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Commission weighs stricter parking-lot and buffer yard landscaping, considers fee-in-lieu option
Summary
Staff proposed raising the parking-lot landscaping trigger and changing buffer-yard exceptions to legislative review; the commission discussed a potential fee-in-lieu program for sites that cannot meet on-site requirements but stressed the city should require partial on-site planting.
Staff told the commission the draft ordinance would increase the parking-lot landscaped area per required planting from 350 square feet to 700 square feet and move district buffer-yard exception approvals from an administrative process to legislative review at PNZ with final approval at council.
Wes Morrison framed the change and said staff's intent is consistency with current practice: "We changed the exception approval process for district buffer yard requirements from administrative to legislative."
Commissioners raised practical concerns about fitting larger landscaped areas onto infill or constrained sites. Morrison floated a fee-in-lieu approach for sites that cannot meet requirements, explaining the city could direct those funds to beautification projects, but commissioners warned against allowing developers to meet requirements only by payment. Chair Emery and others discussed tying fee in lieu to partial on-site compliance (for example, requiring 50–75% of the planting to be on-site and paying the balance), and staff said the draft already includes alternative compliance options to provide flexibility for constrained sites.
The commission tasked staff to research fee parameters and examples from other cities and to return with recommended guardrails before adoption.
