Planning and Development Department Process Improvements Update

This report provides an update to the City Council on the status of the Planning and
Development Department's (PDD) continuing efforts to streamline and enhance the
plan review, permitting and inspection processes.

THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.

Summary
PDD kicked off a series of Process Improvement Listening Sessions in the fall of 2023,
with an emphasis on the concept of partnership with customers. PDD organized and
hosted four customer listening sessions and three internal listening sessions with
department team members.

Tenants of Service
PDD’s focus has been on fostering a culture of partnership and service. The
department has identified three tenants of service to focus on its efforts: Personal,
Seamless, and Innovative.

Personal: Enhanced communication and collaboration with partner departments and
customers - reinforce that we are a department comprised of dedicated public servants
who are available to help.

Seamless: Empowered staff and ownership - commitment to foster a culture of
empowerment and ownership within the department by empowering teams to employ
a problem-solving approach when challenges arise while working with customers, as
well as supporting team members decisions that balance various policies and codes.

Innovative: Efficient organization structure and processes - reorganize the service
model and organizational structure to better align teams with the development
process.

Action Strategies
The feedback received at the listening sessions is categorized into the seven action
areas below and will be the focus of enhancements to the services we provide. A


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thorough description of the active and proposed action plan items are included in the
Process Improvement Report (Attachment A).
1. Updates to Processes
2. Modifications to Plan Review and Permit Requirements
3. Enhanced Collaboration
4. Deploy New Tools and Resources
5. Education - PDD Team Members
6. Education - Customers and PDD Boards and Commission Members
7. Ordinance and Code Updates

Education and Resources
The department outlines three tools needed to support the implementation of the
improvement actions. The tools include: time for education, ensuring adequate
resources, and a staffing study.

Measuring Success
In addition to annual listening sessions, small roundtable sessions with customer
groups, and reports back to the City Council, the Department will deploy the following
approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of improvements in enhancing service to
customers and improving efficiency for team members.
· Turnaround Times and Staff Time on Reviews
· Statistical Reports on Submittals and Approval
· Secret Shopper Exercises and Response Audits
· Customer Satisfaction Survey

Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Alan Stephenson and the Planning and
Development Department.




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Planning & Development

2024 Process Improvements Report
May 22, 2024




phoenix.gov/pdd 1

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“Cities are where dreams are made, and futures are forged.
A city is a machine with innumerable parts that never stop moving.
Cities are the playgrounds for dreamers and the canvas for innovation.”
– Teju Cole






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Message from the Director


Joshua Bednarek




Joshua Bednarek, Director




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Table of Contents




4 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Appendices




Acknowledgements




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Phoenix Today
Phoenix Today

Population



1,682,053
Median Age



Size 529 34.4

Residential Units Civilian Employed Population


658,724 813,556

Data Source: Maricopa Association of Governments
Adopted by MAG Regional Council, November 19, 2023

6 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Phoenix Today
Phoenix Tomorrow




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Phoenix Today
Planning and Development Department: Who We Are




20 146 66 7 84
Building Code Inspectors Planners GIS Technicians Engineering Techs
Examiners


5 10 24 6 4
Records Clerks Info Tech Analysts Engineers Accountants Architects




Shawn Jessup, General Inspector – Residential Team




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Phoenix Today
Planning and Development Department: What We Do




Already a Leader in the Field




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Phoenix Today
Planning and Development Department: What We Do




Mayo Clinic Hospital is using the AFP Program for their expansion




10 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Phoenix Today
Planning and Development Department: What We Do




52,000


50,000


48,000


46,000


44,000


42,000


40,000
FY 18/19 FY 19/20 FY 20/21 FY 21/22 FY 22/23
Fiscal Year














FY 18/19 FY 19/20 FY 20/21 FY 21/22 FY 22/23


Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Phoenix Today
Planning and Development Department: What We Do




39,225
Customers served at the 2nd Floor
Development Center


280,929
3,434
New Single-Family Permits Total
Issued
Inspections

5,542 10,688
Residential Lots Submitted for
Preliminary Review Multi-Family Units Permitted



12 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Planning and Development Department: What We Do




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Planning and Development Department: What Are We Working On



General Plan Update




Joél Carrasco, Special Projects Administrator, presents at one of the General Plan Update Summits




Impact Fee Update




Financial Stability Action Plan & Policy




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Planning and Development Department: What Are We Working On


Historic Phoenix Plan Update




SHAPE PHX – Release 3 (R3)




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Listening Sessions



Coming together to listen and learn



Abraham James




““Winston Churchill once famously
observed that Americans will always
do the right thing, only after they
have tried everything else." I know
many of the members of the staff
within the City of Phoenix Planning &
Development Department. I can
honestly say that this Department
has come a long way, in making
things right. Of course, it isn’t perfect.
But you are listening, reflecting upon
what you’ve learned from us, and
your current actions gives me great
encouragement! Please continue to
have listening sessions!“



16 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Phoenix Today
What We Heard: Customer Listening Sessions




Contacts Face-to-Face
Interactions



Consistency Processing Times




Collaboration / Staff Empowerment &
Communication Education




Participant sharing feedback at customer listening session




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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What We Heard: PDD Team Member Listening Sessions




Education




Process Changes




Enhanced Connectivity




Clarity




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How Are We Responding


Photo
Three Tenants of Service


David Goodman
Team Leader
Plan Review Division




Personal
“We recently dealt with a new team
leader in the Pre-App process and also in
the submittal of our construction
documents. Mr. Goodman was as helpful
as he could be in getting us the answers
we needed and assisting us during log
in. I wanted to let you know that we
greatly appreciate his help and hope we
can deal with him on future projects.
A breath of fresh air for sure.”




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Planning and Development Department: Three Tenants of Service

Personal (Continued)




Seamless




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Planning and Development Department: Three Tenants of Service

Innovative




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Planning and Development Department: Active and Proposed Actions




Customer Listening Sessions Feedback Areas




PDD Team Member Listening Sessions Feedback Areas




Updates to Processes


(Plan Review, Historic
Preservation)



(Plan Review)



. (Plan Review)




22 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Planning and Development Department: Active and Proposed Actions

Updates to Processes (Continued)


(Plan Review)




(Plan Review)




(Plan Review, Business & Strategy)



(Plan
Review)


(Plan Review)


(Plan Review)


(Plan Review)



(Inspections)


(Inspections)




(Inspections, Plan Review)


(Plan Review)




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Planning and Development Department: Active and Proposed Actions


Modifications to Plan Review and Permit Requirements




(Plan Review, Inspections)


(Plan Review)


(Plan Review)


(Plan Review)



Enhanced Collaboration

(Director’s Office)



(Historic Preservation, Planning & Zoning, Plan Review, Inspections, Business & Strategy)


(Director’s Office)


(Director’s Office)




24 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Planning and Development Department: Active and Proposed Actions


Deploy New Tools and Resources

(Ombudsman’s Office)


(Business &
Strategy, Public Information Office)


(Plan Review, Inspections, Fire
Department)


(Director’s Office, Business & Strategy)


(Business & Strategy, Plan Review)



(Director’s Office, Public
Information Office)


Education – PDD Team Members


(Business & Strategy)




(Director’s Office, Business & Strategy, Plan Review, Inspections, Historic
Preservation and Planning and Zoning)




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Planning and Development Department: Active and Proposed Actions


Education – Customers and PDD Boards and
Commission Members



(Ombudsman’s Office)




(Planning & Zoning)




Paradise Valley Village Planning Committee




Ordinance and Code Updates



(Planning and Zoning)




(Plan Review)




26 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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What We Need

Tools For Success




Desiree Aranda
Time for Education Planner III
Historic Preservation Office




“I enjoy working in the department. I
think we could better serve our
customers if we had more
Ensuring Adequate Resources opportunities to cross-train and
collaborate with other sections in
the department. This, along with
having our business processes
mapped out, would help our
understanding of the department
as well as our customers.”




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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Planning and Development Department: What We Need

Staffing Study




28 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Measuring Success


Photo
Our Commitment




Process Improvements Report - 2024


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30 Process Improvements Report - 2024



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Appendices





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Appendix A




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Appendix B




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Appendix C




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Leadership Organization
Chart




Director



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Assistant Director City Engineer
Director’s Office

Toni Duenas Terry McAvoy




Joe Brown Elizabeth Clark Sasha Perez
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Briiana Velez
Gregg Bach


Eric Froberg
Department Functions

Jorge Riveros




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Jesse Duarte Julie Whitmore
Office of
the city
engineer
Chris Kowalsky




Rubben Lolly
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Briiana Velez


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Eric Froberg


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Rubben Lolly


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Julie Whitmore


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Jorge Riveros


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Jesse Duarte


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Chris Kowalsky


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Appendix D




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Appendix




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Process Improvements
Executive Summary




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Process Improvements




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Report

Shade Phoenix Plan Draft

This report presents to City Council the first draft of a new Shade Phoenix Plan. The
goal of the Shade Phoenix Plan is to provide 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.

THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.

Summary
The Need for Shade
Shade is a critical infrastructure and 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 absorbing solar energy, which is the
primary factor that determines outdoor thermal safety in hot weather. Shade also
protects infrastructure from solar energy, which reduces the dangers of people
interacting with hot surfaces and increases the life span of materials that degrade
when exposed to the sun. Studies estimate that shade reduces the net heat burden on
the human body by up to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

As the City has evolved over time development standards have been updated and
modernized, so older parts of the community have been built without adequate tree
cover or shade structures at vital outdoor areas, such as transit stops and commercial
corridors. This shade deficiency presents a significant risk to public health, particularly
for residents with underlying health issues, and to our neighborhoods and 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 draft Shade Phoenix Plan proposes a vision of a future where all residents and
visitors to Phoenix 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. Target actions to keep people safe and focus on areas where


Page 106

shade can have the greatest impact on human health and wellbeing, with a focus
on vulnerable populations;
· Recognize that shade (built and natural) is a critical infrastructure and a service
provided to residents by public and private assets;
· Lead with an environmental justice/equity lens and address historical inequities;
· Respect the unique desert 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. Increasing shade requires actions and support from
Phoenicians and the City of Phoenix; and
· Go beyond the status quo. We cannot be afraid to innovate and take risks to
change the current trajectory and realize our 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 10.9 percent. Total shade coverage from all built and natural
sources follows similar patterns.

Detailed analysis for tree canopy and total shade coverage is provided for sidewalk
areas in the City of Phoenix, which are consistently identified as a priority area for
adding shade by the public. In early summer, total shade coverage on City sidewalks is
estimated to be 17 percent at noon and 20 percent at mid-afternoon. These metrics fall
below regional shade recommendations for pedestrian corridors. The plan further
examines tree canopy coverage within City-managed landscape maintenance areas
adjacent to streets and sidewalks. Tree canopy coverage within landscape
maintenance areas follows a similar pattern to overall tree canopy coverage in Phoenix
with significant spatial inequity.

The Shade Phoenix Plan 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


Page 107

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
property, 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 draft Shade Phoenix Plan presents four broad strategies, 13 strategic priorities,
and 37 specific actions to achieve its vision. The strategies and strategic priorities are
as follows:
· Strategy 1 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.
· Strategy 2 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 3 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 4 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.

