Olivette planning commission discusses tightening review timing, tree-protection rules and accessory-structure caps

Commissioners and staff spent the latter portion of the Jan. 16 meeting on a series of procedural and code topics: changing how petition completeness is determined and scheduled, tightening requirements around tree protection and replacement during construction, and clarifying accessory-structure review thresholds.

Staff proposed removing the fixed 10-day automatic-scheduling rule and instead scheduling items to the next available meeting only after staff determines an application is complete. Staff said the proposed change will reduce last-minute, incomplete filings that hamper thorough review; the recommended administrative window for staff to determine completeness was increased from 10 to 15 days to reflect workloads. "If everything is fully complete then it'll come to the commission at its next scheduled meeting," Carlos Trejo said. Commissioners discussed doing more pre-application reviews for complex projects; staff said the code permits pre-application meetings and they will continue to encourage them for larger or professionally prepared applications.

On tree protection and replacement,…