Mount Pleasant, a Tree City Tree Bank

For almost three decades, the Town of Mount The Town of Mount Pleasant initiated a grant Town of Mount Pleasant Pleasant has been an annual recipient of the program for its residents, civic clubs, and Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA other groups or individuals who have a desire Department of Planning and Development designation. to beautify and enhance the Town through the planting of trees. This program is intended to In order to be eligible for this designation a provide financial assistance to proposed tree Residential Tree Guide community must meet the four standards of Tree City USA: planning projects where trees are to be plant- ed within publicly accessible areas such as 1. A tree board or department street right-of-ways, public parks, school 2. A tree care ordinance yards, residential common areas, and church 3. A community forestry program with an yards. annual budget of a least $2 per capita 4. An Arbor Day observance and proclamation.

The Town takes great pride in its continued commitment to the protection and enhancement of its trees.

Benefits of Trees Trees provide tremendous benefits to society including: lessening air pollution; increasing dust filtration; reducing noise, heat and glare; preventing soil erosion; improving surface drainage; and minimizing The tree bank grant program is administered This brochure contains information pertaining to flooding. It is for these reasons that the Town by the Pride Committee who reviews the the Town tree ordinance. The regulations promotes the protection of existing trees and contained herein may change periodically. applications and selects those projects which provides for the replacement and planting of Please contact the Department of Planning and new trees. meet or exceed their guidelines. Grants are Development for the most up to date regulations. offered twice a year, once in the beginning of the year (January/February) and again in the early fall (September/October). These dates were selected because they are generally the best times of the season to plant trees. If you The Town seal is an are interested in applying for a tree bank oak tree with the term For additional information on tree regulations, grant please contact the Public Services contact the Planning and Development Cresco; latin for “we Department at 843-849-2022. Department at 843-884-1229 or visit us online at grow”. www.tompsc.com Tree Protection Tree Removal & Replacement How to measure a tree For residential properties within the Town, Prior to the issuance of a permit for tree Tree sizes are determined by measuring the trees that are 16” in diameter or greater are removal, a residential tree removal request number of inches at diameter breast height. protected and require approval for removal. form must be submitted. This form can be In order to measure the diameter breast Trees with a diameter of 24” or greater are completed online through our height (dbh) you will need a loose considered historic and approval from the website. To access the form, tape measure and a calculator. To Board of Zoning Appeals may be required select “pay online” from the begin, measure from the ground to prior to removal. The following trees are not homepage and then select a spot 4 1/2 feet up the tree. Then, protected regardless of size, unless located Planning Department forms. You from that point, wrap the tape within a buffer, right-of-way or easement, will have to create a user name measure around the tree to and can be removed at any time: pines, and password. There are measure the circumference. Sweet Gum, Callary Pear varieties, River separate forms for requesting Finally, take the circumference Birch, Mimosa, Chinaberry, Chinese Tallow, existing tree removal and and divide by pi (3.1415). The 4.5 FEET Camphor tree and White Poplar. requesting tree removal resulting number is the diameter associated with any type of of the tree. Please note that the removal of replacement construction. trees or trees within a required buffer is To measure a multi-stem tree; if the prohibited. Once the form has been tree trunk splits at ground level completed and submitted, a and does not share a common The chart below shows the tree replacement member of the Planning Department staff will base, each trunk shall be measured as a requirements based on the species and visit the site to review the request to separate tree. If a multi-trunk tree splits quality of the tree, and whether the use of the determine if removal can be approved by staff below the 4.5 foot mark all trunks 6 inches or property is residential or commercial. and if so, any required mitigation. You will larger in diameter at 4.5 feet shall be then receive a response to measured separately and combined to count your online request. as one tree.

The amount of required tree Tree Pruning replacement will be based on Dead limbs can be removed at any time, but the quality of the tree being no more than 25% of the live crown can be removed. Replacement trees removed in any given year. The topping of must be one of the species trees, including crepe myrtles, is not an provided in the Town canopy acceptable practice. Over-pruning can cause tree list found in section damage to a tree, even destabilizing it. 156.201(G)(1) of the Town of Mount Pleasant Code of Ordinances accessible online. In cases where replacement t r e e s c a n n o t b e accommodated on site, a fee may be paid to the Town’s Tree bank Fund in lieu of planting.