Chapter 6.1
Community Health and Safety

• ALL
• Remove Code Barriers
• Create Incentives
• Fill Regulatory Gaps

Fruit Trees in Landscape Requirements

INTRODUCTION

Urban and suburban agriculture can include consideration of growing, planting, and harvesting fruit trees as part of the development process.[1] Many local governments and communities are concerned about food insecurity. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 23.5 million Americans live in a food desert, which means that they live more than one mile from a supermarket in urban areas.[2] As a consequence, many individuals do not have access to enough fresh fruit and produce.[3] Many Americans also live in food swamps, where an overabundance of high calorie food “swamps out” the healthy food options.[4] Food swamps are linked to increased rates of obesity and diabetes.[5]

One step local governments can take to help alleviate food deserts and swamps is to permit or require the planting of fruit trees and to provide education around caring for such trees.[6] Urban and suburban communities may not know how to grow food or lack availability of fresh produce (for our briefs discussing other ways to encourage the growth of fresh food on private lots see Bees in Urban and Suburban Districts; Community Gardens on Private; Property as a By-Right or Permitted Use; Keeping Fowl in Urban and Suburban Locations; Temporary Farm Stands; Permit the Display and Sale of Fruits and Vegetables on Public Sidewalks; Aquaponics, Hydroponics, and Aquaculture; Front Yard Gardening in Residential Districts).[7] Local governments can implement ordinances that incentivize and promote the use of fruit trees in landscape requirements to increase access to healthy foods and  help alleviate possible concerns regarding food production.[8]

Local governments can incentivize and promote fruit trees in landscaping requirements by including a landscape credit system in land use ordinances,[9] creating a property tax exemption process supported by the state where permitted,[10] or implementing a tree planting initiative.[11] A landscape credit system generally allows existing fruit trees to remain on a property and count towards the total required landscape foliage or may encourage or permit the use of fruit trees when developing new landscaping plans.[12] Local governments can also create a property tax exemption process if their state already permits a tax exemption for property owners who reserve acreage for fruit tree use.[13] Landowners typically cannot make an economic profit from their fruit trees in order to be eligible for this type of exemption.[14] As part of this, local governments may want to consider protecting landowners from liability in the event they want to allow the fruit to be gleaned and donated to the community. Finally, local governments may enact a fruit tree planting initiative where residents may apply to have a fruit tree planted on their property, typically at no cost to the property owner.[15] Fruit tree planting programs may prioritize locations for new trees based on neighborhood type or level of pollution.[16] In many of these ordinances, the property owner maintains and cares for the fruit tree once it is planted on their property.[17]

EFFECTS

Ordinances permitting or crediting fruit trees may encourage applicants to draft development plans that include planting, restoring, or maintaining fruit trees. In terms of air purification, fruit trees may help improve air quality.[18] Incentivizing homeowners and developers to plant trees generally may increase production of oxygen and absorption of CO₂, a greenhouse gas.[19] In the long term, this may have major implications on society’s health.[20] Allowing fruit trees to be part of both residential and commercial landscape requirements not only increases the amount of fresh produce available to private citizens, but it also may reduce the total amount of waste and energy otherwise consumed through commercially producing fruit.[21]

However, an increase of fruit trees in a community may have some unanticipated negative consequences. If the fruit goes unpicked, it will fall to the ground, spoil, and attract unwanted insects, such as wasps and hornets.[22] Additionally, the spoiled fruit may become unpleasantly fragrant.[23] If the trees are located near a sidewalk or roadway, fallen fruit will cause these pathways to become slippery and create a safety issue.[24] An increase in fruit droppings creates an increase in maintenance costs for many local governments to keep their sidewalks and roadways clean and safe.[25]Therefore, local governments should consider implementing gleaning requirements within their ordinances, which involves collecting excess fruit for those in need.[26]

EXAMPLES

Ponce Inlet, FL

Ponce Inlet, Florida, has enacted an ordinance specific to fruit trees when discussing landscaping requirements for single and two-family developments.[27] The city allows fruit trees for up to 25 percent of the total required number of shade trees on a property.[28] Fruit trees must be at least six feet in height when fully grown to provide adequate shade.[29] On nonresidential properties, fruit trees may be used to satisfy landscape requirements, but must be at least eight feet high at the time of planting.[30] Additionally, in nonresidential properties, fruit trees must be planted at a ratio of 2:1 for every substituted shade tree.[31] If fruit trees already exist on a property, “they may be credited towards one required shade tree.”[32]

To view the provision see Ponce Inlet, FL, Code of Ordinances § 4.10.3(B).

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES

Banning, CA, Code of Ordinances § 17.32.030(D)(3) (allowing comprehensive landscaping plans to include fruit trees).

Carnation, WA, Code of Ordinances § 15.76.070(C)(4) (encouraging the use of fruit trees in all landscaping projects).

Ypsilanti, MI, Code of Ordinances § 122-632(e) (allowing fruit trees in areas where they do not overhang on sidewalks, parking lots, roadways, or walkways).