Does anyone have a good resource for or way of calculating a tree's estimated crown diameter? (Benchmark "m" for NC/CS or "f" for Schools). Thanks!
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Theresa Backhus
Sites Technical Specialist, LEEDUSGBC
66 thumbs up
March 25, 2011 - 10:47 am
Hi Christina,
As of now, there is no one guide or calculation, that I'm aware of, that applies to all trees. It really depends on species and growing conditions, which vary greatly.
However, some local jurisdictions give estimated crown size information in their landscape ordinance. As an example, I will point you to one local public facilities manual that lists some example species and their projected size at 10 years (Fairfax County, VA, page 57, Table 12.19): http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/publications/pfm/chapter12.pdf
Many online horticultural resources also provide information on species size (at maturity) in good growing conditions (http://plants.usda.gov/ for example).
Another possible approach is to calculate the DBH of the tree at installation, and then project the DBH at 10 years. DBH is related to crown size based on species, and this would give you an idea of how big the tree could get.
Landscape architects (and arborists) are good resources, and they should be able to help you with this as well.
These methods listed above will yield rough calculations of size, as it depends on the specific tree, growing medium, growing conditions, etc. But I don't think you need to get TOO detailed for this.
Thank you-
Theresa
Shenhao Li
Atkins7 thumbs up
May 3, 2011 - 10:16 am
I'm a little confused about the defination of street frontage. Normally, not all projects facades are designed along with street, how can I measure the length of "street frontage" and "the width from facade to centerline"?
The width from the facade to centerline will various, am I right? Thanks in advvanced your kindly response.
Chris Marshall
Manager, LEED Technical DevelopmentU.S. Green Building Council
182 thumbs up
May 5, 2011 - 3:44 pm
If the building is not parallel to the street, you need to find the average setback distance and measure that to the centerline. As you've likely read above, this credit originated in LEED-ND. Its reference guide is especially helpful for these and other calculations, so you might want to get a copy if you anticipate using this or other ND-originated credits in the future.
Let us know if this helps or if you need more clarification.