Tree Canopy And Impervious Surfaces
The display on the left shows an area map, for orientation. The center display shows the tree canopy cover in green. The right display shows the impervious surfaces (roads, buildings, parking lots, etc.), in red.
The yellow arrows point toward a roughly square region with lots of trees, and not much impervious surface. That is our neighbor, Melbourne Village, noted for its culture of tree preservation.
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Tree coverage is sometimes quantified using the term Urban Tree Canopy (UTC). UTC is the percentage of all city land area, when viewed as an aerial image, that is occupied by tree crowns.
A recent study of UTC measurements of 300 cities in Florida found that the West Melbourne UTC = 30.5%, putting it just a bit below the Florida city median coverage of 32.3%. Measurements for nearby cities were: Cocoa = 45.5; Titusville = 41.8%; Palm Bay = 30.7%; Melbourne = 20.8%. So currently, West Melbourne is in the "middle of the pack" relative to other Florida cities, or relative to our immediate neighbors.
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Click on PDFs below to see the study.
The West Melbourne city leadership has become quite sympathetic to the cause of tree preservation. Even the mayor has complained that trees are often destroyed by developers when there is no obvious reason to do so. Currently, about 80% of the buildable area has been developed, so there has been interest in adopting a stance of heightened vigilance regarding tree loss in the remaining 20%. In response to this, the city council approved a revision of the city tree ordinance that puts some brakes on the unnecessary destruction of trees by developers.
The new tree ordinance requires that builders provide at least 10% UTC within a new development. The consensus of the West Melbourne city leadership was that 10% tree canopy is a happy medium, a reasonable balance between environmental considerations vs. increased cost to developers. The ordinance was also tightened up in other ways.
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Developers were not amused.
This is a significant step forward for the cause of tree preservation. More progress can be made, with ease, by canceling the Heritage OaksBlvd/Doherty Drive Extension project!
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Also, it has been suggested that the city establish a tree canopy coverage standard at the city level, not just at the subdivision level. This would encourage tree preservation for other kinds of development projects, such as shopping centers, new roads, etc. Many Florida cities have done this. See the suggestion here:
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