Collectively, the 37 actions in the Shade Phoenix Plan represent at least $50,000,000
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 90 percent is anticipated to be made in low,
moderate, and middle-income communities.

Concurrence/Previous Council Action
· City Council approved General Plan Update 2025 on April 17, 2024; and



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· City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding with American Forests on
Tree Equity on April 21, 2021; and
· City Council approved the Phoenix Tree and Shade Master Plan on Jan. 5, 2010.

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, and an online Tree
and Shade Community Feedback Questionnaire that has received more than 700
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.

Additional public and stakeholder engagement is planned for summer and fall of 2024
following the introduction of the draft Shade Phoenix Plan. This engagement will
include workshops with key stakeholder groups as well as targeted efforts to build
awareness of the Shade Phoenix Plan and promote the public questionnaire in
neighborhoods with lower response rates.

Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Gina Montes and the Office of Heat
Response and Mitigation.




Page 109
ATTACHMENT A




SHADE PHOENIX
An Action Plan for Trees and Built Shade




Draft for City Council Review
June 11, 2024




Page 110
Acknowledgements
The City of Phoenix 2024 Shade Phoenix Plan is an update and expansion of the City’s Tree
and Shade Master Plan from 2010. The Plan reflects initiatives and perspectives from many
local, regional, and national collaborators. It also draws content and direction from a network of
related plans, including Phoenix’s PlanPHX General Plan, Climate Action Plan, the Maricopa
County Hazard Mitigation Plan, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health Strategic
Plan for Climate and Health, the Heat Action Planning Guide for Greater Phoenix, and the
Arizona Department of Health Services Climate and Health Adaptation Plan.

Office of Mayor Kate Gallego, Office of Ann O’Brien - District 1, Office of Jim Waring - District 2,
Office of Debra Stark - District 3, Office of Laura Pastor - District 4, Office of Betty Guardado -
District 5, Office of Kevin Robinson - District 6, Office of Carlos Galindo-Elvira – District 7, Office
of Kesha Hodge Washington - District 8

Arts & Culture, City Manager’s Office, Communications, Office of Environmental Programs, Fire,
Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Management, Homeless Solutions, Housing, Human Services, Office of Innovation, Library,
Valley Metro , Neighborhood Services, Parks and Recreation, Police, Office of Public Health,
Public Transit, Public Works, Office of Sustainability, Volunteer Programs, Water Services,
Planning and Development, Aviation, Streets, Community and Economic Development.

Local, Regional, and National Partners
Organizations listed below are partners in the tree and shade programs that the City operates or
supports, have provided input regarding the content of this plan, and/or are responsible for
programs or plans referenced in this document, or components thereof.
American Forests, American Society of Landscape Architecture Arizona Chapter, Arizona
Community Tree Council, Arizona Conservation Corps, Arizona Cooperative Initiative, Arizona
Department of Forestry and Fire Management, Arizona Landscape Contractors Association,
Arizona Nursery Association, Arizona Public Service, Arizona State University, Arizona
Sustainability Alliance, Artlink, Bartlett Tree Experts, Bloomberg Associates, Bloomberg
Philanthropies, CHISPA AZ, Desert Tree Farm, Dusty Landscaping, Keep Phoenix Beautiful,
Maricopa Association of Governments, Maricopa County, Phoenix Metro Urban Forestry
Roundtable, Resilient Cities Catalyst, Salt River Project, The Design Laboratory, The Nature
Conservancy, Treeland Nurseries, Trees Matter, U.S. Forest Service, University of Arizona,
University of California Los Angeles, Unlimited Potential, Venture Café Phoenix, Watershed
Management Group, West Coast Arborist, Whitfill Nursery




Shade Phoenix Plan Draft – June 2024 1


Page 111
VISION
A future where all residents and visitors to Phoenix
experience the benefits of trees and built shade
throughout the city.



VALUES
Shade Phoenix is anchored around a set of core values that
shaped its development and will guide its implementation.


1. Focus on people first. Target actions to keep people safe
and focus on areas where shade can have the greatest
impact on human health and wellbeing, with a focus on
vulnerable populations
2. Recognize that shade (built and natural) is a critical
infrastructure and a service provided to residents by public
and private assets
3. Lead with an environmental justice/equity lens and
address historical inequities
4. Respect the unique desert landscape and heritage of the
Sonoran Desert, one of the most special places in the world
5. Collaborate within City government, between public and
private actors, and with the communities of Phoenix.
Increasing shade requires actions and support from all
Phoenicians and the City of Phoenix
6. Go beyond the status quo. We cannot be afraid to innovate
and take risks to change the current trajectory and realize our
vision


Shade Phoenix Plan Draft – June 2024 2


Page 112
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the hottest large city in the country, shade is critical infrastructure and a community resource.
Extreme heat presents a significant risk to the public health of Phoenicians. The Shade Phoenix
draft plan is an update to and expansion of the City’s 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan and
outlines the actions the City and its partners will take over the next five years to accelerate the
creation and maintenance of shade in Phoenix. These actions explicitly focus on the city’s most
vulnerable residents and the places where people are outside the most. The plan will help us
achieve our overarching vision to create a future where all residents and visitors to Phoenix
experience the benefits of trees and built shade throughout the city.
Shade Phoenix is a data-driven plan, leveraging detailed analysis of citywide tree and shade
data across City-owned, public, and private properties. At the census tract scale, tree canopy
cover varies from 2% to 28%. The median census tract has 10.9% tree canopy. The plan
includes findings from the City’s first citywide shade analysis, which found 11% of the city is
shaded at noon and 13% at 3pm on the summer solstice (the day with the most amount of
sunshine). Sidewalks have 17% shade at noon and 20% at 3pm. Across Phoenix shade is not
equally or equitably distributed.
The plan includes 37 actions across four strategy areas, addressing 13 strategic priorities.
Collectively, these actions represent more than $50 million in allocated funding over the next
five years and will result in more than 25,000 new trees and 500 new shade structures. This
represents an almost doubling of the number of trees planted annually in Phoenix. More than
50% of the total investment will be made in low to moderate-income communities and 90% will
be made in low, moderate, and middle-income communities. The four strategy areas are:
1. Educate and Empower - create a citywide movement around shade and heat and
provide public education around sustainable and equitable shade practices.
2. Expand Shade - increase shade for children, increase shade on City-owned properties,
increase shade on public right-of-way, and increase shade on private properties.
3. Preserve and Maintain Existing Shade - care for and maintain trees and shade
structures on public property, strengthen code enforcement on private property, and
increase City capacity to maintain trees and shade.
4. Evaluate and Institutionalize - monitor and evaluate progress on the Shade Phoenix
Plan, strengthen organizational coordination and staff capacity, strengthen regulations,
design standards, and guidelines, and create and expand pathways for careers in urban
forestry.
Development of the draft Shade Phoenix plan was led by the City’s Office of Heat Response
and Mitigation and reflects the collective efforts of 26 City departments and offices. The Plan
was shaped by significant public engagement that involved more than 2,000 community
members who contributed input via public meetings and presentations, an online survey,
engagement with Village Planning Committees, community events, and at workshops on heat
and mobility held in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability. This engagement will continue
over the summer as the draft plan is revised and finalized.




Shade Phoenix Plan Draft – June 2024 3


Page 113
INTRODUCTION
In the hottest large city in the country, shade is critical infrastructure and a community resource.
Shade, through trees and built structures, creates cool spaces that protect public health,
improve quality of life, and strengthen community resilience. Maintaining and expanding
Phoenix’s shade will take proactive, coordinated action with residents, businesses, non-profit
partners, and across City departments. This plan, an update to and expansion of the City’s 2010
Tree and Shade Master Plan, outlines the concrete actions the City and its partners will take
over the next five years to scale up and accelerate efforts to expand shade in Phoenix, with an
explicit focus on the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Extreme heat presents a significant risk to public health. Residents with underlying health issues
are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of extreme heat (Harlan et al. 2006). Phoenix’s future
quality of life depends partly on 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. However, heat is not the only environmental challenge
facing Phoenix, and careful attention to the region’s water resources, air quality, and ecology
must be integral to planning efforts to increase shade from natural or engineered sources. New
trees and shade structures must be resilient to many urban environmental challenges without
making it harder for the region to thrive in the face of those challenges. Providing adequate
shade is one of the most effective strategies to make hot outdoor urban environments safe and
comfortable (Turner et al. 2023). Shade protects the human body from absorbing solar energy,
which is the primary factor that determines outdoor thermal safety in hot weather. Shade also
protects infrastructure from solar energy, which reduces the dangers of people interacting with
hot surfaces and increases the life span of materials that degrade when exposed to the sun.
Academic studies estimate that shade reduces the net heat burden on the human body by up to
70 degrees Fahrenheit (Middel et al. 2021, Turner et al. 2023).
Shade is not distributed equally or equitably across the city. As the city has developed, many
communities have been built without adequate tree cover or shade structures at vital outdoor
areas, such as transit stops, commercial corridors, or playgrounds. The City’s first-ever citywide
shade analysis found that 11% of the city is shaded at noon and 13% at 3 pm on the summer
solstice. This does not reflect the areas where people are commonly outside. Taking out
agricultural areas, vacant land, and natural preserves, all remaining property types in Phoenix
have more than 25% shade coverage at noon on the summer solstice, led by Private Public
Spaces (more than 50% shade) and single-family homes (over 40% shade).
Development of Shade Phoenix was led by the City of Phoenix Office of Heat Response and
Mitigation and reflects the collective efforts of 26 City departments and offices. The Plan was
shaped by more than 2,000 community members who contributed input via public meetings and
presentations, an online survey, engagement with Village Planning Committees, community
events, and at 16 workshops on heat and mobility held in collaboration with the Office of
Sustainability. It was also shaped by the vision and content of the City of Phoenix 2010 Tree
and Shade Master Plan. The Plan builds upon past work including the approval of the Walkable
Urban Code in 2015, the adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding with American Forests
on Tree Equity in 2021, the creation of the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation in 2021, and
the implementation of the first Cool Corridor in 2022, among other important advances.


