After hearing from some members of the community and municipal staff, Princeton Council opted Monday evening to extend a public hearing on an ordinance that would alter the rules about cutting down trees in town. The meeting’s light agenda allowed for an extended discussion about the ordinance, which has been reworked by Princeton’s Shade Tree Commission and Code Review Committee. The measure will be taken up again at the Council’s next meeting on September 12.

Concerns about the effects of teardowns and increased development, damage done by storms such as Hurricane Sandy, and the ongoing destruction of trees due to the emerald ash borer insects are among the factors that were considered in the work on the ordinance. The measure would call for taking the size of a tree being removed into consideration when deciding how many trees would have to be planted in its place. It would also address application fees and a tree fund managed by the town.

In response to a suggestion that some trees such as Norway Maple and Tree of Heaven be exempted because they are invasive species, Princeton’s municipal arborist Lorraine Konopka cautioned against the idea. “If a tree is hazardous or has storm damage or a fatal disease, that qualifies it to be exempt,” she said. “But we have some beautiful large ash trees on people’s properties. I don’t want to see that ash tree that’s perfect be cut because it might get the insect in 30 years.”

Ms. Konopka added that a lot of trees could qualify for the category of invasive, which could lead to “at least 10 or 15 trees that I think could be considered,” she said, adding that some people consider hostas and wisteria to be invasive. “You start chipping away at what we’re trying to do, which is to try and keep our community forest intact.”

Councilman Patrick Simon suggested that individuals be allowed to remove one tree per lot per year. Councilwoman Jo Butler commented, “The problem is that not all lots are created equal. One tree on a lot in the tree streets affects a lot of people.”

There was some confusion about the ordinance because only the portions in which changes are proposed were posted on the town’s website. Mayor Liz Lempert asked that the entire ordinance be posted before the September 12 meeting so people will have a better understanding of what it contains.

Robert Von Zumbusch, who is a member of the town’s Historic Preservation Commission, asked that the group be given time to review the proposed ordinance before a final vote is taken. Victoria Airgood, a member of the Shade Tree Commission, said that 420 tree removal permits were issued last year, some of which allow for the removal of dozens of trees for development on vacant land. “That represents a loss of 1,260 trees greater than eight inches in diameter at breast height in Princeton. And that’s just during the first ten-and-a-half months of 2015,” she said.

At a press meeting earlier in the day, Ms. Lempert said the ordinance is key to maintaining Princeton’s character. The town is among those designated as a “tree city” by the Arbor Day Foundation. “I think that we want to make it so that there’s some consideration of the damage it causes when you take down a healthy tree,” she said. “That’s one of the jobs of the municipal government — to put controls on private property to the extent that it has an impact on everybody else in the community.”