Editor’s note:  Every month former councilman and Far North Dallas resident Sandy Greyson writes a column in our North Dallas magazine, and now she’ll be occasionally weighing in our blog. Here she gets us up to speed on a developing tree preservation case that hits close to home for those of us in the Lake Highlands area: 

The developers who cut down most of the trees and put a beautiful creek in a culvert on the former Timbercreek Apartments site at Skillman and Northwest Highway so that Dallas can have another big box store now want to change the terms of their mitigation requirements.  They have an application pending before the city’s board of adjustment that asks for an extension of the tree replacement time from two years to five years.  They also want a waiver from a requirement to provide a bond or letter of credit and instead want to provide a loan commitment letter from a bank.  But the bank’s letter says that it has "no obligation to insure that these loan funds are actually used for tree mitigation."
 
The board of adjustment hearing is on Monday, August 17, at City Hall.  People who support tree preservation in Dallas are planning to attend and are encouraging others who care about a green Dallas to attend the hearing or send comments to the board of adjustment staff. —Sandy Greyson
 
Dallas’ weak tree preservation ordinance is currently under review and revisions are being considered.  Timbercreek is a prime example of why the ordinance needs to be strengthened.  

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