County contractors felled a stand of oak trees Thursday, mostly water oaks, to prepare for paving the Justice Center’s new parking lot on M.L. King Jr. Drive in Hinesville. To comply with a land-clearing and tree-protection ordinance, the county must replant trees to meet the ordinance’s 50 percent shade coverage objective.
 “Trees can be taken down (as long as you replace them),” said Gabriele Hartage, assistant zoning administrator with the Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission. “The ordinance states you must have 1,600 tree points per acre.”
The complete story is in Wednesday's Coastal Courier.