Cookeville Looks to Adjust City Tree Ordinance

Cookeville officials look to adjust and revise aspects of the city’s current tree ordinance.

Public Works Director Greg Brown says one of the changes allows the tree board to designate someone to inspect right-of-ways for properties with hazardous trees.

“We also clarified the city’s right to trim or remove trees on the right-of-way that may be blocking a street sign, traffic signal, or anything like that,” Brown says. “If it’s extending out on the right-of-way, usually we would call the property owners and ask them to do it. If something happens that they can’t do it, we would trim it back just to the right-of-way so they can see the sign or whatever the hazard it’s hiding is.”

Brown says outside of severe weather incidents, branches and brush don’t often create a problem in the city.

“Usually it’s in the late spring or first part of summer when that first growth of the year comes in and branches grow out in front of signs,” Brown says. “We’ve had school zone flashers being hid, but it’s usually signs we get the most calls on.”

The ordinance also includes the Planning Director, Urban Forester, and Codes Director on the city’s tree board while adding term limits for appointed members.

Cookeville City Council approved the first reading of the amendment last week with the second and final reading slated for Thursday, Dec. 20.