Proposed code change would remove Shade Tree Commissions final approval; commissioners warn of lost oversight

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…