Latest version broadens scope, adds enforcement measures and native-species safeguards
Updated 10/22/2025: Edits were made to improve descriptions of proposed changes to the Comprehensive Land Use Regulations Ordinance (CLURO).
MANDEVILLE — An ordinance first introduced last spring to expand tree-protection rules in Mandeville will return to the City Council’s agenda October 23rd, four months after it was last postponed amid concerns that it went too far.
Councilman-at-Large Scott Discon authored the measure, known as Ordinance 25-11, which originally sought to add bald cypress and southern magnolia trees to the city’s protected list alongside the live oak. The earlier version also required property owners to install four-foot-high, 12-gauge fencing around the drip line of each protected tree during construction and to replace any tree lost with two of the same species. Penalties for violations ranged from $2,000 to $20,000 per tree, depending on size.
At the June 12th meeting, Councilman-at-Large Jason Zuckerman pushed back, warning that the ordinance could create a heavy burden for property owners and trigger a surge of variance requests before the Planning and Zoning Commission. His objections led the council to delay the vote first to July 10 and then indefinitely. It is unclear whether this new version will lessen or worsen Zuckerman’s concerns.
In a Facebook post following that meeting, Zuckerman said, “I am concerned that these changes may place a severe burden on property owners citywide and at the same time significantly increase Planning & Zoning agendas with variance requests.”
After months of revisions, the latest version of the ordinance is far broader than the draft debated this summer, expanding from barely three printed pages to eight full pages. It now proposes significant changes to several sections of the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Regulations Ordinance (CLURO).
The already lengthy title roughly doubled in size, jumping from 67 words to 129, or about a third of a printed page:
Among the provisions affected by the proposed ordinance:
- Vegetation Protection Zones around trees slated for preservation, prohibiting storage, paving, or construction within those areas.
- Mandatory installation of rigid metal fencing verified by city inspectors before permits are issued.
- Expanded protection of key native tree species, formally naming the bald cypress and southern magnolia alongside the live oak.
- Landscape Mitigation Fund and Compliance Agreements for property owners unable to meet replanting requirements on-site.
- Automatic permit and certificate-of-occupancy suspensions for violations until fines or replanting obligations are satisfied.
The new draft also adds extensive findings that highlight the ecological and cultural importance of Louisiana’s native trees and their role in storm-water management, wildlife habitat, and community character.
If adopted October 23rd, Ordinance 25-11 would mark one of the most comprehensive updates to Mandeville’s tree-preservation rules in a decade — shifting the city’s approach from simple penalties toward long-term environmental stewardship of its native canopy.
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Mandeville Daily 
What is your impression of this? I feel very uncomfortable about it
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There are already too many variance requests, and they are decided by a small panel of appointed citizens with no real experience in Urban Planning or Natural Resources. The Citizen board provides political cover for our elected officials and our administration heads. It has too much power for an unelected group of individuals. They are not accountable to the populous.
Obey the CLURO. Build within the requirements, build a smaller footprint, or buy a larger lot. Don’t force your neighbors to suffer for your selfishness.
Some of the variance requests on the board for next weeks meetings: A neighbor wants to remove a Live Oak on a transitional wetland property he built on several years ago. In order to build a garage. By the lot before the plan, then design around the lot. The original designer of the house is on our Council. I have publicly commended him for designing an attractive home, with minimal disruption to the natural grade, vegetation and natural floodplain. Now, the homeowner wants to build an outbuilding on this transitional wetland and remove a Live Oak that has been there longer than the homeowner has been on this planet.
He may have gotten the idea for this from the neighboring property to the south. It was basically clearcut without a silt fence or clear delineation of the native wetland species or the high water line. Suddenly, he has hot sunlight beating into the south side of his once shady little house. It took several emails to City Hall just to get attention to this debacle, with much pushback from the Building Dept. and then they did nothing. Bechac wants to remove a Live Oak on Lakefront. What’s with this?
And on and on. We are either a tree city or we are not. Let’s stop lying and pretending. Oh, and we can give up on Dark Skies initiative. David Thompson1422 Monroe St.
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Well stated rockdoctor1!
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