To get Charlotte's approval to build a parking lot, Lowe's Motor Speedway agreed to protect hundreds of trees.

Three months later, it whacked almost all of them.

Speedway officials took down the trees just before the Coca-Cola 600, saying they needed to improve visibility to attract race fans to the new parking lot on U.S. 29 in Mecklenburg County. The result, they said, was much better traffic flow before and after the race. They said they thought they had permission.

As the city decides how to penalize the speedway, the loss of the trees underscores a little-known but troubling trend in a city known for its leafy canopy:

Developers regularly pledge to preserve woods or specific trees when seeking a rezoning. But the trees often end up dead.

Many are cut after developers change site plans. Others die under the stress of nearby construction. And in a growing number of cases, developers break their promises.

Specific numbers are hard to come by, but a zoning administrator and the city's senior urban-forestry specialist estimate about half the trees developers pledge to save don't make it.

Some say that's especially worrisome in a county that lost more than a third of its forest cover between 1990 and 2002.

"It's a losing battle for our trees," said Laura Brewer, the city's forestry specialist. "In many cases, the philosophy seems to be: Don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness."

Most local developers support the city's effort to save trees, said Mark Cramer, executive director of Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition. But he notes that building around trees is a difficult and time-consuming task that can add thousands to the cost of a project.

"Sometimes you spend a lot of money and set aside a lot of land to preserve an older tree, and it just dies on you," he said. "Younger trees are more hearty and able to withstand things."

Protective measures

Charlotte's tree ordinance requires builders to plant trees along the street and preserve at least 10 percent of the canopy in every new subdivision. The city also requires commercial developers to plant new trees and save some older ones.Trees get another important boost from the rezoning process: Planners often persuade developers to save more trees than normally required as a condition of approval for their projects.

That's what happened at the speedway. Planners asked the developer to protect a 75-foot-wide swath of trees between the lot and U.S. 29. The approved site plan specifically marks the area as an "undisturbed tree save area."

The speedway agreed to the provision in February before the City Council approved the rezoning. But after only 60 cars parked in the lot for the Nextel All-Star Challenge race May 22, track officials decided they needed to make the lot more visible before the Coca-Cola 600 the next week.

An assistant to City Manager Pam Syfert gave them permission to remove vines, underbrush and some lower tree limbs -- not trees, city officials said.

Yet the speedway left about 30 of the oldest and largest trees between the lot and U.S. 29. Everything else came down.

Bob Rourke, the track's director of real estate, said this week that the speedway did nothing wrong.

"When Pam gives us this `clear the underbrush' thing, I've been around the system long enough to know -- wink, wink -- what she means: Make it work," he said.

He noted that city officials never clarified what they meant by underbrush, which he interpreted to mean smaller trees, as well as vines and brush.

Regardless, he said, the important thing was that 300 cars used the lot for the Coca-Cola 600, allowing the speedway to clear race traffic an hour faster than in previous races. That, he said, helps with air quality.

"The city government said they want this area parked," Rourke said. "I can't get hung up on a bunch of specifics about a buffer."

Syfert could not be reached. Assistant City Manager Ron Kimble said Syfert and other city employees told the speedway to leave the trees alone.

Fines are rare

Zoning inspectors, who enforce buffers and other conditions on site plans, say violations are a constant problem.

In the University area, for example, developers building the Macaroni Grill, the Home Depot and the planned Lowes Foods grocery all took down trees in protected areas, they said.

In one of the worst cases, the contractor for Strawberry Hill shopping center in south Charlotte mistakenly razed red oaks, white oaks and hackberry trees -- some 50 years old -- when he bulldozed on the wrong side of tape cordoning off protected areas in 1990.

Some violations are intentional, others are contractor errors, inspectors said.

In most cases, developers are required to replant two to three times the number of trees they took down as part of a so-called "mitigation plan." They face fines up to $500 a day and construction delays if they fail to cooperate, though Katrina Young of zoning enforcement acknowledges that fines are rare.

Some wonder if the city needs a tougher response. "We make them plant back more trees than they took down, but they've already taken down the good stuff," said Heather Davis, a zoning inspector for 12 years. "They spend a couple thousand dollars and put in some more trees. It's not the same -- but they've got visibility and they're happy."

In the speedway case, city officials are analyzing the site to determine exactly how many trees were lost, their age and their species. Then, officials will ask Lowe's Motor Speedway to replace a specified number.

Rourke, the track's real estate director, said planting more trees would be silly.

"Does it make any sense to come back and plant trees that may obscure the view?" he said. "If they come back with something Machiavellian like that, we may have to go to court. Or (speedway owner) Bruton (Smith) will go to the press and say, `Look how stupid this is.' "

Thursday afternoon the speedway issued a press release thanking the city for its OK of the parking lot, which allowed it to clear out race traffic in "record time."

There was no mention of the trees.

Green Going Away

• Half the trees developers pledge to save don't make it, city officials say.

• Builders are required to keep at least 10 percent of the canopy in every new subdivision.

• Mecklenburg lost more than a third of its tree cover between 1990 and 2002.