Mount Pleasant considers forming tree task force

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – As Mount Pleasant nears the final stages of a total zoning rewrite, the focus now turns to the protection of the town’s trees.

“…It’s important that we not only preserve, we restore and we replant for our children’s children and that’s what the overall plan would be,” said Mike Tinkey, a member of the Town of Mount Pleasant Planning Commission.

Town leaders will now consider assigning a group of people to help achieve that goal. On Wednesday, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend the formation of a tree task force to offer expertise and guidance while the town develops new tree ordinances.

“We’ll look at the overall plan, we’ll look at the canopy, we’ll look at the staffing that goes into maintaining our urban forest, and the wildlife and the recreation and their environmental resilience that we have,” Tinkey told News 2. “But we’ll also look at an ordinance that protects those trees from illegal cutting, which we’re having a lot of unfortunately.”

Tinkey said they would like to see Mount Pleasant reach 40% tree cover or more since storms and population growth have caused a decrease over the years.

The hope is for the ordinances to establish protections and to promote growth and tree canopy expansion.

“You know, it’s highly technical. Which species are better to keep, which ones should be mitigated for even if they’re allowed to be removed, those type things. And we are looking for best practices because my personal goal for Mount Pleasant is to lead the State of South Carolina in everything that has to do with sustainability and resiliency,” said Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie.

Mayor Haynie said he will champion the recommendation and pointed to the benefits of having green infrastructure in the town to as a way to manage stormwater.

“Protecting property values, keeping our roads free of nuisance flooding, that type of thing. We know that an adult tree will take up 10,000 gallons of water per year, and that’s a lot of water,” the mayor said. “We want best practices, and we want people on this task force that are familiar with what those best practices are, and we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by doing this.”

The recommendation for the task force will go before two town committees the first Monday of November who will determine if it heads to council.