Shade Phoenix Plan Draft – June 2024 4


Page 114
The 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan has served as a primary policy tool related to tree and
shade initiatives since its adoption and laid an important foundation for efforts to improve and
maintain tree canopy and shade coverage in the City. Many of the principles and priorities from
the 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan remain relevant today and are reflected in the new
Shade Phoenix Plan. The new plan also addresses community priorities that have emerged or
become emphasized in the past 15 years, especially equity. In April 2021, a Memorandum of
Understanding with American Forests was approved by City Council that augmented the vision
of the 2010 Tree and Shade Plan with specific attention to equity.
Uncertainty around financial resources was presented as a major challenge in the 2010 plan as
the City had made significant cuts to tree and shade initiatives during the Great Recession. At
the time of its adoption, City Council directed staff to begin implementing the plan as subject to
available financial resources. Today, approximately 70% of the actions from the 2010 Plan have
been completed or are ongoing (see Appendix). The new Shade Phoenix Plan more explicitly
identifies financial resources that are available to support its vision, strategies, and actions, and
more clearly communicates the community benefits that will be achieved with those resources.
Shade Phoenix is a portfolio of community-inspired solutions to solve challenges at the
intersection of extreme heat, public health, quality of life, and social justice. The Plan includes
avenues for investments not only in the physical capital necessary to help Phoenix’s hottest,
most heat vulnerable neighborhoods become cooler, greener, and healthier, but also in the
human capital that is essential for realizing the full suite of environmental and social benefits
that natural and built shade can provide. Implementation of the Plan will ensure:
• Phoenicians understand the importance and value of trees and shade and how they can
support them
• We increase shade for people where they need it most
• The community works together to support a thriving urban forest and well-maintained
built shade
• Ongoing implementation and improvement of shade efforts to scale their impacts and
maximize benefits
The 13 strategic priorities and 37 actions in the Plan represent more than $50 million in
public and private investments over the next five years and will result in more 25,000 new
trees and 500 new shade structures in Phoenix. Reflecting the values of the Plan, more than
50% of these will be planted or installed in low-income communities and more than 90% will be
in low- to moderate-income communities. Together, these actions will help us achieve our
overarching vision to create a future where all residents and visitors to Phoenix experience the
benefits of trees and built shade throughout the city.

Tree Equity Score
One element central to shade cover, or the lack of it, is tree canopy cover. In 2021, American
Forests developed the Tree Equity Score to address and identify environmental inequities in
tree distribution common to cities across the United States. Tree Equity Score measures how
well the critical benefits of urban tree canopy are reaching those who need them most. The
score—which ranges from 0 to 100 and combines measures of tree canopy need and social,
climate and health priority—establishes a democratized, equity-first standard to guide
investment in communities living on low incomes, communities of color, and all those
disproportionately affected by extreme heat, pollution and other environmental hazards.

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In November 2023, American Forests launched the Maricopa County Tree Equity Score
Analyzer (TESA), providing high resolution coverage to the region. This tool was custom-built
for Maricopa County with input from local stakeholders and includes specific place-based
metrics such as heat disparity, qualified census tracts, bus stops, light rails, schools and cooling
centers. (Qualified census tracts are defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development as those in which 50% or more of the households are income eligible and the
population of all census tracts that satisfy this criterion does not exceed 20% of the total
population of the respective area.) The TESA supports human-centered planning to improve low
neighborhood Tree Equity Scores across Maricopa County.
Users first prioritize areas where they can have the greatest impact to address tree inequity.
Next, they customize Tree Equity Score targets and create detailed tree planting and protection
plans at the property level, informed by high resolution land cover. Then, they can use TESA to
track progress and forecast project impacts at maturity.
This tool was custom-built for Maricopa County with input from a local stakeholder council and
includes specific place-based metrics such as heat disparity, qualified census tracts, bus and
light rail stops, schools and cooling centers. The TESA can help prioritize tree planting efforts,
planting scenario capabilities, and impact reporting.




Figure 1. American Forests’ Tree Equity Score Analyzer




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COMMUNITY INPUT AND
PARTNERSHIPS
A robust dialog around trees and shade has been ongoing since the City’s first Tree and Shade
Master Plan was adopted 2010. Engagement began in 2022 for the Shade Phoenix Plan and
includes engagement through multiple modes within the City departmental stakeholders and
stakeholders outside of the City on tree and shade topics as well. The goals, strategies, and
actions included in Shade Phoenix were informed through ongoing engagements with
community leaders and stakeholders' recommendations since 2010. Key documents such as
budget hearings, the Phoenix General Plan, and the Climate Action Plan assisted in guiding the
engagement process. Community engagement spanned a range of opportunities for
communities and stakeholders to provide feedback on the city's current and future tree and
shade goals in both English and Spanish. Phoenix residents shared their concerns, ideas,
stories, and expertise through in-person and virtual engagement sessions and a survey focused
on community feedback. The resulting feedback created and shaped the goals strategies, and
actions of this plan. The level of response, passion, and time Phoenix residents have dedicated
to our ongoing engagement demonstrates the community's commitment to partnering with the
City for trees and shade and the importance of increasing shade and canopy coverage in the
city to improve overall quality of life.
Modes of engagement included:
• Strategic engagement from the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
o Village Planning Committees (VPC)
o Tree and Shade Community Questionnaire
o Community Sustainability workshops with the Office of Sustainability
o Innovate PHX Challenge with the Office of Innovation and Venture Café Phoenix
• Other community engagement forums and partner-led initiatives
o Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission (EQSC)
o Budget Hearings
o Community Events
o City Council Community Meetings
o The Nature Conservancy Heat Action Planning Guide
More than 2,000 community members have contributed input on current and
future tree and shade efforts.
Village Planning Committee Meetings
The City engaged all 15 Village Planning Committees beginning in 2022. The 2022 VPC
meeting discussions with OHRM solicited high level heat-related priorities from the community
including trees and shade. The 2023 VPC meetings considered potential solutions and provided
feedback on tree and shade goals. The feedback from the VPC echoes previous feedback on
the need for more shade, concerns about tree maintenance and replacement, and funding
sources to support tree and shade investments.




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Community Sustainability Workshops
The city held 16 workshops on heat and mobility in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability,
and two community-based organizations (Unlimited Potential and Resilient Cities Catalyst) in
2023. The workshops were attended by over 600 community members. The workshops, set up
as listening sessions, sought community perspectives in two phases. The first phase focused on
identifying mobility solutions and heat mitigation strategy prioritization, like prioritizing the
reliability of the transit system. The second phase established deeper engagement with the
community on heat and mobility challenges where the input from Phase 1 was gathered and
validated to offer open-ended queries on community needs on these challenges. Examples
include questions about where they want more trees, shade, cooling centers, and drinking water
stations along with transit and mobility-oriented questions. Community members provided
specific places where they would like more trees and shade, like at bus stops, community
centers, schools, parks, and relevant cross streets.
Innovate PHX Challenge
The Office of Innovation launched the Innovate PHX Challenge to engage diverse communities
in creating solutions to the city’s most pressing challenges. In December 2023, Innovation
partnered with the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation and Venture Café Phoenix to explore
innovative manufactured shade solutions with more than 170 innovators, students, researchers,
and residents from across the city. Five teams, with five participants each, refined their ideas for
six hours and pitched solutions to a panel of judges, naming First Place, Second Place and
Audience Choice winning teams. The City is currently working to prototype and test ideas from
the Innovate Phoenix Challenge events.
Tree and Shade Community Feedback Questionnaire
The Tree and Shade Community Feedback Questionnaire is an ongoing questionnaire to
understand Phoenix residents' perspectives on tree and shade efforts. The questionnaire, to
date, has over 600 detailed responses from community members on the importance of trees
and shade in their day-to-day life as well as where trees and shade should be prioritized in the
city. Various newsletters, emails, and social media outlets pushed out the questionnaire to
Phoenix Residents. Outreach is continuing, and the need for strategic outreach methods is
recognized for multiple areas of the city.
Preliminary questionnaire findings suggest that there is a lack of both built and tree shade
citywide (Figures 2 and 3). More detailed feedback outlines support for city tree and shade
efforts, the importance of using the right shade in the right place, concerns about tree
maintenance, and ensuring the use of native trees in planting efforts (Figure 4).
In the questionnaire, community members provided their thoughts in detail that reflect the deep
care and concern residents have around trees and shade. Examples include:
General support for tree and shade efforts
“SHADE CAN BE LIFE SAVING; IMPORTANT WORK YOU ARE DOING!”
“This should be a high priority for the city, not only as a matter of human rights, but as
preparation for continued climate change…Trees will make it more habitable for future
residents, which will in turn allow Phoenix to continue to be a place people want to move
to, not just for work, but as a place to call home and raise children.”



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Right Shade, Right Place
“Built shade needs to be oriented to the location. It cannot simply be artistic - it must be
functional and provide shade onto the ground at the specific times of days. Otherwise
why build it.”
“In order for Phoenix to be a walkable city…we need to make all of the pathways leading
to mass transit shaded. Same goes for walking to a store or other essential services - it
doesn't matter if there is something within a mile if you can't safely walk to it in the heat.”
“Right type tree in right spot. Low water use plants work, just need the right design and
placement.”
“Please PLEASE use native trees. They are uniquely able to thrive and provide shade to
this specific area. PLEASE DO NOT use Palm trees. Palm trees are NOT shade trees.”
“All city streets and sidewalks should have native trees like Mesquites and Palo Verdes
that create a good canopy to help with the heat index while also being drought tolerant.”
Maintenance
“Hire enough city employees to take care of the dead trees or trees that need trimming
before planting an overabundance”
“Trees that are planted [need to] have a maintenance and irrigation plan that is
sustainable and consulted on by certified arborists and skilled professionals.”




Figure 2. Community Characterization of Built Shade Citywide




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Figure 3. Community Characterization of Trees Citywide




Figure 4. Questionnaire Response on Future Tree and Shade Visions in Phoenix



City Budget Hearings
The City of Phoenix conducts a rigorous public engagement process each year to inform the
adoption of the City budget. This process includes a series of public hearings in every City
Council district, as well as opportunities for comment and input through an online tool and at
multiple City Council meetings. Requests for more trees and shade in Phoenix have been
consistently voiced by community members at budget hearings in recent years. Notably, in
spring 2021, increased investment in tree and shade initiatives ranked as the second most-
requested action by the public in the hearings for the 2021-2022 City budget.
Public Advisory Boards and Committees
The City of Phoenix Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission (EQSC) identifies
and advises the Phoenix City Council on environmental quality and sustainability issues
affecting the city and recommends to the City Council policies, positions, and action the city
might take to address those issues in a manner that protects, promotes, restores, or enhances

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the city’s natural and built environments. In 2018, the EQSC established an Urban Heat Island
and Tree Shade (UHITS) Subcommittee to make recommendations related to urban heat,
including recommendations related to the implementation of the 2010 Tree and Shade Master
Plan. The Urban Heat Island and Tree Shade Subcommittee performed this role through the
first full year of the formation of the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, at which time the
subcommittee was sunset. Advisory functions related to urban heat and tree and shade
programs remain within the purview of the full EQSC.
During their five years of service, members of the UHITS Subcommittee generated several
formal recommendations to the EQSC. Full copies of UHITS recommendation memos are
available on the City’s webpage for EQSC. Key recommendations related to the Shade Phoenix
Plan included:
• Establishment of an Urban Forest Interdepartmental Team of city employees to
coordinate implementation of tree and shade initiatives
• Creation of a full-time Tree and Shade Administrator position
• Prioritization of tree and shade programs to benefit public transit stops, areas of
populations vulnerable to extreme heat, and highly used walking routes
• Incorporation of Green Stormwater Infrastructure features designed to meet site-specific
needs and characteristics
• Definitions, prioritization factors, stakeholder engagement strategies, and evaluation and
accountability methods for the Cool Corridors program
• Development of a city-wide heat equity policy to serve as a framework for guiding future
investments related to heat
• Delivery of annual reports from city staff to the public on the state of the urban forest and
related programs and initiatives
UHITS members and community leaders also led and advanced other tree and shade-related
initiatives in recent years, including landscape maintenance text amendments adopted by City
Council in 2021.
Other City of Phoenix advisory boards and committees whose purview overlaps with the vision
and goals of the Plan include, but are not limited to, the Citizens Transportation Commission,
the Parks and Recreation Board, the Phoenix Arts and Culture Commission, and the Vision
Zero Community Advisory Committee.
Partner-led Community Engagement and Research
Numerous initiatives led by other local and regional institutions have informed the strategies and
actions of the Shade Phoenix Plan. Among those initiatives is the Nature’s Cooling System
project spearheaded by the Nature Conservancy and three community-based organizations,
which produced the Heat Action Planning Guide for Greater Phoenix. The guide identifies
mitigation and adaptation strategies to reduce heat directly and improve the ability of residents
to live, work, and play in the heat. The guide was created through a participatory process.
Workshops in the Edison-Eastlake Community and Lindo Park-Roesley Park area voiced the
neighborhoods’ concern for lack of shade on walking routes, at bus stops, and vacant lots, and
financial burden and lack of resources for tree planting and shade. Previous and ongoing
academic studies have also informed the Shade Phoenix Plan and will continue to support its
updates and evaluation.




