Athens residents and Shade Tree Commission push back after city proposes shifting landscaping approval to Planning Commission

ATHENS, Ohio — At its Oct. 9 meeting, the Athens Shade Tree Commission and dozens of residents pressed the city to retain the commission’s review and approval role for development landscaping after planning staff circulated a package of city code changes that would move that authority to the Planning Commission.

Commission members and residents described the proposed changes as a major shift in how new development would be held to tree-planting and landscaping standards, and said the package—first circulated in May and revised several times—initially proposed a large reduction in planting requirements before a more recent draft restored the higher planting density. The commission did not vote on the code language at the meeting; members urged the public to attend a Planning Commission review next week and future City Council readings.

The commission’s chair (name not specified in the meeting record) outlined the changes and said the city’s earlier draft would have removed the commission’s approval authority and drastically cut the required number of shade trees for new development. The chair said the commission had objected; in response, city planners circulated a new draft that keeps the current planting densities but still shifts approval authority away from the Shade Tree Commission and into the Planning Commission’s process.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the Shade Tree Commission provides technical review focused on tree canopy, and that losing approval authority would reduce oversight of developers’ plantings. Several speakers warned that an early…