Syracuse City Council Work Session on Tree Ordinance Update – April 9, 2026
Syracuse City Council Work Session on Tree Ordinance Update – April 9, 2026
On April 9, 2026, the Syracuse City Council held a work session focused on proposed updates to Chapter 22 of the city code, which governs public trees along streets and in parks. The presentation was led by Karen Firehock, consultant with the Green Infrastructure Center, and Steve Harris, City Arborist with the Syracuse Parks Department. Councilors discussed new standards for tree protection, replacement, and a dedicated tree fund, as well as broader plans for future zoning changes affecting private development.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No formal public testimony was taken during this work session. However, Councilors raised questions and concerns on behalf of residents, including:
- Councilor Donamore expressed concern about utility companies (Spectrum and National Grid) topping and pruning trees without regard for tree health or neighborhood aesthetics, stating trees are left in “V-shapes” and looking “undignified.”
- Councilor Wright inquired about flexibility in the tree fund to allow partnerships with entities like CNY Land Trust or cemeteries for reforestation on non-city-owned but publicly accessible land.
- Councilor Donamore asked about mechanisms for community volunteer engagement (e.g., designated pruners or master gardeners) and whether the city has a formal wood utilization program for storm-damaged trees.
- Councilor Donamore also asked about a specific tree damage complaint on Holly Avenue, where a tree has uprooted a sidewalk, and requested an inspection.
- Councilor Wright raised concerns about whether private arborists are refusing to service certain parts of the city (South Side, South Valley, North Side), potentially due to insurance or bonding requirements, characterizing it as a “tree version of redlining.”
Discussion Items
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Overview of Tree Benefits:
- Karen Firehock and Steve Harris presented data on the stormwater control, heat island mitigation, and public health benefits of trees. They noted that on a 79°F day, there can be a 12°F temperature difference between forested areas (71°F near Webster Pond) and paved lots (87°F at Destiny USA).
- Large trees are valued at approximately $7,411 in ecosystem benefits, while smaller trees are valued at about $450 (U.S. Forest Service data).
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Proposed Changes to Chapter 22 (Public Trees):
- New Tree Advisory Board: An eight-member appointed board to focus on public awareness and education, meeting at least quarterly. This aligns with Tree City USA standards.
- Tree Design Manual: A companion technical manual (not codified) to establish best practices for planting, pruning, and species selection, allowing easy updates without council votes.
- Prohibitions Against Damaging Public Trees: Expanded list of harmful activities (e.g., storing heavy materials on roots, applying de-icing brine near trees).
- Permits for Construction Near Public Trees: Required fencing and protection for trees during construction.
- Replacement Standards: Replacement on a one-inch-per-one-inch basis for removed public trees, with trees planted in the same neighborhood to recover canopy faster.
- Tree Fund: Establishes a designated fund for fines, fees, and donations (e.g., from private citizens or settlements). Money must be used for tree planting, establishment, and maintenance.
- Surplus Wood Utilization: Allows the city to sell high-value wood (e.g., walnut) from removed public trees to local carpenters, with proceeds going to the tree fund.
- Foraging Language: Clarifies that foraging edible plants in public parks is permitted, addressing conflicts with ordinances that prohibit picking flowers.
- Emergency Provisions: Allows immediate tree removal in emergencies (e.g., storms) with 48-hour notification to the city.
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Future Zoning Changes (Article 4.5):
- Karen Firehock previewed planned updates for private development, including requirements to preserve large trees on development sites, off-site mitigation options, bonding for two-year tree survival, and more flexible parking lot tree placement. These changes will be part of a broader zoning code update, still 80% complete.
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Community Engagement:
- The city conducted significant outreach: multi-stakeholder committee with citizens, advocacy groups, and developers (consensus reached); online survey positive for tree protection; presentations to all TNT neighborhood sectors; two public open houses; and a developer forum in spring 2025 (about 30 attendees).
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken at this work session; the meeting was informational and for discussion.
- Councilors provided several requests for clarification and modifications:
- Councilor Wright requested that the tree fund language allow flexibility for partnerships with non-city entities (e.g., CNY Land Trust, cemeteries) for reforestation on publicly accessible land. Staff agreed to review the wording.
- Councilor Donamore asked about a mechanism for city-funded mitigation when city tree work causes unintended harm. Staff clarified the ordinance already commits to replacement planting.
- Councilor Donamore requested that the city develop guidelines for utility tree pruning to avoid “V-shapes” and preserve tree health.
- Staff committed to inspecting Councilor Donamore’s reported tree issue on Holly Avenue.
- The ordinance will likely be brought before the council for formal consideration at a future meeting, incorporating feedback from this session.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you, everyone, for being here. Could you please say your names into the little microphony things? Sure. I'm Karen Firehock with the Green Infrastructure Center, and I'm your tree ordinance consultant. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Steve Harris, City Arborist, Syracuse Parks Department. Steve. Say Shopper Commissioner Parks. I'm Hannah Aaron Wright, Chair of the Parks Committee. Donamore, Councilor District. All right, we'll get started. I hear you have some stuff to tell us. I do. Counselors, thank you for coming, attending this meeting today. And the reason we're here today is we went through an urban forest master plan process in 2019 and 20. And the result of that process was a recognition that the community feels trees are infrastructure that the science backs that up, but our language laws and practice don't always treat trees as infrastructure. And it starts with modernizing our tree laws. So today we're bringing to you chapter 22, which is solely focused on the trees that the city owns and are mostly along our streets, our right-of-ways. Um working closely with Deputy Commissioner Jake Disha on Codes and our zoning administrator Zhi Tongwu, we will bring changes to you that will be impacting development, uh both tree protection and design measures that we feel uh we need do new developments to have in order for us to uh uh like our peers be a modern city that treats trees as infrastructure. That is more complicated and has more consideration, so it's gonna take us more time to do that. Okay, so as it relates to trees being infrastructure, this is just a a breezy tour of the benefits of trees. Uh trees provide civ significant stormwater control, which is why as part of uh the county's Save the Rain program, they invested 3.5 million dollars in tree planting, which the city oversaw working closely with the county and why uh they estimated they invested about five percent of their total program cross costs in tree-related activity. Probably the most important things that trees do is create shade, which not only which mitigates the negative impacts of heat islands, the idea being if the ambient temperature, if it's 79 degrees, uh but in a parking lot, uh because of the sun, it's eighty-eight degrees, and in a forest it's seventy-one degrees, that's the impact of the heat island, and that is hardscapes absorbing sunlight, making it hotter than it actually is. And when that happens, um that heat bakes pollution and makes it worse. And we know there's a correlation between poor canopy and uh outdoor airway problems like asthma. So we see public health as one of the most important benefits of trees, and um larger trees are better at that. So we had a heat map done in uh 2016, and at 11 a.m. on a 79 degree day, there was a 12 degree uh temperature swing between uh the forest by Webster Pond and uh the parking lot at Destiny from 71 to 87 degrees. So here are the many ecosystem services that the urban forest provides. They're all quantifiable. Uh you could probably spend half a day uh reviewing the science for each one of these things, and these are all these things are important to our citizens. That's what we were told during our master plan and uh why the community uh overall cares about trees. That's why we're proposing the changes we are, and to explain what those changes are, which we'll you'll be able to review in your slide deck. I will turn it over to Karen. Thank you very much, Stephen. So, just one thing we want to emphasize before we get into the fun of codes, is just that large trees provide greater benefits than smaller trees, and I'm sure that's pretty intuitive. But if you just think about the amount of stormwater, they can take up the amount of leaf area to clean and filter the air. And so the U.S. Forest Service has actually quantified, they've actually estimated the value of large trees. So if we just um I didn't update this for 26, but if you just think about a large tree is worth about $7,411, and a smaller tree is worth about 450 dollars in terms of ecosystem benefits. So that's why we want to try to preserve large trees in our city. Preserving plants. Yeah. And I bailed a slide earlier. Thank you for covering that. Okay, so let's go over what's proposed to change. And I'm in this uh slide deck is going to present these changes at high level, but at any time you can refer to the actual code changes in the ordinance handout. All those changes are in blue highlights to make it easy to find them. But essentially, uh, that's under your slide.
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