Nearly a year after the Sammamish City Council took emergency action to save more trees on the Plateau, it unanimously approved new tree regulations Tuesday.

The percentage of large, “significant” trees retained varies; it’s based on zoning.

A significant tree is defined as a conifer with a diameter of 8 inches measured from 4.5 feet above the ground or a deciduous tree with a diameter of 12 inches measured from 4.5 feet above the ground.

For example, developers are required to retain at least 35 percent of the “significant” trees in most residential, single-family zones (R-4 and R-6). In R-1 zones, the ordinance calls for 50 percent retention rate. In commercial zones, in rare cases, the retention rate could be as low a zero percent.

All trees within critical areas and critical area buffers must be retained.

Whereas the policy replaced by the October 2014 emergency regulations allowed 50 percent of the trees located within critical areas and critical area buffers to be included in the percentage retained, new regulations do not give such a credit.

And those who disobey the new rules face stiff civil fines and the possibility, now, criminal penalties and some jail time.

Unlawful removal of or damage to a tree will cost $1,500 per inch of diameter, measured about 4.5 feet from the ground. Removing the wrong tree could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Deciding the stringent language and policy for the retention standard and critical area buffer retention percentages was one of the last amendments council members discussed Tuesday evening before approving the policy.

“To me this is the heart, the absolute heart, of the tree retention ordinance,” Councilmember Tom Odell said.

The council began reviewing the Sammamish Planning Commission’s new policy recommendation July 20.

The emergency ordinance, approved Oct. 14, 2014 and extended in April, upped the city’s retention rate policy from 25 percent to 35 percent and completely cut the credit policy.

As an attempt to reach a middle ground between the old policy and the interim ordinance, the planning commission proposed to partially reintroduce the credit, at 25 percent, for trees located within the buffer.

This would take the 35 percent tree retention requirement and allow for trees in a critical area buffer, not the actual critical area, to count toward the total retention tree count, Sammamish Director of Community Development Jeff Thomas said.

This credit did not sit well with some of the council.

“The fact is we’re losing trees rapidly,” Odell said. “We made the retention requirements much different in the emergency ordinance for a reason.”

Odell agreed with Councilmembers Nancy Whitten and Deputy Mayor Kathy Huckabay in that allowing this credit does nothing for the new retention rate.

“Giving them a 25 percent credit for trees that would have to be retained in any event, basically takes this 35 percent retention requirement back to the original 25 percent,” Odell said. “So we’ve gone absolutely nowhere here.”

The basis for adding some credit toward trees retained within the buffer zones was, as Planning Commission Vice Chair Frank Blau explained, a response to several hypothetical situations where the majority of a property is classified as a buffer zone, thus rendering most of the land undevelopable.

Councilmember Don Gerend added that in recent years the city has expanded its definition of a buffer zone, increasing the size of buffers around critical areas.

In that sense, the 25 percent credit is more restrictive than before, Gerend said.

Still, Odell, Whitten and Huckabay agreed there was no reason to give a credit.

Whitten reminded staff and council that this policy is a reactive measure to public outcry last fall when trees noticeably disappeared due to development along 228th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 20th Street.

Despite meeting the city’s then-25 percent retention rate, “you’d never know they saved a tree,” Whitten said. “That’s what started this tree ordinance — the outrage that our people felt when it was so visible on such a large parcel right in the middle of our city.”

Under the new ordinance, developers can apply for a variance, and as long as there is a process for that, Huckabay and Whitten agreed there was no need for the credit.

The council came to consensus, not permitting a credit within the buffer zones.

The policy will go into effect five days from Tuesday’s vote; the ordinance will be available online and upon request, after a legal review and after staff clean up the language council approved Tuesday.