Will Rogers once confessed, “There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.” That’s what I thought when I saw the headline, “Mayor Calls for Citywide Tree Preservation,” under Latest News on the Unofficial Mayor Dan Coody Reelection Website. You will remember that Mayor Coody’s 2006 Earth Day joke of April 21st that year was to veto important parts of the ordinance providing for tree preservation on Fayetteville hillsides.
For more than ten years, concerned citizens pushed for special guidelines for building on Fayetteville’s beautiful hillsides, asking for rules that would provide protection from excessive tree loss, steep grading, and eroded drainage areas. After four years of debate and compromise, the Fayetteville City Council unanimously adopted the ordinance regulating construction on about 3,000 acres of hillsides and hilltops inside a Hillside Overlay District . Then Mayor Coody vetoed two key sections of the ordinance, and the Council voted 5-3 to override the veto, one vote shy of what was needed. Voting to go along with the Mayor’s veto were Robert Rhoads and Bobby Ferrell.
Now Developer Dan wants you to know that he supports citywide tree preservation. If you don’t believe him, take a look at the approved hillside development erosion above the southeast corner of College and Township or drive by Highland and Lafayette and see the parking deck construction that wiped out every old post oak on that site. If you do believe him, ask him why we've been waiting 14 months to enact his proposal.
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