Tallinn's Environment and Public Works Department is preparing amendments to the city's tree-felling regulations aimed at making the rules clearer, reducing the administrative burden and introducing more digital solutions.

According to Kaili Lemberg, head of direct services at the department, the city is not creating an entirely new set of regulations but addressing issues that have emerged in day-to-day work.

Lemberg said the main aim of the changes is to strike a balance between protecting nature, carrying out work using modern solutions and ensuring people do not get lost in a maze of bureaucracy.

"To clarify, tree-felling regulations already exist and are currently in force, but in carrying out this work every day, we realized that the current rules do not ensure that the requirements are very clear to people. At the same time, the existing rules make it difficult to protect nature. Thirdly, we should also be doing our work intelligently, as one should in the 21st century," Lemberg said.

Condition of trees to be determined from photos

The amendments are intended to define more clearly when a tree-felling permit or a pruning permit is required.

"From a person's perspective, it is important to strike a balance between when a tree-felling permit is required and when a pruning permit is needed — for example, whether a permit is necessary for every tree branch," Lemberg said.

The Environment and Public Works Department also wants to reduce the need for officials to visit sites in person to inspect trees listed in tree-felling permit applications.

"We will certainly set out the rules and requirements for replacement planting more clearly in the regulation. We will also try to make greater use of photographs in our work to reduce our footprint — we should not have to constantly drive around the city and should instead be able to assess a tree's condition using photographs and mapping applications," Lemberg said.

She said, for example, that in the case of an obviously dead tree, a tree-felling specialist is sufficiently qualified to make an assessment based on photographs and mapping applications.

Lemberg acknowledged that this also creates a risk of fraud, meaning officials will still have to make sure that the tree shown in a photograph is the same tree that is subsequently felled.

In addition to amending the regulation itself, the department is updating its internal working procedures and an information system that has been in use for a year and a half, with the aim of making the process easier both for property owners and developers seeking to remove trees from construction sites.

"If all three of these things — a user-centered information system, tree-felling regulations that enable more modern ways of working and our own working procedures — are successfully implemented, then I believe [removing trees from construction sites] will become easier," Lemberg said.

According to Lemberg, in cases involving trees on construction sites, for example, it should be clear at an early stage whether replacement planting will be required and, if so, to what extent.

Another important issue under consideration is the procedure for challenging tree-felling permits and the possible introduction of a waiting period between the issuance of a permit and the felling itself. Currently, a tree covered by an approved felling permit can be cut down on the same day the permit is issued, even though there is formally a 30-day period for challenging the permit.

"The tree-felling regulations are currently being updated and I hope a complete draft will be ready this fall, after which we can begin broader discussions. We have considered whether a waiting period should be introduced," Lemberg said.

At the same time, she stressed that anyone challenging a permit must still have the necessary legal connection to the matter, for example by owning a neighboring property or living in the area.

Lemberg said the Environment and Public Works Department values mature trees in the city.

"Absolutely! We have a great many people working toward that goal. Of course, we need to preserve and protect what we already have. But arborists have pointed out that, in many Scandinavian countries, for example, it is accepted that mature trees have somewhat shorter lifespans in cities than they do in actual forests because the conditions are different," Lemberg said.

Lemberg added that the department may also need to give more thought to periodically renewing and replacing mature trees.

"It is difficult for trees to live forever in an urban environment. This is certainly very important because we are the Environment and Public Works Department — we don't just build roads. We create and maintain a much broader environment around people's homes than infrastructure alone," she said.

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