The Athens Shade Tree Commission discussed a city proposal to remove the commissions final approval authority for landscape plans and instead involve the commission only in early consultation. Commissioners said the proposal, which planning officials hope to present to city council by October, would make the commissions role advisory and could reduce the commissions ability to protect the urban canopy.

The change under discussion would remove the commission from multiple code sections that now list the Shade Tree Commission as an approving body and move its input to the initial site-plan consultation phase. "We will lose approval in exchange for coming in at that initial consultation phase," a commission member said during the meeting.

Commissioners said the tradeoff is risky because early consultations do not guarantee that the commissions recommendations will be retained in final plans. "I just want to be on the record and say that I'm deeply opposed to removing our approval authority as a commission," Commissioner Michael (Shade Tree Commission) said. "I don't see how this decision supports those sustainability goals in any way." Commissioner Michael added that volunteers provide technical review at no cost and that losing formal approval would remove a key check in the review process.

Commissioners and staff discussed possible mitigations the city had offered in exchange, including:
- Providing the Shade Tree Commission access to the city work-order system so commissioners could monitor maintenance and removal requests;
- Assigning a city staff member to attend planning commission reviews (the planning department meets during daytime hours currently noted as a barrier for volunteers);
- Allowing a designated city arborist or grounds manager to be present at plan reviews to preserve a technical voice.

Several commissioners said those mitigations fall short if they lack enforceable authority. "If there was an arborist on that committee who had a vote, who could say, 'no, this is a problem for the canopy,' that vote has some power," Commissioner Odie (Shade Tree Commission) said.

Commissioners also reported operational problems that they say the code change would not fix: slip-ups in routing work orders, unclear ownership of maintenance tasks, and limited grounds staff. "These discrepancies in our communication lead to situations where something slips through the cracks and the city ends up on the hook for it," Commissioner Gene (Shade Tree Commission) said, describing a recent tree-branch incident that prompted local removal requests.

Planning staff signaled they view the commission as valuable but said the approval step occasionally delays projects; the proposal is intended to streamline approvals that planning staff consider outside state-required commissions. Commissioners noted that state law requires three formal municipal commissions but said Athens should not aim for the bare minimum if it wants to preserve canopy goals.

Commissioners said the mayor indicated he would not process reappointments to the Shade Tree Commission until some change was enacted, a statement commissioners said complicates deliberations. Commissioners said the mayors hold on reappointments raises the possibility that the commission could lapse, with consequences such as jeopardizing the citys Tree City USA status.

No code change has been submitted to city council; planning and commission staff are continuing discussions. Commissioners requested that city staff clarify whether the planning commission or council will present draft changes, and they asked planning staff to explore options that preserve a binding or at least consultative role staffed by a full-time arborist or grounds manager.

Next steps stated at the meeting: further negotiation between planning staff and the Shade Tree Commission; potential code language to preserve a technical voting presence or a guaranteed staff liaison; and continued monitoring of any planning commission schedule that would move the proposal forward to council.