November 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 37

Vermijo Street is a newly revitalized hybrid
street, linking Colorado Springs downtown
to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum
and America the Beautiful Park.
communities big and small across
the country.
Among the most vital takeaways
are five key steps cities can take
to increase collaboration and accountability,
secure appropriate
funding and partnerships, and ultimately
build the framework for a
more equitable canopy that benefits
all residents.
Increase Inter-agency
Coordination
Many cities interviewed identified
challenges with inter-agency
alignment of guidelines and standards
between forestry, public
works, stormwater and utilities.
The most common conflict zone
was consistently the right-of-way.
Where there is limited area from
curb to building face, competition
for space impedes the ability to
support tree infrastructure with
ideal soil volumes.
Making things even more challenging,
many cities do not have
rules
and
regulations
for
the
right-of-way that include a green
infrastructure zone, creating a
mismatch between the rules and
regulations of public works and
wastewater agencies.
So, how can cities better coordinate
and align priorities between
their agencies? One exciting example
of a partnership to increase urban
tree canopy in a long-term, sustainable
manner came from Boise.
In 2014, City of Boise, Capital City
Development Corp (Boise's Urban
Renewal Agency, or URA) and the
County Highway Department collaborated
standards
to
develop
that
addressed
streetscape
green
infrastructure goals and incorporated
trees as living infrastructure.
Within these standards, suspended
paving systems provide the ideal
conditions for urban trees to thrive
with expanded root zones and uncompacted
soil.
The unique partnership between
the varying agencies puts
the URA in charge of implementing
streetscape projects and coordinating
with private development
within the URA boundary,
which had a funding stream established
for that purpose. Stormwater
responsibility lies with the
County Highway District and the
city
public works
department,
while the parks department assumes
maintenance responsibility
for the suspended pavement
systems. The clear division of
responsibilities, budgets for rightof-way
infrastructure and funding
through a URA offer lessons
for other communities struggling
with these same challenges.
Define Accountability
Some of the biggest challenges
when it comes to urban tree canopy
is clarity of maintenance responsibilities.
Put simply, whose
job is it to maintain the trees on
the sidewalk? As cities grow and
change, the public realm is profoundly
impacted by whether the
integration of an urban tree canopy
- with clear roles and responsibilities
- is part of the development
conversation.
Where urban forestry rules and
regulations are not well-defined,
or where building codes are misaligned
with right-of-way allocations
for green infrastructure, the
tree canopy often becomes an afterthought,
inconsistently applied
across an urban fabric.
The available planting area in
most cities is concentrated on private
property, which poses a challenge
for government agencies around
tree planting and maintenance stratPARK
S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | NOVEMBER 2 0 22 | Parks & Recreation
37
PHOTO COURTESY OF AECOM
November 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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