Nashville, Tenn.—A bill tightening landscaping regulations for commercial properties and banning tree topping is scheduled for final vote on Oct. 18 at Metro Council. So is a bill annexing 4,419 acres of the Priest Lake area into the urban services tax district (USD).

The landscaping bill, in addition to banning tree topping, would require commercial and multifamily residential developers to use automatic, underground irrigation systems to water any Metro-required landscaping, and would require they plant no more than 50 percent of the same tree species, and require developers to post a bond until completing required landscaping.

Tree topping is a form of tree cutting that sickens and kills trees. Some Council members opposed the bill saying Metro shouldn?EUR??,,????'???t tell property owners what they can do with their trees.

A bill on first reading would lessen the ban by prohibiting tree topping only by professional tree care firms.