Commissioners raise recurring tree‑removal and lighting concerns; staff to consider revisiting ordinances

Commissioners used the meeting’s updates to raise recurring community concerns about tree removal, enforcement of landscape/ tree‑count limits and the status of a previously drafted lighting/ nuisance‑lighting ordinance. One commissioner summarized several recent incidents in which trees on development parcels were removed before required approvals and noted neighbors have repeatedly raised the issue in multiple applications. Staff said enforcement options are constrained by state law in some respects, and cited the practical enforcement tools available: requiring developers to submit a replanting and landscape plan for subsequent phases, conditioning future approvals on a planting plan, or pursuing fines for post‑approval violations (staff noted the city’s monetary fine option is modest — $100 per day was cited as an example). On lighting standards, commissioners and staff discussed earlier draft language adapted from other towns, including darker‑sky style measures (shielding, limiting light at property edges, and color/blue‑light concerns). Staff recommended bringing the earlier draft lighting ordinance back to the commission for review and advised that the recently changed state statutes affecting local land‑use authority should be reviewed first; the planner said staff would follow up and compare the draft to current legislative constraints before circulating a revised draft. No formal code amendments were adopted at the meeting. Commissioners asked staff to prepare materials that clarify enforcement options for tree removal and to circulate the prior lighting ordinance draft for commission review in light of recent legislative changes.