Our project is building adjacent to an existing building, and will connect to it via a pedestrian bridge. Between the two buildings are several existing, older trees that are required to remain. The area has existing utilities running under it, however, and was previously graded at some point for the existing building, so it is not technically a greenfield.
Questions:
Since the trees are older, is there any possibility of that area being treated as a greenfield?
Since we wish to disturb the tree area as little as possible, and already have plans in place to protect the area during construction, how should this area be treated in terms of the soil restoration requirements?
Related, can we count the ground area (dirt/vegetated) under the tree canopy as vegetated like in the past (not necessarily for this credit, but in general).
