Chainsaw enthusiasts beware: Beaufort County’s tree protection rules just got thornier

Whether you’re building a shed in your backyard or developing a new residential neighborhood, think twice before picking up a chainsaw.

Beaufort County Council voted earlier this week to beef up penalties for removing or damaging trees without going through the proper permitting process for construction projects.

Previously, if a tree was improperly removed or damaged during a project, it had to be replaced with a tree — or multiple trees — equal to 1.25 times the total caliper inches of the original tree. Caliper inches measure the thickness of a tree’s trunk.

The new rules require replacement trees to total twice the caliper inches of the trees removed.

“What we are doing in improving the tree protections in the (county’s development) code,” Beaufort County planning director Tony Criscitello told County Council members earlier this week.

While these new regulations are certainly stricter, some county leaders have said they don’t go far enough.

Here’s why: The way code is written, someone could remove a single large tree and replace it with multiple smaller trees, so long as the cumulative thickness of those trunks is equivalent to twice that of the removed tree.

Criscitello said this allows builders and landscape architects for flexibility to plant the size and type of tree in locations on the construction site where they are most likely to thrive.

He added that when planning staffers encourage builders to exceed the county’s minimum tree requirements.

County leaders say they want to consider another rule change that would not only increase the total number of caliper inches of replacement trees, but also ensure large mature trees aren’t being replaced with many small ornamentals.

“If I go out and decided to cut down a 10-inch live oak tree, there should be stiff penalties for that,” Councilman Mike Covert said.

Criscitello warned that making penalties too stiff could harshly punish homeowners who accidentally remove a tree improperly during a home improvement project.

“People make mistakes,” he said, “ ... this is a human issue.”

Councilman Tabor Vaux said, “That’s the hard part — balancing the (homeowners who make) a true mistake, and developers that are clear-cutting.”

With the support of his council colleagues, Vaux recommended that planning staff developed rule changes that would encourage replacement trees to be of a similar size to those improperly removed.

Any new changes will likely be brought before the county’s Planning Commission and Natural Resources prior to consideration by the full council.

This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Chainsaw enthusiasts beware: Beaufort County’s tree protection rules just got thornier."