What is Reforest Tacoma Initiative Measure #1?

• Reforest Tacoma - Comply with Tacoma’s Municipal Stormwater Permit by Reducing Impermeable Surfaces While Growing and Preserving Trees in Tacoma.

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• This measure would add new sections to Chapter 9.20 of the Tacoma Municipal Code to incorporate strategies for reduction of stormwater runoff using stormwater service fees to restore urban forests to a thirty percent tree canopy, plant and maintain trees and tiny forests on public property, decrease impermeable surfaces, regulate significant trees on public and private property, inventory heritage, special and significant trees, and implement the City’s Urban Forest Management Plan.

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The Reforest Tacoma Initiative aims to accomplish the following goals:
 

• ​Implement the City’s Existing UFMP

  • After nearly three years of study and interaction with community groups and citizens, and with the help of noted consultants, in December of 2019, the City Council of Tacoma formally adopted its Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP).  It remains one of the best in the nation, because it is based on community involvement and focused on the marriage of trees with other land uses such as housing and transportation.   It not only envisioned a strong healthy canopy, but it also committed to achieving an overall 30% canopy by 2030.​  There is sadly no chance of that happening.  In fact, the canopy is essentially the same as it was in 2019 when that commitment was made.  If passed, the Reforest Tacoma Initiative will force the City to deliver what it committed in 2019.

• Initiate an Aggressive 5-Year Planting Program

  • ​With help from the Tacoma Tree Foundation, Grit City Trees, and other local organizations, the City is planting around 7,500 trees per year.  This falls an order of magnitude short from what is needed to reach the City’s goal of 30%.  If achievable, the Initiative says the City must plant at least 40,000 trees per year for the next five years to even get close to our goal.  If not achievable, the years can be extended, but the number of trees must be at least 200,000 within the shortest timeframe it is achievable.  This is a major undertaking of significant expense, but it will cost far less than building the gray infrastructure to intercept the stormwater runoff the City is committed to stop.
     

• Water and Maintain Newly Planted Trees

  • So often we see trees planted without any follow-up.  They fight to survive, but the lack of rain in our newly warmer, at times very hot climate known as summer, many disappear before thy become a vital part of our canopy.  The Reforest Tacoma Initiative changes that.Newly planted trees will be watered during the five months of our summer.  The Initiative will also give the City the resources, for the first time ever, to begin pruning the canopy we have, as well as the new ones we plant.
     

• City Responsible for Right-of-Ways

  • ​Tacoma is one of the very few cities who expect homeowners to plant and maintain trees on their parking strips.  The law says the homeowner is entirely responsible for whatever happens on those PUBLIC right-of-ways (ROWs).  The Reforest Tacoma Initiative requires the City to take over – to be responsible for planting and maintaining all tress on the ROW, as well the sidewalks that may be uplifted by roots from the trees.ROWs represent the largest opportunity to increase our tree canopy and the Initiative gives the City the means to take advantage of this opportunity.
     

•  Protections for Significant Trees

  • To remove any tree with a trunk 18 inches in diameter or more, on either public or private land, the owner must obtain a permit from the City to proceed.  The process to manage this requirement must be responsive and include expertise certified as able to assess the condition and future expectation for a tree’s lifespan.  The Initiative recognizes that trees on private property can pose difficult obstacles to the construction of added housing and/or expanded recreational facilities.It provides an exemption for land parcels with active building permits for construction external to existing structures.  For such parcels, the rules adopted for Home in Tacoma shall apply.  When such construction is completed, the protections of the Initiative will again apply.  The Initiative establishes an expedited process for dealing with trees that endanger people or structures, including the availability such situations.
     

• Stormwater Runoff is Reduced

  • The Initiative requires the City to adopt strategies for using trees to mitigate stormwater runoff.  Many scientifically based studies have shown that trees combined with permeable ground can retain water at its source.  Two hundred thousand new trees, planted with conscious efforts to reclaim impervious surfaces, will significantly reduce the amount of stormwater that reaches our waterways.

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• Impervious Surfaces are Reclaimed

  • The Initiative requires the City establish a planned strategy to reduce the amount of impervious surface in the City.  This includes researching and documenting impervious surfaces that can be reclaimed and converted to permeable ground capable of absorbing water.  The City must allocate resources to removing impervious surfaces. 
     

• Stormwater Fees Fund the Reforestation

  • The City currently uses a very small portion of the stormwater service fees we pay every month to support some urban forest programs.  The Reforest Tacoma Initiative will force the City to balance investments in green infrastructure with their current huge investments in gray infrastructure. The entire urban forest of Tacoma can be restored to a 30% canopy level for half the cost of building another water treatment facility, and that does not include the drains and pipes that must be located precisely to capture the water.  And let’s not forget that gray infrastructure depreciates while green continues to appreciate.  The other advantage of stormwater fees is that they are insulated from budget shortfalls in the general fund and not affected by cuts in federal spending.
     

• Right Tree in the Right Place

  • The City must create a Right Tree in the Right Place program that specifies types of trees expected to survive long lives that are best suited for stormwater retention in specific situations such as width of right-of-way, street corners, parking lots, city sidewalks, underneath power lines, best for shade, best for wildlife, easiest to maintain and other conditions as determined by the City.Then they must ensure every new tree planted by or for the City follows these specifications and make the same available to City homeowners and residents.

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• Shade Trees on Commercial Streets

  • The initiative will require that street trees when planted along sidewalks in front of commercial establishments or multi-unit housing to be at least 2-inches in diameter and by a permeable surface at least eight feet in diameter and have a history of growing at least as high as the top of the second floor of structures it faces.  This will not only give relief to people walking the streets, but reduce the power required to run air conditioners in the buildings.

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•  Inventory of Trees and Impervious Surfaces 

  • The City must create and maintain an inventory of trees within the City that serves to identify Heritage and other special trees, hazards due to existing trees, stumps that should be removed, pruning and watering needs, trees suffering from disease, areas of missing canopy, impermeable landscapes suitable for reclamation, and any other information to support a thriving urban forest in Tacoma.

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• Best Practices Documented and Followed

  • The City must document best practices and ensure they are followed.  They will educate residents, landscape service providers, developers and children regarding the value and proper care of trees for the effective management of stormwater by the City, including the development, production, and distribution of educational materials. 

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