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Partnerships: American Forests and Phoenix Metro Urban Forestry Roundtable
The vision, strategies, and actions in the Shade Phoenix Plan are also informed by and will be
implemented with valued partnerships with local, regional, and national organizations. In March
2022, the Phoenix City Council adopted a resolution committing the City to a Tree Equity
partnership agreement with American Forests, the nation’s oldest nonprofit organization. Tree
Equity is climate justice and health justice, and achieving Tree Equity means investing in
communities with the most need by growing trees, creating jobs and implementing just policies
such as Shade Phoenix. In November 2019, the City of Phoenix, American Forests, and the
Arizona Sustainability Alliance founded the Phoenix Metro Urban Forestry Roundtable, a civic-
led coalition that has grown to over 60 organizations with the goal of achieving Tree Equity in
the Phoenix Metro area to help combat extreme heat and ensure historically disadvantaged
community members have access to the benefits that trees provide. The Phoenix Metro Urban
Forestry Roundtable consists of nonprofits, private sector entities, cities, county and state level
representatives, and university stakeholder all focused on solving the underlying challenges
needed to improve the tree canopy in the region.




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ASSESSMENT AND INVENTORY
Strategic planning and implementation of Phoenix’s tree and shade programs is dependent
upon accessible and actionable data. This section presents state-of-the-art analysis of tree and
shade data available to support City decision-making and evaluation of progress. The section
focuses both on community wide data as well as data specific to City-managed properties. All
analysis is based on the most recently available, quality-controlled data products wherever
possible. To understand Phoenician’s access to shade from all sources, this Plan includes an
assessment of shade coverage from built and natural sources using the City's first citywide
shade analysis. As described in the Values and Introduction, equity is a fundamental
consideration for the tree and shade analysis included in this Plan. While future work is needed
to formally quantify tree and shade targets for different properties, land use categories, and
neighborhoods in Phoenix, this section provides a detailed analysis of contemporary conditions
that will guide future efforts.
Tree Canopy Analysis – Citywide
Tree canopy cover is highly variable across the City of Phoenix (Figure 5). The census tracts
with the most tree canopy coverage are located in central and eastern portions of the city
including the Arcadia and Encanto neighborhoods. In these areas, tree canopy cover often
exceeds 15%, and in some cases, 25%. Tree canopy coverage is lowest in Central City South,
in much of West Phoenix, and in many neighborhoods along the Interstate 17 Corridor. In those
communities, tree canopy cover is often less than 5%, and in some cases, lower than 3%.
There is more than a 10-fold difference in tree canopy cover between the census tract with the
least tree coverage and the one with the highest tree canopy cover. The median tree canopy
coverage at the census tract scale for Phoenix is 10.9%, which means that half of the census
tracts in Phoenix have less than 10.9% tree canopy coverage. At the Village scale, overall tree
canopy coverage is highest in Camelback East (14.8%), Paradise Valley (13.2%), and
Alhambra (13.2%), and lowest in Central City (4.9%), Rio Vista (5.0%), and Estrella
(5.3%). American Forests recommends 15% tree canopy cover for most neighborhoods in
Phoenix; neighborhood and site-specific goals should be further developed in collaboration with
community members and with recognition for land use, topography, and other factors.
Measuring tree canopy coverage on specific parcel and property types is important because
there are different tree planting programs, funding sources, and policies that apply to different
properties. Single-family residential property is one important parcel type to consider because
single-family parcels account for a high percentage of the overall parcel land area of the City of
Phoenix (39%), and people spend a high percentage of their time at home (U.S. Department of
Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics). The median single family residential property in Phoenix has
11% tree canopy cover, excluding the building footprint. The likelihood of single-family
residential parcels having more or less tree canopy than this citywide median is also highly
variable across Phoenix (Figure 6). There are neighborhoods in Phoenix where more than 90%
of the properties have 11% tree canopy coverage or more, especially in central and eastern
parts of the city. In other areas, almost no properties meet this citywide median, with some
highly populated census tracts with less than one-third of properties above 11% tree canopy..
Summary statistics for different property types across the city are shown in Figure 7. Since
2012, the City, led by the Planning and Development Department, has focused on increasing
tree canopy coverage in Transit Oriented Communities.


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Village Tree Canopy*
Ahwatukee Foothills 7.7
Alhambra 13.2
Camelback East 14.8
Central City 4.9
Deer Valley 7.9
Desert View 10.9
Encanto 12.4
Estrella 5.3
Laveen 6.8
Maryvale 6.7
North Gateway 6.1
North Mountain 10.6
Paradise Valley 13.2
Rio Vista 5.0
South Mountain 9.5
*Building footprints are not included in percentage
calculation.
Figure 5. Tree Canopy by Census Tract
Derived from Google Environmental Insights Explorer high resolution tree canopy data from 2022 with building
footprints removed from analysis (building footprint data from Microsoft 2019-2020 data).




Figure 6. Parcels Above Median Tree Canopy % Among Single-Family Residential Parcels
Map shows the % of single-family residential parcels that exceed the median tree canopy of all single-family
residential parcels (11%) in the city, aggregated to census tract. Tree canopy derived from Google Environmental
Insights Explorer high resolution tree canopy data from 2022 with building footprints removed from analysis.


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Figure 7. Tree Canopy Percent by Property Type
Average tree canopy % by parcel property type/groups. Using Google Tree canopy data (2022) with building
footprints removed from analysis. Property types are groups of similar property use codes that we determined were
sufficiently similar (not official groups). “Private public space” includes residential recreation centers/clubhouses,
greenbelts/retention basins, open space and walkways owned by HOA/community, and golf courses.




The inequitable distribution of tree canopy coverage throughout Phoenix is closely related to
many social and economic variables. Overall, tree canopy coverage is lower in communities
with lower incomes, a higher percentage of people of color, and more people who do not own a
personal vehicle (see Figures 8-10, Figure 12). This pattern, which has been well-documented
in academic literature for many communities across the United States (Harlan et al. 2013;
Gronlund, 2014; Mitchell & Chakraborty 2015), indicates that many communities which
experience the greatest hardships in coping with heat and are exposed to heat more often are
those in which tree canopy coverage is most severely lacking. Increasing tree canopy coverage
in the neighborhoods where it is most needed was formally adopted as a City priority in 2021
with the adoption of the “Tree Equity Pledge” to American Forests. As a component of the City’s
partnership with American Forests, City staff use the American Forests Tree Equity Score to
help identify priority communities for tree and shade initiatives. The Tree Equity Score (Figure
11) combines multiple indicators of social, economic, and environmental conditions into one
index on a 0-100 scale.




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Figures 8-11. Per Capita Income; Percent of Population Identifying as Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, People of Color;
Percent of Population with No Vehicle (U.S. Census Bureau 2022 5-year American Community Survey); Tree Equity
Score (American Forests, 2017-2022).




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Figure 12. Average Tree Canopy Percent in Low, Middle, and High-Income Neighborhoods. Using Google Tree
canopy data (2022) with building footprints removed from analysis.



Tree Canopy Analysis and Inventory – City of Phoenix Property
Shade Phoenix places a special emphasis on tree and shade actions for properties owned and
managed by the City of Phoenix. Many City properties are highly used and valued public
resources where people need and seek shade—especially the City’s flatland parks and the
areas of the streetscape right-of-way that are owned and managed by the City. The City of
Phoenix owns approximately 8% of the total parcel area within city boundaries, excluding
preserves (Figure 13). While this is a relatively small percentage of the total area of interest for
tree and shade actions, it is a priority area because of its public purpose as well as for the
imperative for the City to lead by example in providing effective shade in places where it is
needed.




Figure 13. Private vs. Public Property in Phoenix
Based on parcel data property use codes from Maricopa County Tax Assessor database. Mountain preserves
removed from analysis. Current version does not include any right of way, landscape maintenance areas, or any data
that is not within parcel boundaries.




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The City’s most recent comprehensive tree inventory, which involves a professional
measurement and assessment of every physical tree on City property (excluding mountain
preserves), was completed in 2014. Portions of the inventory have been updated intermittently
since that time. As of the most recent update, the City inventory included approximately 106,000
trees. However, as the previous inventory is now more than a decade old, an updated inventory
is necessary to guide tree planting and maintenance efforts on City property. Completion of a
new inventory is a proposed action item in this plan.
Over the past 14 years, the City has tracked and reported the number of trees planted and
removed by the Street Transportation Department, Parks and Recreation Department, and
Aviation Department, as part of the City’s engagement with the Arbor Day Foundation for the
Tree City USA Program. That reporting shows a total of 32,968 trees planted on City property
since 2010 by those three departments. Tree removal due to damage from accidents, storms, or
ageing tree, an important investment to protect public safety and promote a healthy urban
forest, has resulted 21,222 trees lost on City property over the same time period (Figure 14).
Modernizing reporting and tracking systems to more comprehensively understand and reduce
preventable tree mortality is a proposed action item in this plan.




Figure 14. Tree Planted and Removed by the Parks and Recreation, Street Transportation, and Aviation
Departments, 2010–2023.



Analysis of tree canopy coverage on City property provides a useful complement to the physical
inventory to guide future City investment. Staff are completing a detailed analysis of tree and
shade coverage and opportunities on all relevant City properties as a proposed action in this
plan. One example of analysis of tree canopy coverage on City property is shown below.
The City manages approximately 55,293,336 square feet of public streetscape area as part of
the Landscape Maintenance Area program. There are 13,700 unique Landscape Maintenance
Areas across the city, which largely fall on the sides and medians of major arterial streets.
Example overhead images with landscape maintenance areas highlighted are shown in Figure
15. Across the entire city, Landscape Maintenance Areas tend to be highly fragmented,
interrupted by private property and infrastructure conflicts. The majority of Landscape
Maintenance Areas are found along major arterial streetscapes in Phoenix; there is minimal
Landscape Maintenance Area along collector and neighborhood streets.




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Figure 15. Overhead imagery of arterial streets in Phoenix with Landscape Maintenance Areas highlighted in green.


As is the case for citywide tree canopy coverage, the percentage of tree canopy on the City-
managed Landscape Maintenance Areas is highly variable (Figure 16). Tree canopy coverage
is highest on all Landscape Maintenance Areas in the Camelback East and Encanto Villages,
exceeding 15%. It is lowest in the Estrella Village (5.2%) and in Maryvale Village (8.2%). These
tree canopy values include all landscape maintenance area types: Streetscape, Freeways,
Canalscape, Other, and Roundabout.

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Figure 16. Landscape Maintenance Areas Tree Canopy by Village.
Tree canopy values in Landscape Maintenance Areas shown here include all landscape types: Streetscape,
Freeways, Canalscape, Other, and Roundabout. Rio Vista does not encompass any Landscape Maintenance Areas,
so it does not appear on the figure. Google Tree canopy data (2022) with building footprints removed from analysis.


Shade Analysis – Citywide
In the urban setting, shade is provided by a combination of natural and engineered sources.
Advances in environmental monitoring systems and computational resources are enabling the
generation of maps of shade coverage for entire metropolitan areas. In this plan, shade
estimates for Phoenix are derived from a joint research project between the Luskin Center for
Innovation at University of California Los Angeles and Arizona State University that models how
sunlight is obstructed by the three-dimensional structure of the city (Buo et al. 2023). The shade
estimates are based on sun angles on June 21 at noon, 3pm, and 6pm (see Figure 17 for an
example).




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Figure 17. Shade estimates for an area of downtown Phoenix at noon, 3pm, and 6pm on June 21.



Approximately 11% of the City of Phoenix land area is estimated to be shaded at noon on the
summer solstice; this fraction increases to 13% at 3pm and 28% at 6pm. Shade coverage, like
tree canopy coverage, is highly variable throughout Phoenix. Shade coverage is highest in the
Encanto, Camelback East, and Alhambra Villages (all exceeding 19% at 3pm), and lowest in the
Rio Vista (3.5%), North Gateway (8.1%), and Laveen Villages (10.4%).
Shade estimates for particular land use types, such as residential, commercial, or City-owned
can be used for policy guidance and program implementation. Pedestrian areas are identified by
stakeholders as a high priority for shade, and the Maricopa Association of Governments has
established recommendations for sidewalk shade coverage in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
Current estimates for shade coverage on all sidewalks in the City of Phoenix is 17.4% at noon
on the summer solstice, 19.7% at 3pm, and 31.2% at 6pm, based on data from the joint UCLA-
ASU study referenced above (Buo et al. 2023). Shade estimates for different property types
throughout Phoenix are shown in Figure 18.




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Figure 18. Tree and Shade Coverage by Property Type
Estimates are based on averages of parcels within each category of parcel types. Using Google Tree canopy data
(2022) with building footprints removed from analysis and shade data from UCLA-ASU model (Buo et al. 2023).



Built Shade Analysis and Inventory – City of Phoenix Property
The City of Phoenix builds and maintains a wide variety of shade structures on its properties to
help protect the public from heat and sunlight. A recommended action in this plan is the
development of a comprehensive shade structure inventory for all City property. As of the
publication of this plan, a preliminary inventory has been compiled with the shade structures
available at City parks and the structures managed by the Public Transit Department at public
bus stops.
There are currently 3,054 bus stops with shade shelters throughout the City of Phoenix,
representing 75% of all city bus stops. The Villages with the highest percentage of shaded bus
stops are those with higher transit ridership, including South Mountain, Encanto, and Alhambra
(Figure 19). In those villages, nearly 80% of bus stops have shade structures. At City of Phoenix
parks, there are 639 shade structures, including 530 ramadas and 109 shade canopies (see
Figure 20).




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Figure 19. Bus Stops with Shelter Percent by Village.
Note: Rio Vista and North Gateway do not have any Valley Metro bus stops.




Figure 20. Shade structures at Margaret T. Hance Park


Shade availability on City Landscape Maintenance Areas in the public streetscape exceeds
25% at all hours of the day on the summer solstice and is greater than 35% at 6pm. At all hours
of the day, shade coverage on City Landscape Maintenance Areas exceeds shade coverage on
non-City managed sidewalk areas in Phoenix (Figure 21).

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Figure 21. Tree and shade coverage on City-maintained Landscape Maintenance Areas compared to tree and shade
on all sidewalks City-wide. Using Google Tree canopy data (2022) with building footprints removed from analysis and
shade data from UCLA-ASU model (Buo et al. 2023).




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ACHIEVING THE VISION:
STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS
re all r
Increasing and caring for shade in the city is a long-term effort that will require all parts of our
community/city. The City is committed to leading this effort to ensure Phoenix remains the most
sustainable desert city in the U.S. and achieves the vision set forth in this plan. Shade Phoenix
contains 13 strategic priorities and 37 actions the City and its partners will take across four key
strategies: educate and empower residents and businesses, expand shade on public and
private properties, maintain the built and natural shade we have, and evaluate and
institutionalize these efforts. Collectively, these actions represent more than $50 million in
investments over five years and will result in more than 25,000 new trees and 500 new
shade structures across the city. More than 50% of these will be planted or installed in low-
to-moderate income communities and more than 90% will be planted or installed in low,
moderate, and medium-income communities.




STRATEGY 1: EDUCATE AND EMPOWER
Phoenicians understand and support the importance and value of trees and
shade



Create a citywide movement around shade and heat
1. Launch Shade Phoenix public communications campaign
Create and launch, in consultation with community stakeholders, a citywide communications
campaign to engage residents and businesses about the importance of shade and how it can be
incorporated into the city, and to maximize awareness of public resources available to support
trees and shade. The campaign will create multi-media content for diverse stakeholders, with
emphasis on low tree and shade parts of the city. Content will be distributed using all available
channels such as social media.

Funding Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Urban and Community Forestry program
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Communications, Departmental Public Information Officers




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2. Create shade award and recognition opportunities for innovative projects adding
shade in Phoenix
Clearly identifiable designation of well-designed shaded spaces will help residents recognize
where they can find relief from heat. Award programs that recognize and celebrate innovation
will help drive new approaches to shading spaces and promote the importance of shade as a
design criterion for outdoor spaces. This effort could include certification for outdoor spaces,
annual awards for good shade projects, businesses, municipal workers, and good actors around
our community. OHRM will work with partners to establish certification criteria that corresponds
to different typologies of outdoor spaces.

Funding Office of Heat Response and Mitigation General Fund
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Planning and Development, Arizona State Department of Forestry and Fire Management,
Partners
Parks and Recreation, Street Transportation


3. Commission local artists to design and deploy public art shade installations in public
spaces
Public art can be a powerful tool to raise awareness about extreme heat in our city as well as
celebrate the identity and history of a neighborhood or community. In 2023, the City of Phoenix
was one of 8 U.S. cities selected as a winner of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge,
which invites mayors and artists to submit proposals to receive up to $1 million in funding for
innovative public art projects designed to address local challenges. Phoenix’s submission,
‘!Sombra! - The Celebration of Shade’, commissioned nine local artists to create shading and
cooling installations in neighborhood parks across Phoenix. The temporary structures will be
installed in 2025 and be accompanied by community engagement activities and a one-day
festival celebrating the city’s resilience to heat and the importance of shade in Phoenix.

Funding Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge
Lead Department Arts and Culture
Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Parks and Recreation, Office of Innovation, Artlink,
Partners
Arizona State University


4. Develop neighborhood tree plans in partnership with local communities
The City will partner with ASU Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solution Service and local
organizations to facilitate neighborhood-scale urban forestry planning workshops in 1-2 Phoenix
neighborhoods. These workshops will be based on and draw from The Nature Conservancy’s
‘Urban Heat Leadership Academy’ and the Greater Phoenix Heat Action Planning Guide. These
plans will catalyze additional investments in urban forestry in underserved areas.

Funding IRA to Arizona State University
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners ASU Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solution Service and partners




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Provide public education around sustainable and equitable shade
practices
5. Create and distribute materials for a variety of audiences on natural and built shade
The City will utilize new and existing resources created by public and private partners to engage
and activate a variety of audiences to support the goals of expanding and maintaining natural
and built shade in Phoenix. Topics may include 'Right Tree, Right Place' and ‘Right Shade,
Right Place’ campaigns, proper tree maintenance practices (e.g. trimming and watering),
designs for typical green stormwater infrastructure installations, tree and heat equity, and heat
science. All resources will be aligned with the values of this plan and be provided in Spanish
and English.
One example of these types of efforts are training and demonstrations on how to properly plant
and maintain a tree provided by Parks and Recreation tree experts at volunteer events hosted
at City of Phoenix parks. The City has published a new website with resources to provide
information and guidance on green stormwater infrastructure – what it is, how it can be
designed, and how to navigate permitting and plan review processes. The City will continue to
explore other partnership opportunities to educate the public about trees and shade.

Funding Citywide General Fund and Parks and Recreation Capital Improvement Program
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Street Transportation, Planning and Development, Water, Office of Environmental
Programs, Office of Innovation, Parks and Recreation, Communications, Trees Matter,
Partners
Maricopa County, American Forests, Arizona Sustainability Alliance, U.S. Forest Service,
Watershed Management Group




STRATEGY 2: EXPAND SHADE
Increase shade for people where they need it most


Increase shade for children
6. Implement Shade for Students program
In 2023, the City launched the Shade for Students grant program to construct built shade at
public and private nonprofit schools and nonprofits who use their sites to serve youth. Through
this program, schools could apply for up to $75,000 per site to install shade structures. Projects
were selected by a panel of internal and external partners and must be located within Qualified
Census Tracts or areas highlighted as being disadvantaged in the Federal Climate and
Economic Justice Screening Tool. To-date, 47 structures have been funded serving 26
organizations.

Funding American Rescue Plan Act - ARPA ($1.5M)
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Arts and Culture – Youth and Education, The Design Laboratory



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7. Complete implementation of Canopy for Kids program
In 2023, the City utilized $2 million from the Federal American Rescue Plan Act to launch the
Canopy for Kids grant program to plant trees at public and private nonprofit schools and
nonprofits who use their sites to serve youth. All projects must be located within Qualified
Census Tracts or areas highlighted as being disadvantaged by the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. If they are not located within these areas, but 80% or more of the students
at a school receive free or reduced lunch they can also receive funding.
The first planting through this program took place in March 2024 in west Phoenix, where
volunteers and students helped plant 80 drought-tolerant trees at two schools. Five additional
schools were planted by the end of the spring planting season and almost 200 trees have been
planted since the program began. The ARPA funding will result in over 1,000 trees planted.
Unlike many other tree planting funding sources, this funding can also be spent to install new
irrigation systems or adjust old systems to ensure the trees are sufficiently watered. To continue
the program beyond this year, the City will allocate an additional $2 million from the Inflation
Reduction Act. Schools are encouraged to collaborate with local nonprofits and funding can be
used to pay nonprofits to provide educational components and curriculum to the schools to
enhance tree knowledge for students.

Funding ARPA ($2M), IRA ($2M)
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
ARPA: various school partners, Youth and Education Department, Arizona Public Service,
Partners Trees Matter, AZ Sustainability Alliance, Keep Phoenix Beautiful; IRA: Watershed
Management Group, Arizona State University


8. Integrate shade in new construction and renovation at municipal playgrounds
Children are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of extreme heat. Playgrounds can provide
outdoor spaces for children and their families to recreate and cool off during hot days. Parks
and Recreation will work with designers, engineers, and relevant City departments to review
new and substantial renovations for Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) to ensure that shade is
provided at playgrounds as feasible and share significant milestones. OHRM will work to identify
funding opportunities to increase shading at existing playgrounds.

Funding Parks Capital Improvement Program
Lead Department Parks and Recreation
Street Transportation, Planning and Development, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation,
Partners
Finance




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Increase shade on City-owned properties
9. Plant trees in City parks
Phoenix’s City-run parks are home to an urban forest that provides significant benefits to
resident’s quality of life by improving air quality, stormwater management, energy savings, and
shade. The Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department has planted nearly 17,000 trees in city
parks since 2010 and manages a large portion of the City’s total tree inventory. This work has
continued since the 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan and the City will continue to explore
opportunities to partner and build upon this work to enhance and maintain natural shade within
parks.
Funding Parks and Recreation
Lead Department Parks and Recreation
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation

10. Expand shade on City-owned property and right-of-way
The City is allocating IRA and other funding sources to accelerate tree planting on public
property, including on City-managed landscape maintenance areas in the public right of way
along streets. The City has identified neighborhoods in the priority areas that have wide right of
way that are good candidates for trees supported with green stormwater infrastructure (GSI,
curb cuts and bioswales) to supplement irrigation wherever possible. The IRA funds will also
cover water and maintenance of the trees for the establishment period of three years. After
three years the trees will become part of the Street Transportation Department landscape
maintenance areas and be maintained in perpetuity using City funds.
City staff will work to more broadly assess needs for shade on City-owned property (e.g., by
using satellite imagery, conducting walking audits of parks) and identify additional sources of
funding to add shade and cover other critical installation and maintenance costs including
irrigation, archeological surveying and preservation, and utility deconfliction. Relevant
departments will help to review all planning, renovation, and construction projects to maximize
opportunity for shade and GSI, especially in areas covered by the Walkable Urban Code.
Funding for public property projects will support tree planting and built shade at selected City-
owned facilities in priority areas where there are unique opportunities to make a transformative
impact that fall outside the scope of regular operating budgets.

Funding IRA ($1.35M), GO Bond (portion of $7.7M)
Lead Department Street Transportation, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Aviation, Convention Center, Fire, Housing, Human Services, Library, Parks and
Partners
Recreation, Police, Public Transit, Public Works, Water, Office of Environmental Programs

11. Pilot a Public Shade Fund
Several property types and developments are required by City code to include trees. The City is
exploring the creation of a Public Shade Fund that can be used in instances where these
projects cannot include the required number of trees. OHRM will work with other Departments to
design and launch a pilot fund and ensure that in lieu funds are used in proximate impact areas.

Funding Private developers
Lead Department Planning and Development
Partners Private developers, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation


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Increase shade on public right-of-way
12. Expand Cool Corridors network
In 2022, Phoenix’s Street Transportation Department launched the Cool Corridors program to
plant trees in targeted transportation corridors to keep pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users
safe and provide relief from high temperatures. Corridors were envisioned as one-quarter to
half-mile walkways or trails adjacent to an arterial street and were selected using four key
criteria: neighborhood heat vulnerability, transit dependency, pedestrian use, and shade
coverage and temperature. Cool Corridors can also include engineered shade and other design
features and amenities to promote thermal safety and comfort, and should be implemented
through a combination of public and private partnerships and resources.
The added focus on equity in the Shade Phoenix Plan requires a reconsideration of the goals
and investment plan for the Cool Corridor program, which originally called for 1,800 trees to be
planted per year. The focus of the program will continue to be to increase shade coverage on
highly used walking routes in communities disproportionately impacted by summer heat.
However, construction and maintenance of successful Cool Corridor projects in the places with
the greatest need requires a more comprehensive implementation strategy with higher per-unit
costs. OHRM will work with Streets to identify additional critical community destinations, such as
schools and community centers, in priority areas to be incorporated into the program. The City
will also work with community and private property owners to understand how people walk to
and want to walk to priority destinations and focus investments on those preferred routes. The
Cool Corridor program will focus on construction and maintenance of exemplar projects in
priority communities that comprehensively address infrastructure deficiencies and conflicts to
provide robust shade. When feasible, Cool Corridor investments will align with major
construction and capital improvement programs to maximize impact and efficiency.
Funding General Fund ($1.4M)
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Street Transportation, Parks and Recreation, Office of Innovation


13. Add shade structures at bus stops
Phoenix has 4,080 designated public bus stops supporting 15.6 million annual riders.
Approximately 75%, or 3,054, have shelters, which can provide some shade and thermal relief
for riders. 1,869 of these have been added since the 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan was
released, representing an investment of more than $18 million in new and replacement bus
shelters. Stops were prioritized based on ridership to maximize program impact.
The Public Transit Department will install at least 80 shade structures at bus stops each year as
it works to ensure there are shade structures at all public bus stops in the City of Phoenix within
the next 10 years. The City currently estimates that it will be able to provide bus shelters at most
stops with the exception of 300 that were determined to have infrastructural limitations including
the need for right-of-way, streets projects, or historic area protections. As part of this effort, the
Public Transit Department will continue to explore innovative design strategies to maximize
shade provision at bus stops.

Funding T2050, General Fund
Lead Department Public Transit
Partners Street Transportation, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation


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14. Construct Phoenix Sidewalk Shade installations in high-traffic public right-of-way
Providing shade for pedestrian and bicycle riders can improve public health and the economic
vitality of communities. The City will construct 25 built shade structures to provide shade for
heavily-trafficked public rights of way, with input from local artists on the designs from the
Innovate PHX Challenge. The ideas include shaded bike lanes, artistic concepts, and direction
shade with around 170 participants contributing to the challenge. Construction is expected to
begin in 2025 and conclude in 2026. Locations were selected based on bicycle and pedestrian
volumes and other variables, such as heat vulnerability index, surface temperature, and access
to vehicles. Due to funding requirements, all of the locations are in or near Qualified Census
Tracts. To date, 3-4 standard designs have been developed for use in this work.

Funding ARPA ($3M)
Lead Department Street Transportation
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Office of Innovation


15. Pilot a shade structure right-of-way revocable permit
Currently, if a property owner wants to construct a shade structure in the public right-of-way
within the Downtown area and areas covered by the Walkable Urban Code, they must obtain a
revocable permit. This revocability, and the lack of permanence, can discourage property
owners from making investments in shade in the public right of way. Models exist in other cities
for tiers of revocable permits, where ‘revocability’ is limited based upon the type of structure and
permit. The City will explore the feasibility of piloting a citywide permit for shade structures,
canopies, and building overhangs, that would limit the City’s revocability. This may require
changes to City ordinance and/or variances to be obtained to allow for revocable permits
outside high density urban development.
Funding n/a
Lead Department Planning and Development
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Street Transportation


Increase shade on private properties
16. Execute Community Canopy Grant Program
Launched in 2023, the Community Canopy Grant program aims to improve tree canopy
coverage in Qualifying Census Tracts (as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development) throughout Phoenix. Through this program, neighborhood associations,
community nonprofits, multi-family residential sites, and individual community members can
submit applications requesting trees, supplies and support for tree planting projects designed to
assist communities in increasing their tree canopies.
To date, approximately 800 trees have been planted through this program on approximately 400
residential properties. The goal for the Fall 2024 planting season is to plant an additional 1,500
trees. A portion of the IRA funding will be allocated to extend this program and allow more
residents to benefit. The goal for the IRA funding is to plant 6,000 trees over the next five years

Funding ARPA ($2M), IRA ($2.5M)
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Neighborhood Services, Nature Conservancy, CHISPA AZ, West Coast Arborists, Dusty
Partners
Landscaping, Treeland Nurseries, Whitfill Nursery, Desert Tree Farm

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17. Develop a permit for small tree planting projects
Planting a tree on a private multi-family residential or non-residential property in the City of
Phoenix requires a permit from the Planning and Development Department. Replacements of
pre-existing permitted trees do not require a new permit, but must adhere to similar tree species
and size standards. This process takes a minimum of three months, which can be a burden for
small tree planting projects.
To help support small tree planting projects, the City is exploring options for a streamlined
permitting and approvals process. OHRM is working with the Planning and Development
Department to develop simpler processes for projects that would plant 1-5 trees.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Planning and Development


18. Develop sample shade stipulations for Village Planning Committees and Planning
Commission
Phoenix is divided into 15 urban Villages, each with a Village Planning Committee (VPC)
appointed by the Mayor and City Council. The VPCs provide guidance on a range of citywide
and local issues, and they hear and discuss re-zoning cases, general plan amendments, and
text amendments and provide recommendations to the Planning Commission.
One tool utilized by the VPCs are stipulations, which can take the form of legal, enforceable
rezoning stipulations drafted together with the village planners. Planning and OHRM will work
together to refine existing and develop new sample stipulations for use by Village Planning
Committees and the Planning Commission to support the goals of this plan and expand shade.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Planning and Development
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation




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STRATEGY 3: PRESERVE AND MAINTAIN
EXISTING SHADE
The community works together to support a thriving urban forest and well-
maintained built shade


Care for and maintain trees and shade structures on public property
19. Implement street tree placement program using ‘right tree, right place’ and ‘no-net-
loss’ approaches
Expand the Tree Replacement Program to include all departments that manage City property.
New species will be chosen using recommendations from the species list developed by Phoenix
Metro Urban Tree Roundtable and to comply with all regulatory requirements with the Phoenix
Active Management Area as defined by the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

Funding ~$390k funding allocated in Street Maintenance Operation budget
Lead Department Street Transportation
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Landscape maintenance contractors


20. Work with Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service on tree replacements due to
utility conflicts
When there is a utility conflict on city-managed property that requires tree removal, SRP will
identify, remove at their cost and provide three replacement trees in no conflict areas at their
expense (APS provides a 1:1 ratio of replacement trees). OHRM will work with SRP and APS to
identify removal needs and new planting sites, using the ‘right tree, right place’ approach.

Funding Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service
Lead Department Street Transportation, Parks and Recreation
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Finance, Landscape maintenance contractors


21. Utilize GSI to reduce potable watering needs for trees and other vegetation
GSI can support vegetation while providing many co-benefits, including heat reduction,
stormwater improvements, reductions in localized flooding, and reductions in potable water
irrigation needs. The City will find opportunities to use GSI in capital improvement projects and
in landscape improvement projects on existing city property and right-of-way. For private
development projects, the City will inform and encourage the use of GSI, including the use of
stipulations for re-zoning requests, as appropriate.

