Title
Shade Phoenix Plan - Citywide
Description
Request approval to adopt the Shade Phoenix Plan for years 2024-2028. This plan provides policy and program direction regarding the addition and maintenance of natural and built shade in Phoenix to protect public health, improve quality of life, and create community resilience.
Report
Summary
The Need for Shade
Shade is a critical community resource. Providing adequate shade is one of the most effective strategies to make outdoor urban environments safe and comfortable. Shade protects the human body from direct sun exposure, which is the primary factor that determines outdoor thermal safety in hot weather. Shade also protects infrastructure from sun exposure, which reduces the dangers of people interacting with hot surfaces and increases the life span of materials. Studies estimate that shade reduces the net heat burden on the human body by up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Inadequate shade in certain neighborhoods and vital outdoor areas like transit stops and commercial corridors is a high community concern. This shade deficiency presents a significant risk to public health, particularly for residents with underlying health issues, to our neighborhoods, and to Citywide economic vitality. Maintaining and expanding publicly available shade, with a focus on where people are most exposed to outdoor heat and where there are high concentrations of vulnerable populations, is critical to our future.
Vision and Values
The Shade Phoenix Plan presents a vision of a future where all community members experience the benefits of trees and built shade throughout the City. The plan is anchored around a set of core values that shaped its development and will guide its implementation. Those values are to:
- Focus on people first by targeting actions where shade can have the greatest impact on human health and wellbeing, especially for vulnerable populations;
- Recognize that shade is critical resource provided to the community by public and private assets;
- Lead with an environmental justice and equity lens and address inequities;
- Respect the unique landscape and heritage of the Sonoran Desert, one of the most special places in the world;
- Collaborate within City government, between public and private actors, and with the communities of Phoenix to accelerate collective action; and
- Go beyond the status quo by innovating and taking risks to change historical trajectories and realize the Plan’s vision.
Assessment and Inventory
The Shade Phoenix Plan provides updated data regarding tree canopy and shade coverage in the City of Phoenix, as well as specific analysis and inventories for City of Phoenix property. The most recent tree canopy data indicates significant disparity in canopy coverage throughout Phoenix. Many neighborhoods in Central City South, West Phoenix, and along the Interstate 17 Corridor have tree canopy cover less than five percent, whereas other neighborhoods in Phoenix have canopy cover exceeding 25 percent. In high-income neighborhoods in Phoenix, tree canopy coverage is nearly double the amount as in lower-income neighborhoods. The median tree canopy cover in Phoenix Citywide is 11 percent. Total shade coverage from all built and natural sources follows similar patterns.
The Shade Phoenix Plan also provides a detailed accounting of tree and shade initiatives on City property and includes an action item to update the City's official tree inventory, which is estimated to include more than 100,000 trees. Over the past 15 years, at least 32,968 trees have been planted by the Street Transportation Department, Parks and Recreation Department, and Aviation Department. These plantings have helped the City maintain its recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree City USA for 37 consecutive years. The Plan also includes analysis of built shade structures on City properties, and it reports more than 3,000 bus stops with shade structures and another 639 shade structures at City of Phoenix parks.
Strategies and Actions
The Shade Phoenix Plan provides four broad strategies, 11 strategic priorities, and 36 specific actions to achieve its vision. The strategies and strategic priorities are as follows:
- Strategy 1 is to Expand Shade, increasing shade for people where they need it most. Strategic priorities are to increase shade for children, increase shade on City-owned properties, increase shade on public right-of-way, and increase shade on private properties.
- Strategy 2 is to Preserve and Maintain Existing Shade, ensuring that the community is working together to support a thriving urban forest and well-maintained built shade. Strategic priorities are to care for and maintain trees and shade structures on public property, to strengthen code enforcement on private property, and to increase City capacity to maintain trees and shade.
- Strategy 3 is to Evaluate and Institutionalize the ongoing implementation and improvement of shade efforts to scale their impacts and maximize benefits. Strategic priorities are to monitor and evaluate progress on the Shade Phoenix Plan, to strengthen organizational coordination and staff capacity, to strengthen regulations, design standards, and guidelines, and to create and expand pathways for careers in urban forestry.
- Strategy 4 is to Educate and Empower, so that all Phoenicians understand the importance and values of trees and shade and how they can support them. Strategic priorities are to create a Citywide movement around shade and heat and to provide public education around sustainable and equitable shade practices.
Collectively, the 36 actions in the Shade Phoenix Plan represent at least $60,000,000 in allocated and planned funding that will be directed toward tree and shade initiatives in the next five years, from a combination of local, federal, and private sources. More than half of the funding has been committed in the past two years. Of the total investment, 50 percent is anticipated to be made in low- to moderate-income communities in the City of Phoenix and 85 percent is anticipated to be made in low-, moderate-, and middle-income communities.
The Shade Phoenix Plan is included as Attachment A and is available online in both English and Spanish at www.phoenix.gov/shade.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
- City Council approved the Phoenix Tree and Shade Master Plan on January 5, 2010;
- City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding with American Forests on Tree Equity on April 21, 2021;
- City Council approved General Plan Update 2025 on April 17, 2024; and
- City Council reviewed and discussed a draft of the Shade Phoenix Plan on June 11, 2024.
Public Outreach
In the nearly 15 years since the 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan was adopted, a wide range of City and community-driven initiatives have generated new perspectives, needs, and opportunities to guide the City’s tree and shade efforts moving forward. The Shade Phoenix Plan is built upon community input and lessons learned over that 15-year period, as well as specific stakeholder and public engagement activities designed to inform the new plan.
Stakeholder and public engagement activities for the Shade Phoenix Plan accelerated in 2023 and included meetings with all Village Planning Committees, Community Sustainability Workshops attended by more than 600 residents, meetings with local advocates and experts, and an online Tree and Shade Community Feedback Questionnaire that has received more than 1200 responses. Guidance for the Shade Phoenix Plan has also been sourced from prior and ongoing efforts of the City of Phoenix Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission and other public advisory boards and commissions, the Metro Phoenix Urban Forestry Roundtable, the Nature Conservancy Heat Action Planning Guide for Greater Phoenix, public comment at City Council meetings and budget hearings, and academic research.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Gina Montes and the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation.