At the glacial pace Winston-Salem is moving in considering its tree ordinance, there won't be any trees left by the time it's approved. This is a reasonable ordinance, and it's past time for the City-County Planning Board to recommend that it be approved.
But builders and real-estate agents continue to fight the proposed ordinance, despite months of painstaking work to make it as fair as possible -- and despite the fact that the committee that worked on the ordinance is made up people with varied interests. "There has been compromise to get us to this place," said Melynda Dunigan, a member of the committee and of the Winston-Salem Neighborhood Alliance.
She's right. The ordinance, which includes provisions for preserving trees or planting them during development, is a good one. The ordinance needed input from a wide variety of citizens, and it got that input.
The planning board, which has certainly exercised due diligence in this matter, will consider the ordinance at a work session today. But the ordinance is a long way from being approved by the city council, which should be leading Forsyth County on this issue -- while there are still some trees left.
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