Speedier Building Permits Promised

The Arborist Division of the Atlanta Bureau of Buildings has pledged to speed up the plan review process for certain projects. Ainsley Caldwell, the new arboricultural manager for the division, has created a "No Trees Impacted" exception for plans. Normally, all trees that have any type of impact within their critical root zone must have an impact percentage calculated and noted on the site plans. The City requires a prescription for a tree when the impact ranges between 20 and 33 percent. Apparently, the new provision will allow for a site plan to state that no trees will be impacted when the calculated percentage is less than 20%. This could help some site designers turn around their work product faster when there are no trees present on the site, or if the trees will only be minimally impacted.

The "No Trees Impacted" exception is part of Atlanta's Permitting Improvement Project initiated in April 2006. The goal of the project is to decrease the time it takes to issue a permit by 50 percent, by April 2007.

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