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De Soto planning commission backs study to map stream setbacks and trail corridors
Summary
City management intern Dominic Saiki presented a three‑zone streamway setback and trail‑dedication proposal the commission agreed to fold into the comprehensive‑plan update; commissioners pressed for floodplain and variance details but voiced broad support for further study and public process.
Dominic Saiki, the city management intern, presented a preliminary three‑zone streamway setback policy and recommended the planning commission authorize staff to incorporate the proposal into De Soto City’s comprehensive plan. Saiki said the framework could “yield over 40 linear miles of city owned trail corridors at minimal public capital cost” if implemented incrementally through new development.
Saiki described the three zones — a strict conservation bank zone, a middle conveyance zone for flood buffering and low‑impact trails, and an outer flexible buffer that permits passive recreation — and recommended incentives (density bonuses, parkland credit) and a case‑by‑case variance process to reduce hardship for certain developers. He emphasized that “all existing homes and approved plats would be 100% grandfathered in,” and recommended a scientific stream asset inventory to determine which channels qualify for full setbacks.
Commissioners asked technical questions about how the policy would interact with existing floodplain and floodway regulations, where utilities could be routed, and what minimum drainage area would trigger corridor classification. Saiki said most corridors would fall within regulated floodplain or floodway areas but that the planned stream asset inventory would classify bank health and allow setback scaling, with degraded streams eligible for narrower buffers.
Mike Caldwell, a resident who had urged earlier that the city “map our streams” and update the master trail plan, told the commission the proposal was among the best work he’d seen and urged prompt integration with planning so trail corridors are secured before development. The chair and several commissioners agreed the item is best first placed in the comprehensive plan to allow public engagement and subsequent ordinance drafting; no ordinance was adopted at the meeting. The commission agreed by consensus to ask staff to include the streamway setbacks and trail corridors in the upcoming comprehensive‑plan update and to return with recommendations and any needed technical clarifications (floodplain interactions, steep‑bank rules, and watershed thresholds).
