Protecting Your Trees and Urban Forest Through the City of Dallas Neighborhood Forest Overlay (NFO)
Published March 21, 2019, By Dallas Urban Forest Advisory Committee
The City of Dallas is proposing a new tool so you can help protect your neighborhood trees, and grow the urban forest for the healthier and cooler future. The tool is called the Neighborhood Forest Overlay (NFO).
What is an NFO?
As trees throughout Dallas are being removed in neighborhoods during construction, the NFO is a tool which could enable you along with a group of your neighbors (as few as 10 homes) to help protect the trees in your neighborhood. This is an opportunity for your neighborhood to come together to protect your trees and maintain your community’s urban canopy.
How to create an NFO?
A group of neighbors come together and decide they want to protect their trees. With the help of City Staff, each neighborhood or group of homes can write a set of their own regulations to protect their trees using the new City of Dallas Landscape and Tree Conservation Regulations (Article X) as a foundation. City staff will assist Neighborhoods in initiating and guiding the NFO process, providing petitions to gather neighbors’ signature, and holding public meetings to discuss the various options available including forest canopy goals.
Where is the NFO Approval Process Now?
The proposal for NFOs has been unanimously approved by the City of Dallas Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee (ZOAC) and the City Plan Commission. It is currently scheduled for consideration by the City Council on 10 April, 2019.
What can you do to ensure this Tool is approved?
Please contact your City Council Representative and let them know that you are in support of the Neighborhood Forest Overlay and that all Dallas Citizens deserve an opportunity to voluntarily manage their trees and urban forest.
Links to Neighborhood Forest Overlay, Article X, and your City Council Representative:
https://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/planning/pages/code-amendments.aspx City Council contact information: http://www.dallascityhall.com/government/Pages/city-council.aspx