The Redding City Council at its August 2, 2022, meeting, approved 5 to 0 the formation of a Tree Committee to look at ways to update and improve Redding’s Tree Management Ordinance. Each Council Member will appoint two individuals to the Committee. The Council invited interested persons to apply and will be choosing from among those individuals at its September 6, 2022, meeting. Three members of the Planning Commission will also serve on the committee.
Various groups such as Shasta Environmental Alliance, the Shasta Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, North State Climate Action, and Wintu Audubon Society have been working to get the Council to update the current Redding Tree Management Ordinance for many years. The current ordinance does not provide mitigation for the removal of oak trees. The Tree Committee should be installed not long after the selection of the Committee members. Once changes are made to the tree ordinance, it will still take a nexus study and a separate Council resolution to set the mitigation fees.
This is a big step forward and should lead to a slow but steady increase to the tree canopy in Redding and the preservation of more of our oak trees. We commend the Redding City Council for taking this big step forward to making Redding a true Tree City USA. ~David Ledger, Shasta Environmental Alliance President