Funding Capital Improvement Projects, maintenance budgets
Lead Department Street Transportation – Office of City Engineer, Planning and Development
Planning and Development, GSI Working Group, Office of Environmental Programs, Office
Partners
of Heat Response and Mitigation, Finance, private contractors




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22. Maintain City-managed trees and shade structures
Caring for and maintaining the City’s existing tree canopy is critical to ensuring a healthy and
thriving city. The City will continue to perform regular maintenance work, including trimming,
pruning, and removal of dead limbs and seek additional resources as available to expand this
vital work.
The City will also work to ensure that shade structures remain in good working condition.
Routine maintenance will include actions such as: graffiti removal, tightening bolts, and re-
attaching and repairing shade sails. As the number and types of shade structures in the city
increases, the City will evaluate its maintenance practices and identify any necessary changes
and best management practices, including enhance existing structures with new technologies to
mitigate heat.

Funding General Fund, $3.5M in 2023 (Parks and Recreation + private contracts)
Lead Department Parks and Recreation
Partners Street Transportation, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation


23. Improve management of trees in the public right-of-way
Budget and Research will analyze the City’s current landscape maintenance efforts, compare to
peer city best practices and identify potential areas of improvement. This could include
enhancements to contract management, oversight of challenges with vendors, departmental
responsibilities, balanced insourced versus outsourced tasks, and how landscape maintenance
ties into water resource management and heat mitigation efforts.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Budget and Research
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Street Transportation, Parks and Recreation



Strengthen code enforcement on private property
24. Strengthen enforcement of tree code
The City will review and update its codes as necessary and strengthen mechanisms for tree and
plant violation enforcement on private property. This includes exploring the designation of a site
inspector as a dedicated tree and plant violation inspector. OHRM will work with NSD to
determine which properties are eligible for increased enforcement.

The City will explore more proactive identification of at-risk properties, including possible
development of screenings to identify properties that are out of compliance with enforceable site
plans.

Funding N/A
Lead Department Neighborhood Services
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Planning and Development




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Increase City capacity to maintain trees and shade
25. Increase the number of Certified Arborists within the City and expand training
opportunities for staff
Caring for and maintaining trees requires specific knowledge and expertise. To enhance and
expand capacity to care for the City’s tree canopy, the City will seek to increase the number of
certified arborists on staff and provide continuing education for currently certified arborists. The
City partners with the Arizona Community Tree Council to offer space in Parks and Recreation
facilities to host Certified Arborist Training and Review courses. These courses are designed to
prepare tree care industry workers for the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified
Arborist Exam, the industry standard certification. The City will continue to explore other training
opportunities to expand staff expertise and capacity related to both trees and built shade.

Funding Varies by department
Lead Department Parks and Recreation
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Street Transportation




STRATEGY 4: EVALUATE AND INSTITUTIONALIZE
Ongoing implementation and improvement of shade efforts to scale their
impacts and maximize benefits


Monitor and evaluate progress on Shade Phoenix plan
26. Complete citywide tree and shade assessments
The City will assess both tree canopy and shade coverage to better understand the existing
coverages and identify opportunities for expansion and areas of greatest need. While many
cities have conducted tree assessments, few have assessed shade. The City will conduct a
citywide assessment of where shade exists at different times of day and different times of the
year. This first-of-its kind assessment for Phoenix will use 3D building and landscape data, run
through a model with sun analysis. OHRM will work with experts at UCLA and ASU to create a
best management reporting practice for the built shade components of this assessment. For
tree assessment, the City will use Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to assess progress
on expanding the tree canopy and identify areas of need.

Funding N/A
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and Arizona State University (ASU)




Shade Phoenix Plan Draft – June 2024 35


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27. Conduct and maintain an inventory of trees and shade structures on city property
To help complement the shade assessment and to identify opportunities for new shade
structures in areas of high need, the City will conduct a citywide inventory of shade structures
on publicly-managed property. This will include, but not be limited to, bus shelters and park
spaces. For trees, the City will complete a citywide inventory of trees on publicly managed
property, using asset management software. Once completed, the tree inventory will be
managed by the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation in coordination with all relevant City
departments.

Funding Parks and Recreation (tree inventory), N/A (shade structure inventory)
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Parks and Recreation, Street Transportation



28. Provide an annual progress report on Shade Phoenix
Shade Phoenix outlines actions the City and its partners will take over the next five years. To
track progress toward our goals, OHRM will produce an annual report tracking the City’s
progress on each of the actions in the Plan. This public-facing document will ensure our efforts
are transparent and stakeholders can hold the City accountable for implementation.

Funding General Fund
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Arizona State University (ASU), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)



29. Update the Shade Phoenix Plan every 5 years
Achieving the City’s long-term goals and expanding and maintaining shade in Phoenix will take
time and continued effort and investments. The City and its partners will also continue to learn
about the most effective ways to deliver this work and better understand the unique needs of
Phoenix’s diverse communities as it implements Shade Phoenix. To ensure that Phoenix’s
shade efforts remain current and focused on the city’s most pressing needs, OHRM will work
with all of the City departments and partners to update Shade Phoenix every 5 years.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Mayor’s Office, City Manager’s Office




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Strengthen organizational coordination and staff capacity
30. Build institutional capacity for green stormwater infrastructure
The city is working to expand the use of green stormwater infrastructure across the city. A new
cross-departmental working group on GSI serves as a resource to City departments and forum
for learning. The City will identify opportunities to provide specific training to city project
managers on incorporating GSI into design, construction, and maintenance practices. The City
will include GSI expertise in future engineering on-call contract requests for proposals. Staff
capacity is an ongoing concern so the City will also explore opportunities to fund a new position
to lead and coordinate work on GSI across City departments. Private property owners and
developers are critical in expanding the use of GSI. With this in mind, the City will provide
educational resources for private parties to feel informed about implementing GSI on their
property/development, including resources on the City’s GSI website. The City will also
investigate opportunities to streamline permitting processes and expand resident and
professional familiarity with GSI installation and maintenance.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Planning and Development
Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Office of Environmental Programs, Street
Partners
Transportation, Parks and Recreation




31. Re-establish cross-departmental working group on urban forestry and establish a
new built shade working group
Implementation of this Plan requires a whole of government approach and coordination across a
number of City departments and offices. It also depends upon a whole community-driven
approach and coordination between the City and community members and partners. To better
align City staff across Departments, the City has re-established a cross-departmental working
group on urban forestry comprised of all Departments that manage trees on their properties. For
the newer approaches to built and engineered shade, the City will establish a new working
group to coordinate this work across Departments. These working groups will also help to align
City Departments in their engagement with community stakeholders and external partners.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Aviation, Convention Center, Fire, Housing, Human Services, Library, Parks and
Partners
Recreation, Police, Public Transit, Public Works, Street Transportation, Water




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Strengthen regulations, design standards and guidelines
32. Update City of Phoenix plant species guidance
Planting the right tree in the right place is critically important to expanding natural shade in
Phoenix. The desert setting requires special attention to detail when selecting which tree
species may thrive into the future. Trees mature over a long time horizon, during which our local
climate will continue to change, and we are thinking ahead to which trees will be best adapted to
local conditions. OHRM will continue to work with Planning and other City Departments to
evaluate species guidance and regulatory plant lists against the tree list developed by the Urban
Forestry Roundtable. The City will explore any necessary updates to codes on species
requirements and guidance.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Planning and Development
Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, Office of Environmental Programs, Parks and
Partners
Recreation


33. Embed shade recommendations into City-owned building design standards and
facility review
The City is updating its standards for new City building construction projects and substantial
renovations to shape the General Obligation Bond-funded projects. In addition, to ensure these
standards are followed consistently, the City re-established the Facility Review Committee. The
Committee will provide recommendations on all new construction and substantial renovation
projects for compliance with the new building standards. OHRM provided recommendations for
the building standards related to shade and will serve on the Facility Review Committee to
ensure alignment with the vision and goals of this Plan.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Public Works
Partners Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, City Engineer


34. Integrate tree and shade goals in all relevant City plans
The City has several plans to guide efforts to ensure Phoenix becomes the most sustainable
desert city on the planet. This includes documents and planning processes like the General
Plan – PlanPHX 2025, as well as topic-specific plans like the Climate Action Plan, and
Departmental strategies such as the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. OHRM will work with
colleagues across the City to ensure that all plans and planning processes are aligned with the
vision and goals presented in this Plan.

Funding n/a
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Parks and Recreation, Planning and Development, Office of Environmental Programs




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Create and expand pathways for careers in urban forestry
35. Create a Tree Steward Program
The City recognizes the importance of planting trees in high need areas, but also considers
educating the public on how to plant and care for trees just as critical. With funding from the
IRA, the City will partner with a community organization focused on workforce development to
hire and train 10 community members as Community Tree Stewards. The Tree Stewards will
work in conjunction with the City to organize and lead neighborhood tree plantings, inventory
and monitor neighborhood trees, coordinate tree maintenance, and help educate and inspire
other residents about the importance and value of trees.
OHRM has been working with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management on the
development of a training manual to train community members. Community Tree Stewards will
be trained in the following subjects: tree biology, soil, water and fertilizer, tree identification, tree
selection and planting, tree maintenance and on-going care, biotic and abiotic tree threats, and
the benefits of trees and environmental justice.
Funding IRA ($2M)
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Parks and Recreation, Community-based organizations, Arizona State Department of
Partners
Forestry and Fire Management

36. Support youth workforce development for urban forestry career pathways
An ASU team is working with state apprenticeship offices, local and national urban forestry
industry leaders, professional organizations, and community colleges to document and design
urban forestry workforce and entrepreneurial pathways with a focus on addressing barriers to
access and points of disconnection. With funding from the IRA, the ASU team will create an
urban forestry vocational program that includes experiential courses, internships and
apprenticeships. The aim is to create pre-professional on-ramps for underserved CEJST
communities, with a focus on opportunity youth (ages 16–24). The City will support this project
by exploring opportunities to pilot contracting and hiring of program participants.
Funding IRA via Arizona State University
Lead Department Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Arizona State University, Arizona Conservation Corps, Arizona Landscape Contractors
Partners Association, Bartlett Tree Experts, Arizona Community Tree Council, Arizona Nursery
Association, Arizona Cooperative Initiative

37. Provide Certified Arborist Training for residents and professionals
Proper tree care and maintenance requires specialized knowledge and expertise. The City
partners with the Arizona Community Tree Council to offer space in Parks and Recreation
facilities to host Certified Arborist Training and Review courses. These courses are designed to
prepare tree care industry workers for the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified
Arborist Exam, the industry standard certification. The City will work with partners to promote
this course, as well as other training opportunities, to a wide audience to expand the trained
workforce to help care for trees in the city.

Funding N/A
Lead Department Parks and Recreation, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation
Partners Arizona Community Tree Council

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REFERENCES & RESOURCES
Andrade, R., K. L. Larson, D. M. Hondula and J. Franklin. 2019. Social-spatial analyses of
attitudes toward the desert in a southwestern U.S. city. Annals of the American
Association of Geographers 109(6):1845-1864. DOI: 10.1080 /24694452.2019.1580498.

