MAYOR COMMISSIONS DOWNTOWN TREE MASTER PLAN
Plan recommended by Green Ribbon Committee, Metro Tree Advisory Committee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (December 11, 2008) -Mayor Karl Dean announced today that Metro will create a downtown tree master plan to ensure the proper planning, growth and maintenance of Nashville’s urban tree canopy.
The master plan was recommended by the Natural Resources Subcommittee of the Mayor’s Green Ribbon Committee, following a report by the Metro Tree Advisory Committee earlier this year that identified a lack of programming in Metro related to the city’s urban forest.
“Trees improve air quality, help reduce energy use, and greatly enhance a city’s aesthetics,” Dean said. “A master plan will help us identify what parts of our urban core need more trees and which types to plant. And in the long term, it will allow our city to maximize the benefits of having a fully-developed and well-maintained urban forest.”
Randall Lantz, superintendent of horticulture for Metro Parks, has been charged with leading the development of the downtown tree master plan. Lantz will convene a working group including representatives from Metro Codes, the Planning Department and Public Works. Among the first steps of developing the plan will be updating a 2004 inventory of downtown trees conducted by the Tree Advisory Committee.
The perimeters of the tree plan will be similar to that of Nashville’s downtown streetscape plan, which encompasses the Planning Department’s entire subarea 9 planning boundary. Although Lantz said the focus first will be on the streets in the central business district downtown.
“There has been a tremendous amount of work done in recent years to improve the streetscapes of Church Street, Commerce and Demonbreun. If we focus our attention there first, people will be able to see a marked improvement in the near term,” he said.
For media inquiries contact:
Bonna Johnson
615-862-6461
bonna.johnson@nashville.gov