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Responding to HBA’s concerns with both the existing and proposed changes to Title 11 (Tree Preservation of Private Trees in Development Situations), the Portland City Council withdrew consideration of an Urban Forestry Commission recommendation for reduction of the size threshold for trees subject to the required preservation or fee-in-lieu of preservation and “inch-per-inch” mitigation from 36 to 20 inches. This proposal was made without any public conversation and over staff protestation and would have added thousands of dollars to the cost of new housing, without meaningfully enhancing the tree canopy. In public testimony, HBA highlighted Title 11’s failings. It is not uncommon for a city bureau to require the removal of trees during construction, which in turn triggers significant fines. This issue was recently highlighted in a recent Portland Tribune article where activists discussed their anger with the city-driven removal of trees during the development process. In pulling the item from the City Council agenda, Mayor Ted Wheeler agreed with our concerns and committed to fully study the proposal and facilitating a robust discussion around tree preservation and housing production. For more information on HBA’s work in the City of Portland, contact Ezra Hammer at ezrah@hbapdx.org. Next Article