)• the existing ordinance does not have a different monetary penalty for the illegal removal of larger trees. It should be noted that Florida Statutes limits the maximum monetary penalty that can be assessed by a county or code enforcement board to S15,000 per event. To address the issue of aggressive enforcement, staff has: • reviewed the existing ordinance language and determined that the county has the option of referring potential criminal activity to the Sheriff's Office and/or the State Attorneys Office; and • reviewed other County ordinances and determined that the County has the ability to suspend or revoke a contractor's license if issued by the County, for violation of County ordinances. Based on these two enforcement tools, staff concluded there was no need to revise the ordinance regarding aggressive enforcement. 3. Enhance the definition of specimen trees. To address this issue, staff has retained the previously proposed definition of "specimen tree". It is staff's understanding that the Board's directive was meant to clarify to staff that there should be a separate classification that would represent larger trees. The current proposed draft ordinance does not retain any of the special protection for specimen trees as previously proposed; however, it does retain the previously proposed increased penalties for illegal specimen tree (trees with a dbh of 24 inches or greater) removal (see #2 above). 4. Add a "critical root zone" ( a 5 -foot area of restricted development around a tree). The Critical Root Zone (CRZ), as defined in the July 9th draft, has been retained. The existing ordinance language provides for a minimum five-foot radius around the tree within which no impacts can occur, unless approved by the Environmental Planner. This language will be retained. The result will be that, even though the CRZ of a four -inch dbh tree will be four feet there will in reality be a CRZ of five -feet around the tree: Under the proposed revised ordinance, impacts within the CRZ of a proposed project can be approved by the Environmental Planner if the impacts will not result in death or damage to the subject tree. The applicant will be required to supply information to staff on the type of proposed impact, area of the CRZ to be impacted, and efforts made to reduce or eliminate the impacts to the tree. Alternatively, the applicant can supply a written statement from a Certified Arborist stating that, to the best of his or her laiowiedge and abilities, the impacts will not result .n death or damage to the tree. NOVEMBER 12, 2002 63 •