Berbés-Blázquez, M., Cook, E. M., Grimm, N. B., Iwaniec, D. M., Mannetti, L. M., Muñoz-
Erickson, T. A., & Wahl, D. (2023). Assessing resilience, equity, and sustainability of
future visions across two urban scales. Sustainability Science, 18(6), 2549-2566.

Gronlund, C. J. (2014). Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Heat-Related Health Effects
and Their Mechanisms: A Review. Current Epidemiology Reports, 1(3), 165–173.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40471-014-0014-4

Harlan, S. L., Declet-Barreto, J. H., Stefanov, W. L., & Petitti, D. B. (2013). Neighborhood
Effects on Heat Deaths: Social and Environmental Predictors of Vulnerability in Maricopa
County, Arizona. Environmental Health Perspectives, 121(2), 197–204.
https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1104625'

Harlan, S. L., Brazel, A. J., Prashad, L., Stefanov, W. L., & Larsen, L. (2006). Neighborhood
microclimates and vulnerability to heat stress. Social Science & Medicine, 63(11), 2847–
2863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.07.030

Iwaniec, D. M., Cook, E. M., Davidson, M. J., Berbés-Blázquez, M., Georgescu, M., Krayenhoff,
E. S., ... & Grimm, N. B. (2020). The co-production of sustainable future scenarios.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 197, 103744.

Larson, K. L., J. Hoffmann and J. Ripplinger. 2017. Legacy effects and landscape choices in a
desert city. Landscape and Urban Planning 165:22-29. DOI:
10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.04.014.

Meerow, S., Helmrich, A. M., Andrade, R., & Larson, K. L. (2021). How do heat and flood risk
drive residential green infrastructure implementation in Phoenix, Arizona?. Urban
Ecosystems, 1-12.

Middel, A., AlKhaled, S., Schneider, F. A., Hagen, B., & Coseo, P. (2021). 50 grades of shade.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 102(9), E1805-E1820.

Mitchell, B. C., & Chakraborty, J. (2015). Landscapes of thermal inequity: Disproportionate
exposure to urban heat in the three largest US cities. Environmental Research Letters,
10(11), 115005. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/115005

Turner, V. K., Middel, A., & Vanos, J. K. (2023). Shade is an essential solution for hotter cities.
Nature, 619(7971), 694-697.




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APPENDIX
Implementation Status of Actions from 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan
Raise awareness about the condition and benefits of the urban forest by educating staff and the public. Build
demonstration projects. Establish partnerships that promote stewardship and investment in trees.
A.1. Create a council-approved Citizen Tree and Shade Committee to oversee Urban Forest issues. Completed
A.2 Provide information to the public about on-going efforts and long-term strategies. Ongoing
A.3 Develop and Establish Education and Outreach Programs Ongoing
A.4 Create Channel 11 Programs, Streaming Web Videos and DVDs Redirected1
A.5 Hold Urban Forest and Shade Symposium Redirected2
A.6 Develop Shade and Urban Forest Excellence Award Incomplete
A.7 Research grant opportunities Ongoing
A.8 Establish and Maintain Partnerships Ongoing
A.9 Develop and Complete Shade Demonstration Projects Ongoing
Preserve, protect and increase the quality and quantity of trees and vegetation, especially large shade trees in
appropriate areas.
B.1 Conduct a baseline tree inventory that will assess canopy coverage for the entire city In process3
B.2 Develop a Tree and Shade Management Plan Incomplete
Research and develop additional sources of revenue for the care and maintaince of our urban
Ongoing
B.3 forest
Incrementally restore budget for street trees, landscape and park maintenance as well as
Ongoing
B.4 community tree outreach programs.
Establish Best Management Practices (BMP) based upon national arboriculture specifications, and
Completed4
B.5 adopt them into the Parks and Recreation Department’s Field Operation Procedures.
B.6 Establish an Urban Forest Infrastructure Team to oversee implementation of the Master Plan Completed
B.7 Update Tree and Shade Master Plan biannually to ensure action items are being completed. Incomplete
Treat the urban forest as infrastructure to ensure that trees and engineered shade are an integral part of the
city’s planning and development process
C.1 Integrate goals of the Tree and Shade Master Plan into the General Plan Completed
C.2 Develop and establish a comprehensive tree, shade and landscape ordinance Incomplete
C.3 Further develop a green waste program, and look for ways to improve efficiencies Ongoing
C.4 Research and complete shade demonstration projects Ongoing
Focus has shifted away from videos to broader online materials
PDD held an Urban Tree workshop as part of the ReinventPHX initiative and an annual Shade Conference is now hosted by regional partners.
A tree inventory was conducted in 2014 of City of Phoenix owned property
The Parks and Recreation Department has adopted the American Natioanl Standards Institute Tree Care standards for field operations.
Completed: Action was completed
In process: Action is in process of being completed
Ongoing: Action does not have a finite milestone or state of completion and represents ongoing activities
Redirected: Action was redirected to other activities, reflecting a change in focus or understanding of need
Incomplete: Action has a finite milestone that has not been completed




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Shade Phoenix Plan - Implementation Table
Action # Sub-Action Lead Partners Funding
STRATEGY 1: EDUCATE AND EMPOWER - All Phoenicians understand the importance and value of trees and shade
1 Launch Shade Phoenix public communications campaign OHRM Communications, Departmental PIOs IRA
Create a citywide movement 2 Create shade award and recognition opportunities for innovative projects adding shade in Phoenix OHRM PDD, AZ DFFM, PRD, STD OHRM General Fund
arround shade and heat 3 Commission local artists to design and deploy public art shade installations in public spaces Arts OHRM, PRD, Innovation, Artlink, ASU Bloomberg Philanthropies
4 Develop neighborhood tree plans in partnership with local communities OHRM ASU IRA (ASU)
STD, PDD, WSD, OEP, Innovation, PRD,
Provide public education
Communications, Trees Matter, Maricopa County, Citywide General Fund and Parks and
around sustainable and 5 Create and distribute materials for a variety of audiences on natural and built shade OHRM
American Forests, AZ Sustainability Alliance, Recreation CIP
equitable shade practices
U.S.F.S., Watershed Mgmt. Group
STRATEGY 2: EXPAND SHADE - Increase shade for people outdoors where they need it most
6 Implement Shade for Students program OHRM YED, The Design Laboratory ARPA ($1.5M)
ARPA: various school partners, YED, APS, Trees
Increase shade for children 7 Complete implementation of Canopy for Kids program OHRM Matter, AZSA, KPB; IRA: Watershed Mgmt. Group, ARPA ($2M), IRA ($2M)
ASU
8 Integrate shade in new construction and renovation at municipal playgrounds PRD OHRM, Finance, STD, PDD Parks Capital Improvement Program
9 Plant trees in City parks PRD OHRM PRD
Increase shade on City-owned Aviation, Convention, Fire, Housing, HSD, Library,
10 Expand shade on City-owned property and right-of-way STD/ OHRM IRA ($1.35M), GO Bond ($7.7M)
properties OEP, PRD, Police, PT, PWD, WSD
11 Pilot a Shade Mitigation Fund PDD Private developers, OHRM Private developers
12 Expand Cool Corridors network OHRM STD, PRD, Innovation General Fund ($1.4M)
Increase shade on public right- 13 Provide shade structures at all bus stops PT STD, OHRM T2050, General Fund
of-way 14 Construct Phoenix Sidewalk Shade insallations in high-traffic public right-of-way STD OHRM, Innovation ARPA ($3M)
15 Pilot a shade structure right-of-way revocable permit PDD OHRM, STD n/a

NSD, The Nature Conservancy, CHISPA AZ, West
16 Execute Community Canopy Grant Program OHRM Coast Arborist, Dusty Landscaping, Treeland ARPA ($2M), IRA ($2.5M)
Page 152 Increase shade on private Nurseries, Whitfill Nursery, Desert Tree Farm
properties
17 Develop a permit for small tree planting projects OHRM PDD n/a
18 Develop sample shade stipulations for Village Planning Committees and Planning Commission PDD OHRM n/a
STRATEGY 3: PRESERVE AND MAINTAIN EXISTING SHADE - The community works together to support a thriving urban forest and well-maintained built shade
19 Implement street tree replacement program using 'right tree, right place' and 'no-net-loss' approaches STD OHRM, Landscape maintenance contractors Street Maintenance Operations
OHRM, Finance, Landscape maintenance
20 Work with Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service on tree replacements due to utility conflicts STD/PRD SRP and APS
Care for and maintain trees and contractors, SRP, APS
shade structures on public GSI Working Group, OEP, OHRM, Finance, private
21 Utilize GSI to reduce potable watering needs for trees and other vegetation STD/PDD CIP, maintenance budgets
property contractors
22 Maintain City-managed trees and shade structures PRD STD, OHRM General Fund ($3.5M in 2023)
23 Improve management of trees in the public right-of-way Budget OHRM, STD, PRD n/a
Strengthen code enforcement
24 Stengthen enforcement of tree code NSD OHRM, PDD n/a
on private property
Increase City capacity to
25 Increase the number of Certified Arborists within the City and expand training opportunities for staff PRD OHRM, STD varies by department
maintain trees and shade
STRATEGY 4: EVALUATE AND INSTITUTIONALIZE - Ongoing implementation and improvement of shade efforts to scale their impacts and maximize benefits
26 Complete citywide tree and shade assessments OHRM UCLA, ASU n/a
Parks and Recreation (tree inventory),
Monitor and evaluate progress 27 Conduct and maintain an inventory of trees and shade structures on city property OHRM PRD, STD
n/a (shade inventory)
on Shade Phoenix Plan
28 Provide an annual progress report on Shade Phoenix OHRM ASU, UCLA General Fund
29 Update the Shade Phoenix Plan every 5 years OHRM Mayor's Office, City Manager's Office n/a
30 Build institutional capacity for green stormwater infrastructure PDD OHRM, OEP, STD, PRD n/a
Strengthen organizational
coordination and staff capacity Re-establish cross-departmental working group on urban forestry and establish a new built shade working Aviation, Convention, Fire, Housing, HSD, Library,
31 OHRM n/a
group PRD, Police, PTD, PWD, WSD
32 Update City of Phoenix plant species guidance PDD OHRM, OEP, PRD n/a
Strengthen regulations, design
33 Embed shade recommendations into City-owned building design standards and facility review PWD OHRM, City Engineer n/a
standards and guidelines
34 Integrate tree and shade goals in all relevant City plans OHRM PRD, PDD, OEP n/a
35 Create a Tree Steward Program OHRM PRD, CBOs, AZ DFFM IRA ($2M)
ASU, AZ Conservation Corps, AZ Landscape
Create and expand pathways Contractors Association, Bartlett Tree Experts, AZ
36 Support youth workforce development for urban forestry career pathways OHRM IRA (ASU)
for careers in urban forestry Community Tree Council, AZ Nursery Association,
AZ Cooperative Initiative
37 Provide Certified Arborist training for residents and professionals PRD, OHRM AZ Community Tree Council n/a